Lived in LA years ago. Then all my friends moved back east or elsewhere. So did I. But I miss SoCal to this day. Best time of my life. Love your vids.

DTLA is not a place where you go once and make your mind. It’s an incredibly large and diverse neighborhood, and every time I go there I always find something new. This is not the same as other neighborhoods where all commercial activity is on one street. South Park isn’t really “up and coming”, as you can see with the rents. It’s already there and it’s selling a sophisticated, modern, city living. It has interesting restaurants here and there, but you definitely need time to explore them all. I think your heart is in the right place, but first passings in a huge neighborhood like DTLA isn’t doing it Justice.

Nice! I was hoping you'd cover South Park. The thing I don't like about this area is the streets are designed like highways (like much of LA). Hopefully as more development happens they will allocate more space to people. You're right that there aren't enough lively and interesting businesses at street level to peak your interest. Hopefully streets like Broadway will come alive because they have like hundreds of empty small storefronts. And you're right there are surface parking lots all over the place. Kind of a disgrace when you think about all the people living on the street.

Thanks for showing the nicer buildings and areas in downtown. So many KZreadrs show the decay only. The glut of retail spaces is because of greedy landlords who charge super high prices and refuse to lower prices.

@SA-hz1rs

Ай бұрын

that metal leo guy is a freak. hes either really dumb or insane. Im not sure which

Go to the historic core on spring St. the residents never clean their dogs poop but it’s clean now compared to how it was 20-30 years ago

I am a new subscriber (New York resident here), and I am so happy 😊 I came across your channel. It is my goal to relocate myself and my little family to LA 🤗, SoCal preferred. We as a family loved, SoCal, when we visited last year. We hope to be back this year, to scout out more of LA and see if I am able to network a bit as well. I would love to see a vlog of LA during the holiday season (i.e. Christmas, etc). Do you have one?

@MichaelMartello

Ай бұрын

Yay thanks for watching! I have a few holiday videos - check em out on my page! 🙂

@DiegoHorchata

Ай бұрын

Come. I bet you than in less than a year u will get over it. Taxes, left, right. Come find out

I agree with the extra lights. If you look at old footage from downtown LA from the 50s, obviously had tons of business and it was very bright at night.

Was just walking around South Park a few weeks ago and was also impressed with the changes there. But you should have gone down to check out the Apple store in the beautifully restored old Tower Theater building.

Sunday morning escapes with Michael the real LA. Thank you for the get away Michael we sure can use it

@MichaelMartello

Ай бұрын

😊

I'm a New Yorker living in NJ now, and I have enjoyed your vlogs very much 😊 since finding them during covid. It's a good way to see other places and

@maryannlafrance3413

Ай бұрын

I didn't finish my last text, so thanks again for doing this 😊!

I'm so happy to see the "Mother City" (as I call it, being born there) getting the make over it deserves. That said, transient folks have to start packing, so with gentrification comes relocation, and many in my city San Bernardino, believe they are and have been sent here from there.. none the less, Michael "kudos" to you for showcasing the progress in a city that's very personal to me.

@DiegoHorchata

Ай бұрын

What progress? There is not progress. Come and check by yourself

I lived in south park and the issue was all thd amazing food/stores were a 15 minute walk but not super close to my building. That said, the new subway stops make it really easy to get to other parts such as little Tokyo and arts district and museums. There are also really nice restaurants with views on Broadway. It's pretty safe in south park as well.

Thank you. Please do a video on Burbank and its history❤

I definitely see how this area could become more popular over time, and you can definitely tell investors see the vision. If they could attract more restaurants, create a nightlife appeal, recreation, attractions, and grocery stores then I can see people being more likely to move there, especially with those rent prices. I'd definitely check back in a year or two and maybe consider moving there.

@mrxman581

Ай бұрын

The long proposed streetcar would serve this area well too. It would compliment the A and E lines.

Amazing video! Very funny 😹 another addition to the area will be the new area code, 738 later on this year

You showed my apartment building! I love South Park. Highly recommend to Angelinos (like myself) and tourists alike❤

Most of the new construction in DTLA is in the South Park area. Development was moving along at a fast pace until Covid hit, and the following changes of working from home also negatively impacted DTLA.. However, things are beginning to be on the upswing again. What's the fascination with showing parking lots? There are a lot less of them today compared to 10 years ago. The message should be that there are fewer parking lots today in DTLA. And, there are many more new buildings that you didn't show. BTW, you have to build the spaces first before having a business open. How do the rentals you saw compare to NYC? Thanks.

Wow, I've lived in LA all my life and I'm just now learning the official name of that area lol I've always just referred to that general region as "Figueroa"

@mrxman581

Ай бұрын

It's been South Park for decades. Though many younger people are now calling it South DTLA.

