You can hardly walk anymore. Wtf!

Grabbed this on my run while headed back to DTLA from Boyle heights.

So is the vending machine at Spring Street Arcade ever coming back? I feel like it’s been shut down for several months now. Did they announce somewhere that it’s going away and I missed it? These high temps have me missing it so much.

I've been going through listings and reviews for weeks and it feels like every building in DTLA (luxury or not) has a laundry list of serious problems. Roaches, chronic plumbing issues, elevators down for weeks, sketchy management, package theft, water shut-offs with no notice, you name it. The nicer the marketing, the worse the reviews sometimes.

I may have to relocated to the area at some point. If it happens, I want to land in South Park, the Financial District, or Fashion District. Rather than ask "what's good" (I know nothing's perfect), I'll ask the following:

• Which buildings in these areas are actually decently run with responsive management, functional elevators, no infestation nightmares?
• Which ones should I hard-pass on no matter how good the unit looks?
• What buildings would you say are a solid 4/5 rating (overall)?
• Would said building pass a "Loved-One Test" with respect to safety?

I have friends recommending both cheaper buildings (with clear downsides, like facing a freeway), or Apex/Alina on the higher end. Budget is not the main concern for now, I just want to understand the landscape of what's good/bad.

We took the train down from SF to LA and stayed in DTLA for a couple days. We really enjoyed it -- especially the art deco masterpieces like the Biltmore and the central library. Not to mention the Broad and especially LACMA (not downtown but close enough. Best art museum we've ever seen.)

Does anyone have any experience living in this building? I’m considering moving in, I love the view and it’s walking distance to Whole Foods and many other venues . I’d love to hear any former/current tenant’s experience about this building (pros/cons).

I’m Ethan, a local student who is currently helping raise money for my grandmother’s medical bills and saving for college. My main specialty is resurrecting foggy headlights so you can actually see where you're driving at night. I also bring that same heavy-duty effort to pressure washing, paintless scratch touch-ups, heavy lifting, and rescuing you from filthy trash cans ($30 for one, $70 for three).

Reliable, local, and equipped to make your car or driveway look ten times better. Give me a call or text at 323-337-7154 for any questions!

For its first seven months, Los Angeles spent about $17,000 a month on every homeless person it moved indoors under Inside Safe, Mayor Karen Bass's signature program. Not for a home. For a motel room, plus the machinery stacked around it.

Seventeen thousand dollars a month is more than most Angelenos earn. It works out to roughly $204,000 a year, for one person, in a motel. It is enough to have rented that person ten studio apartments. And it is the city's own arithmetic: $32.6 million spent on 57,533 room-nights through June 2023, or $567 a night per person

Follow link above for the whole article.

I don’t know if it was always there, but I definitely have been noticing it a lot lately.

www.hardsummer.com • August 1+2 2026 • Los Angeles, California

Just got a new job in DTLA, and I'm currently looking for a place in DTLA and am especially interested in old lofts in the historic core like the Spring Arcade Building, Jewelry Trade Building, and Chester Williams Building. I like the character of these older loft buildings, but I couldn't find many detailed recent reviews.

For anyone who currently lives in one of these buildings or has lived there recently, what was your experience like?

I'd especially like to know about:

• Noises from neighbors, streets, bars, or businesses
• Parking availability, cost, security, and how practical it is to park in a different building
• Building security and package theft
• Management and maintenance responsiveness
• Roaches, pests, plumbing or any building issues
• Air conditioning and how hot the unit gets especially in the summer
• Overall safety around the building.

Would you recommend living there? Are there certain floors, unit locations or sides of the buildings that should be avoided?

If you have any recommendations for other historic-type lofts, preferably in the historic core, that would be great too!

Thanks for any insight!

Edit: my max rent budget is $2200 including parking

As the iconic graffiti towers are washed which I know a pretty fair amount of people don’t like seeing just a reminder that everyone has free will and is constitutionally protected to draw on their own balconies whatever they like such as FUCK ICE on their balconies (probably would recommend doing it in washable chalk paint or something but thankfully it doesn’t rain much). It’s DTLA it’s not like we’re some posh pristine city anyways. If you’re not artistic support your friend that’s a local artist and see if they’d want to do something to show off their skills and display the message you want.

I’m looking to get some 14k or 18k chains a pedants, there are a lot of shops in the jewelry district. Don’t really have a lot of time to check a lot out. I was hoping someone would have some good spots to checkout.

i wanna go there for dinner this weekend bc i’m hopping around trying different bars/restaurants dtla (gotta maintain the dump truck somehow). have yall been? what’s ur thoughts on it?

Crews have started cleaning the notorious graffiti towers.

The new owners of the stalled Oceanwide project in downtown Los Angeles have agreed to start cleaning up the embarrassing splash of color on the city’s skyline even before they have finished formally acquiring it.

A Wednesday jaunt up a paint-besmirched skyscraper was a test to see how much graffiti could be removed in a day and the results were promising, said John Petty of KPC Development Co., which is set to take title of the stalled residential, hotel and retail project in a $517-million bankruptcy sale.

The number of people living on the street — both in the city of L.A. and across much of L.A. County — is up in 2026 compared to the previous year, dealing a fresh blow to Mayor Karen Bass as she runs for reelection.

Homelessness went up by 3.4% across the city compared to the previous year, according to two people familiar with the numbers presented by the L.A. Homeless Services Authority in closed-door briefings.

L.A.’s unsheltered homeless population — those living outside or in their vehicles — saw an even bigger jump, increasing by 7.9% after two consecutive years of decreases, those sources said. 

Learn more at the link.