Beautiful Santa Rosita

[TopCliff]

Old rowhouses in the South Penbrooke neighborhood.



The Mall of North Penbrooke at the intersection of Penbrooke Boulevard and Stewart Street.



The north edge of the Civic Center where the Cameron Frye Memorial Bell Tower sits at the center of Bueller Avenue and 3rd Street.



An empty parking lot between 4th and 5th Streets. Developers have wanted to use this plot for over a decade, but each project hasn't cleared the City Council.



The Bruce Springsteen Music Hall at Bueller Avenue and 6th Street.



Founder's Park at the corner of 6th Street and Mission Street. The rest of the mission was destroyed in an earthquake in the late 1800's, and what is there is all that remains. The arch was built as a memorial in 1922 to the sixteen men who saved the city from being abandoned.



An overview of southern Downtown Santa Rosita, with the city's second tallest tower, Wells Fargo Tower, in the lower right corner.



AT&T Center is the regional headquarters, with the Chevron Building to the left. In the center is the first church to be built in Santa Rosita, St. Francis Church.



The Second Street Promenade. Up until 1993, it was a giant parking lot that left the buildings along it abandoned and crumbling. The City Council launched a massive plan to renew the area, and it succeeded in less than a year. It's considered one of the city's great tourist attractions.



The Federal Courthouse at the end of the Second Street Promenade. The art sculpture, titled Advancing, was put in place in 2001.

That's the first update! Now, which neighborhood will be next? You'll find out in a day or two! Enjoy!

[Pat]

OMG Leo you're back and with a MD wow!!! Looking real great here and I cant wait to see more!!!!

[Sciurus]

Nice for a beginning

Guillaume

[TopCliff]

Pat: You better believe I'm back! Oh, and good to hear.

Sciurus: Thanks, although this isn't a first journal from me. I will say this is the best of them though. By the way, I like your avatar. Huge House fan here.

Update 2: NoPo (North Penbrooke) & A Teaser



Riverside on Penbrooke, a new development just across from downtown. It was built on reclaimed land as the original land washed away during a flash flood two decades ago.



Three new condo towers have sprung up on the new development, and for the empty plot, developers are still fighting as to what to do with it. One group wants to build a mini-mall, another an auto mall, and a third wants to build a park. Who knows when they will arrive at a decision?



The Santa Rosita River, once a toxic cesspool, has been cleaned up significantly in the last decade. At the top is the Freedom Bridge, named in 2002 after a significant portion of the Latino population marched across the bridge to fight for legislation allowing all illegal immigrants to become citizens.



Homes at the base of the Rosemont Hills. These homes were all built at the same time in North Penbrooke. They all look the same because when they were built, people needed cheap homes. That, and there was only one architect in Santa Rosita, and it was too expensive to hire one from another city.

Teaser Time!



Hmm, I wonder which neighborhood this is . . . you'll find out in another day or two!

I apologize for the grid, I forgot to turn it off. Anyways, enjoy!

[Pat]

Dang and I was just about to bust you on that Leo for the grid lol...... Anyways another fantastic update here and I like that teaser!!!

[bob56]

Very nice!!!

Compliment: Love the different neighborhoods you seem to have, and the embankments.

Suggestion: On the orange-roof neigborhood pic, the sidewalk texture changes to brick and back in spots, IMHO I would fix that

[Sciurus]

It's beautiful, like it's noted in the title
And it's Hugh Laurie, and Gregory House

Guillaume

[sebes]

Wow Leo!  My first thought was: how can somebody name his own MD beautiful this or that, but Santa Rosita actually IS beautiful! 

When looking at the first picture I thought "what an awfull neighbourhood" (well built - and a great picture...but kind of slummy, you know what I mean I hope)....

But the rest of the picture does INDEED show a beautiful town... even the 'cheap housing by one architect' part of town looks like a very pleasant quarter to me.. Well down Leo, and the beautiful in the title is justified 

[Nexis4Jersey]

Wow awesome start , i can't wait to see more !

[Schulmanator]

Sweet! Glad to see you back with new stuff! Rock on! 

[TopCliff]

Pat: Sorry to take the fun out of it for you. Good to hear about the update and teaser!

bob56: Yes, there are many neighborhoods in Santa Rosita. It's based mostly on Downtown Los Angeles and the surrounding area, with some of the other neighborhoods crammed on the tile as well. As for the sidewalks, I'm currently working on fixing that. In the meantime, just try to ignore it. Thanks for commenting!

Sciurus: I know who he is: I'm one of his biggest fans. So much so, my fellow classmates have given me the nickname House just because of my near encyclopedic knowledge of the show. Thank you for commenting.

sebes: When I put beautiful in the title, it was more supposed to be part of some catchy travel slogan or something for the city. It's good to know someone as talented as you thinks the title is fitting. Also good to know you like SoPo, which is in essence a combination of Compton/East LA with . . . oh wait! I almost spoiled the surprise! You'll have to wait for a future update to find out.

Nexis4Jersey: Thanks!

Schulmanator: Good to know it's sweet dude! New stuff is definitely right, this beats the monkey nuggets out of Chase City! Forget rockin' on, let's party on!