I’ve lived in LA since 2006 & never knew this was called “south park” I’ve always only heard that neighborhood referred to as “downtown.” Love that neighborhood! So many good memories going to WWE shows at staples center over the years, concerts, and seeing my Celtics dominate the Lakers and Clippers. Wish I could afford to live there!!! Rent prices are very high. Those apartments are BEAUTIFUL. I pay $950 for my studio in northern Los Angeles though and I’m having trouble affording rent as it is 😢 if I had a job where I could afford those prices, I do think it’s worth it. Just jobs don’t pay enough 😢 that’s the only reason for vacancies I think. No one has any money! I wish.

6:05 You'd think they would reduce the rent if vacancy rates are so high...

Westside apartment tours next!

Michael like I mentioned before that im always passing with people with LA or Los Angeles on their hoodies and t-shirts on the streets to remind me to watch your videos when I come back and here it is lol

@MichaelMartello

Ай бұрын

a little reminder from the universe! Lol. Thanks for watching 😊

@mystikrebel1089

Ай бұрын

@@MichaelMartello Yep the Universe wants me to get there so will be coming on a boat like Captain Sparrow soon 😆

There needs to be a vacancy tax to force rents down to what the market will bear for that area.

Folks, this is what a 15 minute city looks like

where did you get the list of all the developments going on at 8:14?

@MichaelMartello

Ай бұрын

You can download a database of the projects from this page! www.southpark.la/growth-development#:~:text=With%2034%20projects%20currently%20in,neighborhoods%20in%20Los%20Angeles%20County.

So smart and crafty to hide the ads.

I lived in South Park when I was out in LA, only because it was close to my job. I will say, it was better than living in other parts of DTLA but it was still quite boring. Couple spots around there to go check out but it was more so just a convenient place to live rather than a fun one.

They should convert some of those apartments to condos.

@mrxman581

Ай бұрын

Some were originally going to be condos, but the market conditions weren't right. Some condo buildings got converted to luxury hotels.

DTLA definitely have a different vibe then let’s say downtown Long Beach. Although it may be similar in high rise apartment buildings it doesn’t seem as congested as downtown Los Angeles. Also, downtown Los Angeles air quality seems dirtier lol compared to down in Long Beach where you’re closer to the beaches of course.

Most American cities saw their downtowns go downhill starting over 50-60 years ago. A lot of them were never all that strong to begin with. I watched a vid of central Toronto from the 1970s & Canada's largest city back then didn't look too appealing either. BTW, Toronto is now the fastest growing city in North America. Its reputation for non-balmy weather apparently isn't hurting it. In turn, San Francisco, which for the past 60 years has had a good reputation not just for weather (albeit cool & foggy), but for lots of other things too is going through a tough patch right now. As for downtown LA, both its newer good & older bad features (& newer bad trends like crime, drugs, homelessness) exist in various cities all over the US & world. So who knows what the future holds.

@mariusfacktor3597

Ай бұрын

"Most American cities saw their downtowns go downhill starting over 50-60 years ago" 100%. The federal government started a program called "Urban Renewal" also called "Negro Removal", and it was as bad as it sounds. Downtowns across America were gutted of low-cost housing. In NYC this housing was partially replaced with public housing projects, but in the rest of American cities, they weren't replaced at all. Then to make things worse the federal government started an interstate highway program, which doesn't sound as bad, but once states got that money, they used it to destroy more of their downtowns especially where minorities lived. Whites moved to the new suburbs but it turns out suburbs are too spread out to pay for their own streets and sewers so inner cities were drained of their resources to pay for the suburbs that couldn't pay for themselves. As a result cities went bankrupt. See Detroit MI or Jackson MS. These cities grew their land area 10X over 30 years despite having the same population and went broke as a result. US cities have still not recovered from this downward spiral. I think as people embrace dense sustainable development and rapid transit like Toronto is, things will get better.

@gridley

Ай бұрын

@@mariusfacktor3597 Today's city of San Francisco throws a lot of assumptions for a loop. Your theories about the decline of urban cores may have applied decades ago, but not so much today. SF is demographically very different from the cities you describe, it tore down its major waterfront freeway in 1991, it never saw business or as many residents flee to the suburbs as other cities did in the past, yet today SF is facing some of the same decline associated with urban America in the 1950s-60s.

