This past weekend, I visited the Westfield
Century City Mall for my first exploration of Los Angeles. I have never been to the district of
Century City before, and I was surprised to see how close this district was to
UCLA. My classmate Michelle and I
ventured to the district by car.
As we drove towards the mall, a short 3-mile ride, I made sure to look
out the window and take note of the changing neighborhoods and landscapes
around me. We first drove through
the Westwood neighborhood behind sorority row, and it was on Manning Avenue
that I admired the beautiful homes and oversized front yards. Then, we turned onto Wilshire Boulevard
and the scenery quickly changed from a residential plot to a business
center. The next streets we
traveled on, including Beverly Glen Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, were
extremely wide and featured green belts in the center. In addition to the businesses and
stores on these streets, they also featured sporadic apartment buildings. This layout was representative of a
traditional urban area like I read about in this week’s reading, where
combinations of land use including residential, commercial, and public, are
found. Unlike the post-suburban region Orange County, a private
automobile would not be necessary in a district like Century City, where one
could easily walk from their place of work to visit the mall or go out to eat (Kling,
Spencer and Olin 7).
In this picture I took, you can see the close proximity from the Century City skyscrapers to the Westfield mall. This outdoor mall was so
different from the mall I usually shop at, South Coast Plaza in Orange County, which is still elegant,
but a lot less modern and original.
Once
we arrived in Century City, we drove around the area for a bit to explore what
the district was like. The tall
skyscrapers that covered the streets provided a stark contrast to the
medium-sized homes and modest apartment buildings we noticed in certain parts
of the district. The landscape
around the buildings included palm trees, grassy areas, and large parking
lots. Since our movie time was
approaching, Michelle and I decided to drive back towards the Westfield Century
City Mall. We parked in the
parking structure, and I noticed that a majority of the cars were luxury 4-door
sedans. There was a marked absence
of larger SUVs, and there were a few substandard sedans mixed in. From this observation, I assumed that
visitors to this shopping center would include young adults, middle-aged
couples, and not too many families or young children.
Our
first stop in the mall was the AMC movie theater to buy our tickets for the
7:35 PM showing of “Trouble with the Curve”.
Considering it was 6:15 PM at the time, we figured there would be plenty
of seats left in the theater. To
our surprise, there were only first and second row seats left. The attendant quickly let us in on the
secret that in order to see a movie at this theater, it is necessary to buy
your tickets at least an hour or two in advance. His personality struck me as a bit rude, as if my friend and
I didn’t know what we were doing and didn’t belong in this first-class
theater. From that experience, I
would guess that the visitors that frequent this theater have no problem
showing up early for the showing and paying the $13.75 movie ticket price. This is a big difference compared to
where I am from, in the city of Long Beach, where you can pay around $10.00 for
an AMC movie ticket and can arrive to the showing at the same time that the
movie starts. Referring back to my
focal question, a difference in price and accessibility makes a lot of
difference in my mind because of what I am used to in my hometown, which is
still considered a part of Los Angeles County.
After
purchasing our tickets, Michelle and I went to look for somewhere to eat. We had heard great things about the
eatery Pink Taco, so we walked over to that restaurant but quickly turned
around when we saw that there was a 45-minute wait to be seated. Instead, we entered what was called the
“Dining Commons”, which I guess is a classier title for their version of a mall
food court. The Dining Commons
featured restaurants like Bibigo, Which Wich, Baja Fresh, and California
Crisp. It definitely wasn’t your
typical food court with a Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s. The way the restaurants were laid out was very modern and
sleek, and each restaurant featured steel surfaces, wood panels, and unique
lighting. There was both an indoor
eating area and an outdoor space. I ordered my meal at Bibigo, and paid $9.50 for a rice and
chicken bowl, which I thought was a bit steep. The attendant handed me a small beeper, which I was told
would vibrate when my food was ready. I thought this addition was pretty neat, seeing that I
usually only see these beepers at nicer, sit-down restaurants. This piece of technology is an example
of how consumerism is connected with information capitalism, as discussed in
the reading. In “Post-Suburban
California”, we read that fast-food restaurants use information technologies to
define the experience of frequenting their establishments in a positive light (Kling,
Spencer and Olin 18). By using
this beeper, Bibigo exemplified the shift to a post-rational, consumer-oriented
culture.