I regret to say that with school starting again, I won't have as much (but still enough to churn out a big update or two every week) time for Santa Rosita. To tide everyone over, I have two more teasers from the same neighborhood as the last one. The first person to figure out which neighborhood it is exactly (no worries, it has a very generic name), they will be given the chance to name something, anything, in Santa Rosita. On to the teasers!

[Pat]

craaaaaaaaaaaaaaack and the brewers win the world series ooooh whooopsie sorry there Leo got a tad bit excited seeing that great Diamond there!!!!   What I do is take a number of pics and plan a head that way you can keep going with some great updates...  Either way I will be back in for more!!

[Sciurus]

Very beautiful, and one question: Have you already seen the Season 5 of House MD? In France, it's just the 4th season

Guillaume

[TopCliff]

Pat: Per-CHA dude, Padres for the win! Yes, I should plan ahead more. No worries, I've barely scratched the surface of Santa Rosita (and its metro area).

Sciurus: Thank you! Yes, it's Season Five over here. But don't worry, Season Four has just as many thrills, chills, and sarcasm as ever.

Update Three: The Civic Center



The southern half of the Civic Center. This is where the Santa Rosita Friars play, right at TIME Field. The field looks small for a city the size of Santa Rosita, and that's because of engineering concerns due to earthquakes. Fortunately, many enterprising people have rented out their offices and homes during games so people can watch from any of the buildings surrounding the field. Technically, it's illegal because most of the buildings can't handle the load of people, but the police and fire department look the other way since there's no way they could handle the crowd of 55,000 or so people who cram into the two-block radius.



Between 1928 and 1976, strict height limits in the Civic Center prevented anything from being taller than half the height of City Hall, which outraged the city's architecture critics and developers. After all their whining, the law was repealed. That still hasn't changed the fact that there's an empty lot full of potholes that only idiots would park in still occupies most of a city block.



The lobby of City Hall and the Sanchez Memorial Fountain. City Hall has been the location for many famous movies. Sanchez Memorial Fountain was named after the city's seventh Mayor, Alejandra Sanchez. Santa Rosita has always prided itself on being a place of equality, and it says something for a female El Salvadorian immigrant to become mayor . . . BEFORE the turn of the 20th Century. The fountain was dedicated one hundred years to the day she was inaugurated Mayor: February 19, 1993.



Here one can see the spire of City Hall. The entire top two floors are just for the Mayor. The press isn't allowed to go there, so no one really knows what he's done with them. There are many theories circulating, such as he's converted the whole top floor into a mini golf course or that somehow, he manged to get his collection of rare Ferrari's up there and has made it a showroom for staff. Although that area is blocked off from the public, the area right above it is an open air observation deck. It's the only one in the city that's free.



The city's second main observation deck, it was built for the World's Fair in 1976, immediately following the repealed height restriction. Although, technically, it's just south of the Civic Center, in the . . . oh wait, that neighborhood will have to wait for another update. 



In the top right corner is the only building in the Civic Center that actually broke the height restriction laws. The Bradbury Hotel, built in 1934, was just a few feet over what the restriction was. City officials didn't notice it until after the steel skeleton had been erected, so they gave it an official pass to stay that height. The reason they missed it? Apparently, the area on the blueprint where the height was, whoever was holding it somehow managed to cover up the last digit, an eight, with his thumb so it looked like a three. One can also see the Regal Theater, one of the theaters still remaining from the first half of the 20th Century.



Nothing too important in this image, except for the subway station. It was built in 2003 to be the terminal for the newly constructed Green Line, which went right under the Civic Center and then connected to the Blue Line, which runs most of the length of Bueller Avenue. It was a collaboration between Norman Foster and Frank Gehry. There were over one hundred different drafts and renders for this building because the two kept bickering over it. Finally, they reached an agreement: they would take Gehry's design, but cover it in Foster's glass. To this day, the two haven't spoken again. The empty lot next to it will soon be a new development. What it will be, no one really knows yet.



That damned empty lot again. The three old buildings to the north of it, though, are of historical importance. They were the first three buildings to be constructed in the Civic Center after it received that official designation. On Game Day, each one of them has up to a hundred or so people crammed on the roof alone.

Teaser Alert:



We'll have to save this neighborhood for next time. Simply put, it makes Compton look like Santa Monica. Next update soon!

[Sciurus]

Excellent, just excellent
And you know, in France, we've finshed the fourth season, and I'm watching the 5th season on a belgium chanel

Guillaume

[WC_EEND]

Excellent, just excellent
And you know, in France, we've finshed the fourth season, and I'm watching the 5th season on a belgium chanel

Guillaume

what channel is that? The only Belgian channel I know of that broadcasts House is 2BE and they play season 4 now

EDIT: sorry if this is too much offtopic

[Sciurus]

I hope you're Wallon, it's RTL TVI, and as I live near the frontier, I can watch

Guillaume

[WC_EEND]

I hope you're Wallon, it's RTL TVI, and as I live near the frontier, I can watch

Guillaume

no season 5 for me , damn Flemish tv!

upside: when season 5 finally makes it to the Flemish tv, it'll be in English. (dunno if RTL-TVI dubs House, but all the major French tv-broadcasters dub all non-French tv-shows)

EDIT: lovely MD Leo

[Pat]

Great update here Leo!!! loving the back story on the civic center and leave it to a smart man to hide a digit 

[Nexis4Jersey]

Ah, what a great urban oasis