@gridley

Ай бұрын

Addendum: I saw a YT vid posted 2 years ago about France's capital. What's disturbing is that by LA standards, the City of Lights to me didn't look so bad. Yet I saw a variety of comments with this POV: "felixheavier5478: Paris is the dirtiest Western city I've visited. Never seen so many rats and garbage in my life. I will admit I haven't visited San Francisco or LA." "@Iain1962: I lived there for twenty years, it was beautiful, wonderful, vibrant, exciting and always interesting. I was there last year and it is a dump, everything is filfthy, I thought I was in a Souk in Morocco half the time, beggars and tramps and homeless everywhere. Thieves, pickpockets, scammers grafitti, bins overflowing. Tent camps and matresses lying about, drug taking everywhere, smoking crack in the Metro.....I'm not going back." Yikes. If Paris makes some people give thumbs down, LA ain't got a prayer. lol

@mariusfacktor3597

Ай бұрын

@@gridley SF wasn't bulldozed like most other American cities, but its decline is easy to explain. They've made it just about completely illegal to build homes in SF for the last 50 years. It turns out when you ban building homes, home prices get really high, and when home prices get really high, people can't afford it and you get mass homelessness.

@gridley

Ай бұрын

@@mariusfacktor3597 It's a combination of factors that are causing its decline. The announced closure of a major store that for over 70 years has fronted SF's Union Sq is due to what? Not enough customers, too much theft, too much online instead of brick & mortar?

Rent in Los Angeles is unnecessarily too expensive. It’s not worth it tbh.

I just saw that 15$/hour is the minimum wage in LA. So if you work 8h/day 40h a week and 160h a month you'll get paid 2,400$ (And that's without calculating tax) Can you live with that amount of money?

@mrxman581

Ай бұрын

You'd have to get roommates.

All those parking lots need to go. Build high density housing in DTLA especially near LA metro, so people won't need to have parking lots. Zone them to allow restaurants and retail on the ground floor. I also wouldn't move there in anticipation for a better future, but if DTLA gets developed similarly to cities like NYC or Chicago, it will become a really convenient place to live. DTLA won't be a desirable neighborhood to live in until it becomes as walkable as Santa Monica or Beverly Grove.

I went to DTLA last Sunday, perhaps the same day Michael was there. I was in a different part but my experience was completely negative. There was a feeling of desolation, and squalor. It was like one of those post-apocalypse nightmare 11:29 films. All big cities have problems with homelessness and drug addiction, but I have never seen anything on this scale anywhere else. I felt LA has lost all sense of pride and self worth.

@MichaelMartello

Ай бұрын

I am definitely not the biggest fan of DTLA but some areas are for sure better than others! And of course, there is so much more to LA than downtown

@gianniclaud

Ай бұрын

You’re not wrong to feel that way. Michael just has a perkiness to him that lightens up even the most depraved environments.

@daniellyell7249

Ай бұрын

I was driving to Santa Monica to ride my bike on the beach path when I got sidetracked and accidentally made my way downtown. I had to drive through to get back on track and it was very depressing. It actually threw off the vibe of my whole day. I appreciate people like Michael giving us tours. It's not something I need to experience first hand.

@espressobongo9975

Ай бұрын

@@gianniclaudI like Michael too.

@gianniclaud

Ай бұрын

@@espressobongo9975 me too! He’s just so sweet and handsome.

Downtown LA don’t have enough light or big screens like Times Square 🤦‍♂️

@2:00 😊

south park was once a real dumpy, sketchy area

Snippet: Where did the people go -- looks too uncrowded on this video. In spite of sudden changes in that immediate area, she still looked stylish and certainly so much cleaner than before. Thanks for sharing this new development in LA. Not sure what happened and will happen in the immediate future in the state of California. It appears population may have already reduced as a result of a hand-full of shut-downs -- No more Jobs. God speed. may2024

It has a very organized, clean, aesthetic and symmetrical appearance. But... have you noticed that there are more cars than people on the street?

@mrxman581

Ай бұрын

It depends on the time of day. A lot more people walking around at noon and between 5-8 pm.

@DiegoHorchata

Ай бұрын

Ajajja, come down to downtown and any other LA city and u will se the true. Will never come back

You should check out Orange County!

Also, I hate how they’re building business over living spaces. Keep business spaces separate from living spaces!

As a lifelong Angeleno I rarely go to DT. Would never move there. DTLA is special compared to every city where you are not in the center of it all. Really bizzare realizing when I would visit other cities

@mrxman581

Ай бұрын

There is a lot to see, and the 3 new stations that opened last year make it very convenient now.

LA Metro seems to be better than the gun-filled NYC subway recently.

@Jacob-nu4nd

Ай бұрын

Ban guns

@peterwelby

Ай бұрын

It's not. They don't report on all the problems.