I patiently waited
for my food, but then after about twenty minutes, was a bit frustrated by the
long waiting time. The person next
to me also seemed a bit aggravated that their order wasn’t ready either. I went to ask the attendants working
and they seemed very confused that my order hadn’t been up yet and tried to
help sort the situation out. The
person next to me handled the situation very differently, and started blatantly
yelling at the waiter that his food wasn’t ready yet and told her that all of
his friends were already eating and had ordered after him. I was personally a bit annoyed by this
person’s obnoxious complaints, especially when I noticed that I had ordered at
least five minutes before him.
It was at this
moment that I once again took note of the personality of the people at the
Century City mall. Like the
condescending movie theater attendant, my friend at Bibigo seemed a bit
pretentious and superior. After
two interactions with this personality type, I was ready to return home even
before the movie started. Once
again, I was taken aback by the difference in personality type from the types
of people I normally interact with in Westwood and in my hometown. Nevertheless, the conclusion of my
night was rather pleasant as I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and ride home.
In closing, I
really enjoyed the experience I had when visiting Century City. A destination just three miles away
from UCLA, this district provided a bleak contrast compared to the more
simplistic Westwood Village that I frequent much more often. One of the more “glamorous”
destinations in my travel plans, Century City proved to be a refreshing
place. As I travel other places in
Los Angeles, however, that may fall under the “struggling” category, I am sure that
I will find even bigger differences and entirely new experiences that I am
looking forward to as well.
Kling, Rob,
Spencer Olin, and Mark Poster. Postsuburban California: The Transformation
of Orange County since World War II. Berkeley: University of California
Press, [1995], c1991 1995. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0k40036b/
Hi Madison! I just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading your post about your excursion to Century City. I like that you write about your experience from a personal level, as opposed to merely noting observations that you had, for example the kinds of people you came across as well as the comparisons between Century City and Orange County. The only thing that I felt was lacking from your account was a broader exploration of Century City—maybe getting out of the mall and exploring the city streets to get a broader view of social difference in this region. I know you drove around in the beginning, but I felt that you should have done so for a longer period of time as you just barely touched the surface of the region outside the mall. Nonetheless, the region you did cover clearly showed the differences between this part of Century City and other parts of Los Angeles. Your description of how the city changes as you drive from UCLA to Century City clearly shows this as well.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal blog, I try to make an emphasis on examining art and what it says about a particular region, and I would have liked to read about the kinds of art found in Century City, however, I appreciated your approach to the topic of the existence of social difference by examining types of restaurants, small things like beepers to notify customers, and attitudes of people, the last of which is crucial to understanding a place, in my opinion, and I think you made people come alive in your post. I could visualize the movie theater attendant’s less-than-helpful demeanor and the angry food customer’s rants. On the other hand, I think that more visuals, other pictures and such, would have greatly helped your post for someone who has never been to Century City before. The picture you put up with the skyscrapers shows it as a truly metropolitan region which certainly helped. In addition, you made a really good point with your encounter with the beeper and your analysis of it: “This piece of technology is an example of how consumerism is connected with information capitalism, as discussed in the reading. In “Post-Suburban California”, we read that fast-food restaurants use information technologies to define the experience of frequenting their establishments in a positive light (Kling, Spencer and Olin 18). By using this beeper, Bibigo exemplified the shift to a post-rational, consumer-oriented culture. ” Reading this just made me realize how true that is and I also loved how closely you were able to connect your experience to the reading.
All-in-all, I enjoyed reading your post and as I read it, I was thinking about all of the times I had been to the Century City Mall, usually to watch a movie, and never realized any of this. I never really thought to pay attention to these details, even though they seem so obvious when you mention them now. Thanks for sharing your experience and for making it so interesting and personal!
