We've visited Hollywood
and Highland, and the ArcLight Cinerama Dome
Complex, two of three brand spanking
new Los Angeles developments. Now let's drive over (it's only a few
minutes away) to the new Grove at Farmer's Market.
The Grove expansion of the
Farmer's Market consists of a huge parking structure, a medium sized 50
store upscale mall anchored by a Nordstrom's, and a stadium seating
style 14 theater cineplex. The Farmer's Market itself is left pretty
much untouched, but benefiting from some upgrading of restroom
facilities. Two new buildings adjacent to the Market itself
accommodate a few additional retailers, and even offer some top of the
line office space.
One of the biggest
problems facing this development is the horrendous traffic in the area -
in particular the block on Fairfax between Beverly and 3rd Streets where
not only the Farmer's Market is located, but also the CBS Television
City complex and a very busy discount mall, with a Ross clothing store
and a large Kmart.
The best
way to access the Grove is to approach it from the east - either
on Beverly or 3rd Street - turning onto a new road built across the back
of the property named The Grove Drive. (Try to avoid coming from the
west, and entering via the other new street in the middle of the
complex, named Gilmore.)
The first thing you'll
notice upon entering the car parking structure is a spiffy new digital
car counter system - with a listing of each of the parking levels, and
how many spaces are left on each one. As you reach each level
driving up the ramps inside, a reminder sign will indicate the totals on
each floor (below).
Most people will drive
around in circles on the lower levels to avoid having to park too far
up. Mostly they do this because access to each floor in other
developments may be low capacity, meaning a long trip down or up.
At the Grove I'd suggest
you head up to the highest and most sparsely parked levels - since there
is an excellent system of both spacious escalators (below) and roomy
elevators that will ferry you down quickly to the mall ground level.
You even get an added
benefit parking up there, a view from the structure down into the new
central plaza area...
...another bonus is a
closer peek at some of the architectural details they've placed all
throughout the complex (below).
Upon
reaching the ground level, you'll notice the parking structure
has a rather lavish lobby, that opens to the mall itself. Note the
details (below), such as a chandelier and fresh plants on the tables...
again this is the parking lobby folks.
Right away you can see
this is a very upscale development - as they offer Concierge Service
(the picture on the left below shows the desk in the garage structure).
There is a level of
richness in construction that really stands out about this development,
for example rather than just stained cement, most of the walkways are
done in some kind of marble or tile (above photo right).
Buildings are detailed
from floor to roof levels, featuring elaborate cornices, and wrought
iron work. Even the street lamps are made of stained glass. (Below).
Let's
continue, shall we?
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