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Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight
All that aside...an afternoon walk down Colorado St. has soured my disposition with regards to camping out. We were greeted by a "This Location is Closing" sign on Penny Lane, a great little music shop that's been there for 15 years. Why, we asked? Rent is tripling for the space. Tripling. All of a sudden, all the little unique shops are gone, replaced by franchise after franchise. The old movie theater is now a Tiffany's store. There's a Cheesecake Factory. And the big blow, the bagle shop that stayed open overnight for the parade serving bagles and bagle sandwiches has closed.
This is all the result of urban renewal gone amuck. A bit to the east is the Pasadena city center, where City Hall is. 10 years ago, it was a slum. Abandoned buildings, failing businesses, and a dilapadated mall. At that point, they began to revive that small area, tearing down the mall and improving the businesses. It was great, and totally necessary. But it's spread west, down Colorado, to an area that simply didn't need it. Sure, it wasn't brand new, but it was nowhere close to the near-slum conditions seen to the east. It was full of thriving, interesting, unique businesses. Now those businesses are being forced out by this insane rent increase, to be replaced by yet another cabon copy of a city street (Gap, Apple Store, Z Gallery, blah, blah, blah). It was really disappointing to see.
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12-20-2005, 07:41 PM
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