Urban Living in California

Canvas L.A. Apartments Aim for the Social Set, With High-Tech Flourishes And a Bed by the Pool

by Richard Guzmán

It’s not easy to see, but if you happen to catch it at night while driving west on First Street near the 110 Freeway, it’s hard to forget: An eight-foot-tall silhouette of a young woman dancing in front of a window on an upper floor of the new Canvas L.A. apartments.

It’s reminiscent of one of those iPod TV commercials. And that’s exactly the point.

Once inside, there are equally provocative, youth-oriented touches. Flanked by cabanas and couches in the courtyard, a rectangular pool leads to a green circle of grass and in the middle, under the open sky and in full view of the 204 units, is a bed, ready for, well, whatever.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Jonathan Diamond, Special to The Times April 13, 2008

MOST weekday mornings, Robert Levine rolls out of bed, takes a shower, has breakfast and, come 8:30, lets in his staff. Levine, owner of Evolving Ideas Inc., a marketing firm that creates print materials for restaurant chains, retailers and others, lives and works in Hollywood loft space. “I enjoy working and put a lot of effort into what I do,” said Levine, who is single and in his early 60s. “Twenty years ago, when I had two distinct spaces, I considered the office my second home. The difference is that then I had to drive 25 miles to get there.”

read full article here

By Fred Ortega, Staff Writer

SAN GABRIEL – Drivers contending with freight traffic that has snarled downtown San Gabriel for decades saw light at the end of the tunnel Thursday. A state agency approved more than a quarter-billion dollars to divert a busy rail line below ground through the city.

The $337 million approved by the state for the Alameda Corridor East Construction Authority will be used to extend a below-grade trench through the heart of San Gabriel, providing relief for long-suffering commuters along Ramona Street, Mission Road, Del Mar Avenue and San Gabriel Boulevard.

It is the largest award given to a single goods-movement project in the state from the Proposition 1B transportation bond, approved by voters in November 2006, authority officials said.

The half-billion dollar project will involve construction of the trench and overpasses at those four main thoroughfares.

Read the rest of this entry »

Judy Richter, Special to The Chronicle

Townhouses are being built on the land now, but starting in the late ’40s, anyone who was anyone on the West Coast nightclub circuit appeared at Lou’s Village in San Jose.

Entertainers like Lucille Ball, the Mills Brothers, Scatman Crothers, the Drifters and other popular musicians and comedians performed there.

Lou’s also was a popular gathering spot for San Jose politicians, community leaders, athletes and others who wanted to be seen and to enjoy the entertainment and seafood.

Read the rest of this entry »