These photos are from downtown Long Beach during our weekly field trip. We were waiting to cross the street. I don't know what the building is, but there were several others from a similar era and style in the vicinity. I like seeing a city that has preserved its old buildings, even if the interiors were gutted to bring them up to code and it's just the outside that looks neat. By the way, you can kind of tell what part of Long Beach you are in by the streetlights. Just a few blocks away, the lampposts are old-fashioned and painted bright blue and yellow, like a circus.
This photo below is of the Pike area. I thought the contrast from the park in San Pedro was worth highlighting--palms, broad streets, little shade. We were there in the late afternoon and it was quite cool; i'm not sure i'd enjoy the area during a hot summer day. On the other hand, to the right are restaurants mostly patronized for dinner, and on the left, a multi-use shopping area mostly used at night, so maybe shade isn't such a concern as a feeling of visibility and openness that large old trees would obscure. There are interesting issues involved in re-development...some people miss the rough character of old Long Beach. Other people love the liveliness (and the moolah doesn't hurt). The condos are affordable...for a certain income bracket. Hmmm. Tricky questions without easy answers. At least parking was (relatively) cheap for a downtown area.
My apologies to my classmates: I used to avoid having people in my photos but now i am always snapping them in for scale. This sidewalk was huge! because it doubles as a bike path.
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