Last week the Los Angeles Times published their latest neighborhood guide featuring our very own Larchmont Village.
The purpose of the guide is to help people who live in LA learn about all the great neighborhoods in the city, explained Adam Tschorn, a senior features writer at the Los Angeles Times and author of the Larchmont Guide as well as numerous others.
Tschorn used to live in the neighborhood on Rossmore until he moved a few miles west to nearby Beverly Grove and still visits often so we asked him if got a chance to add to his story, what he might add.
“I realized that didn’t have as much as nighttime activities in the story,” said Tschorn. “I was hoping to check out Blipsy Bar on Western and The Edmon on Melrose Avenue.”
Since the Times envisions the guides to be more for people who live in LA as opposed to tourists, he also left off the Paramount Studios tour but told us it’s a must-do, if you ever get the chance. He also didn’t mention how much he loved the seasonal Christmas tree lot annually run by the Wilshire Rotary or Mario’s Peruvian restaurant.
“There are a ton more things I could have included,” Tschorn told us.
Tschorn did an artful job of highlighting our new business like Shorthand while still giving a shout-out to longtime businesses like Landis Stationary.
In the interest of balance, Tschorn confined his criticism of our beloved boulevard to parking, everyone’s favorite topic to rant about these days. Yes, we all agree parking in the middle of the street is way worse than it ever was. We think short-term meters like 15-20 minute meters might help the problem and wondered what he thought.
“Here’s a parking fact for you,” said Tschorn. “Parking meters were invented to speed up the turnover in parking spaces.”
“It’s not a parking problem, though, it’s a people problem, because there’s a three-level, 167-space, city-run underground garage (at 218 N. Larchmont Blvd., right next to the Rite Aid) that’s rarely at capacity — even when cars clog the median end to end, lights flashing as their occupants dash off for a cup of coffee or an unusually large cookie, and other automobiles circle like hungry vultures looking for a tell-tale reverse light.” wrote Tschorn.
“Larchmont has the best kind of problem,” said Tschorn. “It’s why people cheat on their neighborhood to come to Larchmont.”
He also noted the tension between maintaining the nostalgia of small-town America, with the reality of very high-priced real estate stressing the operations of locally based retailers and business owners. Tschorn told us he’s partial to Larchmont because he grew up in a small town in Vermont where his parents still operate a general store.
You can find his Larchmont neighborhood guide on the LA Times website, it’s available to LA Times subscribers. You can also read his other guides. He’s currently working the the Times neighborhood team on a guide for all the neighborhoods in Santa Monica.
