CP&DR

Culture, Retail Create Downtown in SoCal Suburb

Aug 1, 2003

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 18 No. 08 Aug 2003

There is a certain kind of excitement — my guess is it is uniquely American — when cities reach a moment of transition, such as when a small city gets its first high-rise building. On the other end of the urban life cycle, another moment occurs when an aging downtown blooms with second-hand stores and ethnic delicatessens amid retirement homes and tattoo parlors.

Pinocchio Urbanism Lives In Bay Area

Jun 1, 2003

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 18 No. 06 Jun 2003

Like the lonely woodcarver Geppetto in the story of Pinocchio, boosters of "town centers" hope that the instant shopping streets will be accepted as the genuine article.

Project Finds The Formula To Build In Berkeley

Apr 1, 2003

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 18 No. 04 Apr 2003

From a distance, the Gaia Cultural Center in Berkeley does not appear to be an unusual building. But up close, we see it is no ordinary building.

Aliso Village Offers Clear-Eyed Approach To Slum Abatement

Feb 1, 2003

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 18 No. 02 Feb 2003

The history of public housing suggests that utopia is not merely a naïve idea, but may be a dangerous one. In her recent book The Provisional City, UCLA professor Dana Cuff has argued that some of the worst housing projects in Los Angeles were the result of well-intentioned and civic-minded people, who, during the first half of the 20th century, were trying to rid the city of neighborhoods they considered slums. The new Aliso Village is a neighborhood of 470 dwelling units built on the site of th

Fresno Seeks Touch Of Paradise To Cure Ill Downtown

Dec 1, 2002

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 17 No. 12 Dec 2002

Is it appropriate for designers to create objects that have no use beyond giving pleasure? In 1972, a French interviewer asked a similar question to the designer Charles Eames in the film "Design Q&A." His answer: "Who is to say pleasure is not useful?"

Pleasant Hill Surrenders to Retailers

Oct 1, 2002

Morris Newman, Places, Pleasant Hill, Vol. 17 No. 10 Oct 2002

Food substitution is among the household arts that make daily living possible. One cup of buttermilk, for example, can be substituted with a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar plus enough whole milk to make one cup. Or two cups of tomato sauce can be replaced with three-quarters cup of tomato paste, plus one cup of water. A few substitutions do not spoil the dish. They may even improve the taste.

Yorba Linda Tries To Bridge The Downtown Gap

Aug 1, 2002

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 17 No. 08 Aug 2002

This is the soundtrack of a person walking across a bridge above a busy street. The first sound we hear is the Doppler effect of a car approaching, then disappearing beneath the bridge, making a noise roughly like "eeee-UURRHH!!" A moment later, the same car emerges from beneath the bridge. "WHIFFF-urrrrh!"

Sacramento Neighborhood Rejoins the City

Jun 1, 2002

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 17 No. 06 Jun 2002

Del Paso Heights is a neighborhood frozen in time. With its large lots and streets without sidewalks or storm drains, the 1,500-acre neighborhood has a kind of shabby charm that recalls its former role as the suburban fringe of the long-gone City of North Sacramento. The neighborhood seems suspended at the moment just before a rural or quasi-rural area undergoes urbanization — that is, when large lots get subdivided for single-family housing, when streets get paved and the casual "house here, hous

Train Moves New Urbanism Forward

Apr 1, 2002

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 17 No. 04 Apr 2002

Welcome to Celebrity Architectural Boxing. In this corner is the reigning champion, the New Urbanism. (Cheers.) Although he looks older than his years, this youngster is a good citizen when it comes to walkable streets, parks, open spaces, human scale and contextualism. (Yay!!) On the other hand, he has suffered some defeats in his bouts with style. At times a golden haze of nostalgia descends over New Urbanism, like a scene out of "The Natural." (Boo-o-o-!!!)

Ballpark Plan Is Orderly Face of Messy Process

Jan 1, 2002

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 17 No. 01 Jan 2002

Planning is nothing more than built politics. In that light, cities are a kind of fossil record of all the arm-twisting, back-scratching and sheer chutzpah that has brought about the creation of cities through time. Give me the map of any major city, and assuming I have adequate knowledge and discernment, I will show you the major landowners, the political donors, the power cliques and the philanthropy that are responsibility for that city's built form.

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