By the way, here is my comment on my blog post for this week in case you want to see it: http://socialdifferencelam.blogspot.com/
DeleteHello Madison, I read your post about visiting the Westfield Century City Mall about two weeks ago, when you first posted it, and I was nearly tempted to comment as soon as I read it because I had a similar experience at that mall last year in regards to feeling out of place. My mother and I had tickets to see the finale of American Idol, which tapes at LA Live, but we did not make it there on time, so we decided to go driving around Los Angeles, to maybe stop somewhere and window-shop or catch a movie. We ended up in Century City, as it was near Westwood, and decided to go see a movie at the AMC there, but we ended up leaving after attempting to buy a movie ticket due to our inability to figure out how the ticket buying system worked (it was VERY different to the AMC Norwalk 20 location I go to all the time) and our general discomfort in the area. Last week in lecture, when the professor said how whenever anyone is made to feel out of place, it reinforces social difference, I thought of your post and my experience. After last weeks' readings and lecture on the Geographies of Difference, I feel like both of our situations are good examples of "how the city is a site of producing and maintaining both difference and inequality".According to lecture, one way that the city maintains inequality is through remote and difficult access. When we were driving to the mall, my mother and I were confused to as to how to actually enter the parking and shopping area. It wasn't too hard to figure out but it was not as intuitively easy to park somewhere as say, the Puente Hills Mall (La Puente), the Shops at Montebello, or Whitwood Mall (Whittier, now closed), which are the malls I am the most familiar with. I think that subterranean parking serves many different purposes in a mall such as Westfield: not only does it conserve space, save the owners money on buying a lot adjacent to the mall, and keep cars from heat or rain, it also serves as a way of keeping some people out of insuring the upper-middle class/celebrity clientele (a Google image search of the mall brings up images of such people as Magic Johnson, Halle Berry, Sofia Vergara, among others) that their cars will be safe, as they are inaccessible to the general public.
ReplyDelete(rest of post in the reply...)
According to the Los Angeles Times' Mapping LA website, the Century City region of the city is 82.5% White, which they place in the "not especially diverse" category compared to other neighborhoods in the LA region. The median income of a Century City resident is $95,135, which is among the highest in the city and the county. According to the Westfield Property Portfolio, "Westfield Century City is a stunning open-air retail venue serving affluent residential and business communities on the west side of Los Angeles...the center’s primary trade area is home to 1,091,481 residents earning an average household income of $101,476", which means that this shopping mall that is meant to a cater to a larger affluent audience than just Century City (possibly residents of Beverly Hills, Brentwood, etc. The shopping center reflects the affluent lifestyle of not only the surrounding community, but other neighborhoods in the Los Angeles region.The whole shopping center is targeting an affluent audience, so it is little wonder why my mother and I, who would never describe ourselves as affluent, felt out of place there. As Latinos in a predominantly white neighborhood, we were, statistically speaking, outside of the community. We felt out of place because we felt we were the only Latinos in the whole complex. We were greeted with nothing but smiles and great service by the employees of all the restaurants and shops, some of which were outside of their stores, giving away samples and flyers for sales. As far as the other customers, we felt like they were staring at us and giving us strange looks for being there. I felt like it was classism more than racism, though in "The Continuing Causes of Segregation" by Massey and Denton, the authors argue that racial segregation in neighborhoods is a result of race rather than class, especially for African-Americans. Racially, they may argue that the only way Century City will become more diverse will be for homeowners to stop being so exclusionary, while someone like Julius Wilson would argue that greater economic opportunities throughout the nation for blacks and other minorites would open it up to more people. As far as class, I am not sure how Century City can become more diverse economically. I hope in the following weeks, we will focus on class differences as well, and how it is spatially represented in the city.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your post, I found it very informative and you described how it both fits and doesn't fit the post-suburban landscape well. In fact, as I was looking at the Westfield Property Portfolio, I saw their plans for the surrounding area: [the full quote in on my post]. Does this mean they are trying to increase their accessibility by making it easier for automobile-using Angelinos to find parking? Or are the new pedestrian walkways and the convienent walking distance of new shops, restaurants and open space looking towards a shift back to the older urban models of a city? Only time will tell.
If you want to see the whole post, with all the pictures, quotes and formatting, visit my post at http://briannainla.blogspot.com/2012/11/blogging-social-difference-in-la-week-5.html :)