I was out this morning, walking Los Angeles downtown around the Biltmore Hotel and Pershing Square, fishing for materials and stories. Gentrification is blasting away with full force, cleansing what, only a few years ago, was blight, and in doing so resurrecting the old glory of Los Angeles. The Biltmore Hotel, The Theater, the Old Jewelry District, all around the streets are alive with pedestrians parsing through weekend farmers market, students from the local FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise) ambulating as if on catwalks, and indispensable transients making permanent scenes along the pavements.

