by Garrison Frost

A recent letter to our local daily complained that for all one hears about it, downtown Torrance is still a mostly deserted wasteland offering little to your typical suburbanite consumer. Several local boosters then responded to the letter, arguing that downtown Torrance is in fact a flourishing magnet for thousands of affluent visitors every day. The exchange got us thinking about something we read in Witold Rybczynski's "City Life":

Work and play, shopping and recreation, community service and public protest – more and more of the activities of the traditional downtown have moved to the mall ...

The question residents of Torrance should ask themselves isn't whether downtown Torrance is successful, but rather whether it is being outperformed as a downtown by the Del Amo Mall. On nearly every measure of a downtown – gathering, people-watching, commerce, pedestrian traffic, etc – the mall beats the downtown by a mile. And given that the very nature of a downtown is that there can be only one, we must grant that the old town center is not serving its intended function.

On this count, Torrance is not the only city facing this problem. Redondo Beach has no official downtown, and its own mall, the South Bay Galleria, has essentially stolen that function. None of the cities on Palos Verdes have official downtowns; the Avenue of the Peninsula Mall serves that function instead. Hawthorne, uniquely, seemingly has no official downtown and no mall. People will on occasion refer to something called downtown Hawthorne, but folks driving through it don't know it.

Of the South Bay cities that have recognizable downtowns, only Manhattan Beach's seems to serve its function. People gather there to shop, socialize, do business with the city, eat and people-watch. The renewed success of the Manhattan Village Mall hasn't stolen the downtown's thunder yet, if it ever will. Despite the makeover, it's not that much of a mall. Hermosa Beach's downtown is somewhat more dysfunctional than Manhattan Beach's, yet it still qualifies. Where it really falls short is in the area of weekday commerce and foot traffic. Still, there are a bunch of people down there on weekends and things always seem to be looking better year to year.

South Bay downtowns that could use some help include those in Lomita, Torrance and San Pedro. Each has charm and promise, but are held back by forces outside of their control. Lomita is just too darn small. There are some interesting little businesses there, but not enough to make the commercial district around the intersection of Narbonne and Lomita Boulevard a destination. So too with old Torrance. It's much further along than Lomita, but it is in dire need of some destination businesses. Still, the idea of mixing residential into the heart of the downtown was a sound one, and it's entirely possible that someday one will see all these people on the street there. But you don't really see them now.

San Pedro, like old Torrance, has a lot going for it. In many ways, San Pedro has been on the cusp for years now, trying to gentrify the old-fashioned way by attracting a core of artists and bohemians. The theory in this case goes that artists take advantage of an area and occupy storefronts and housing. They make the place hip and eventually attract other moneyed residents. Eventually, the yuppies drive up prices so much that the artists who saved the place can no longer live there. San Pedro has been in Phase Two for years now, but Phase Three just doesn't seem to be in the offing. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Malls take a lot of guff from downtown purists. They are controlled environments, commercialized communities, homages to the automobile. All true. But they are the reality for thousands of South Bay residents looking for the outward manifestations of community that our downtowns are not providing.

(January 24, 2004)

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