@DiegoHorchata

Ай бұрын

Ajajaj, come to check out trains systems. I will you. And u will se the reality. Will never come back ir take a bus or train rite again

I mean we all complain there are not enough apartments in LA and the prices are astronomically. These apartments you showed are the ones that are built fast and as cheap as possible with "luxury" amenities some people want. I can bet you hear loud footsteps of people above. I have noticed many people want a safe bubble, as clean as possible and some stores they can walk to. South park is that "generic" neighborhood. Let people who can pay over $3000 for this move there and leave us the cheaper buildings with character. I live in the historic core in an old bank building from 1920. The rent is cheaper than I paid in the soulless "luxury" brick, I lived in before and it is fantastic. Every corner of this building oozes character. Plus you can walk to everything you have shown in your previous Downtown excursion. The area around the "Staples Center" is too much like any clean, modern area that we see EVERYWHERE in the US with the same chain stores. But it gives us choice. If we love the grungy Downtown, we have the historic core and if we want clean, safe(ish) fun, we go to South Park. No car needed.

@MichaelMartello

Ай бұрын

Such a good point with the cheap builds and loud footsteps!

@ernesto.carloz

Ай бұрын

Why can't architects design houses where one tenant doesn't have to hear everything the neighbour above or beneath is doing?

@roncenti

Ай бұрын

@@ernesto.carloz Money. Plus this was not much of an issue with carpet. And to me it feels like the newer buildings are worse. I lived in an apartment highrise (1990 built) where they switched carpet to Hardwood above me. It was louder but by far not as bad as when I moved into a "new" building built in 2014. Nightmare. I currently live in a building from 1920. Not a peep.

@mrxman581

Ай бұрын

​@@ernesto.carlozThey do except they are in expensive areas or condos.

Paid time off arena

Downtown LA is not like Chicago, NYC or SF. No one moves there to be in a city. It's never been like those others and never will. That's the mistake most people from out of state make when they finally see DTLA. It's not the heart of LA. Most Angelenos don't even go there. The majority of people who live there do so because they have a professional job in one of the towers there.

@MitchellBPYao

Ай бұрын

Actually more like home it may be hard to talk to people but I used to it

@nightwaves_

Ай бұрын

I don’t agree that it never will be, I just believe it will never be as dense as Chicago, NYC, or SF. Downtown LA has good bones to be an even more vibrant downtown, but it starts with making it feel safe for people to actually want to visit and spend time in. Also, to compare to SF and Chicago, it’s a very similar story that the “downtowns” of each city are not places people spend a ton of time or want to, all the fun places to go eat and party and live are not in The Loop or Market St/Financial District. LA is obviously again unique, as the landscape of LA is so vast and beautiful. I just think in time with more transit and safer streets, downtown LA will be an even more robust hub - especially with all the stadiums arts and museums. I have a lot of feels on this as I’m from NYC and was raised there, but I lived in chicago for 10 years and 9 years in San Francisco :)

@mariusfacktor3597

Ай бұрын

Cities are nothing without their economic center. DTLA is most definitely the heart of LA. Dense development gives economic benefits because it allows people to do more things more efficiently. It also allows further specialization and niche businesses. That's why in most of LA you'll see big box stores, but in DTLA you'll see one-of-a-kind stores. Also those less dense parts of LA are drains on city resources whereas DTLA provides much more tax revenue to the city than it uses. The more DTLA grows, the more prosperous LA becomes.

@leeszikiat7953

Ай бұрын

I think it’s incredibly negative to not want the city center of the second largest city in the country to be more prosperous. We *should* be rooting for a stronger, vibrant, attractive downtown. A strong downtown, is a strong LA. A better downtown doesn’t mean other neighborhoods in LA have to be shitty, and vice versa.

@JesusChrist-qs8sx

Ай бұрын

There are absolutely people living in Los Angelos who would move to a vibrant urban area if it existed in the city

Did you take the train to downtown this time?

The area just does not exude that special LA vibe, generic is not development.

You didn’t film the abandoned skyscrapers that have graffiti from top to bottom. South Park is a generic neighborhood with chains stores and overpriced apartments that people will live in for short term leases before moving on to live in a better place.

LA Koreatown feels more like a proper downtown. Full of shops and restaurants. Very walkable and livable.

Why in the world would anyone care? Unless somehow their tax money is paying for it.

It’s a cesspool. Lived there long enough to never go back.

LA IS SOO DEAD especially The Walking Dead in downtown LA people you are not missing out in LA right now. The future is Miami and also now.

Most boring part of downtown

The bums and the ethnics will ruin it.

@gthisiseasy

Ай бұрын

Ya everyone has brown skin right

@dvosburg1966

Ай бұрын

@@gthisiseasy What you don't build you don't respect.

MICHAEL? In 1976 My first RESIDENCE in L.A. was at the FIGUEROA HOTEL ROOM 8 0 8. .And finally, casting call after casting call later I was selected to play the sidekick FRANK SMITH in 32 DRAGNET parodies for the YELLOW PAGES. David Leisure plays JOE FRIDAY. " BOOK-'EM " kzread.info/dash/bejne/pamettygqa3Zebg.htmlsi=77HWps_zUbjuyytX