Here is an interactive map, created by the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability, showing the approximately 1,573,777,062 square feet of industrial space that can be found in Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino.
The map allows you to zoom in on specific parcels to see things like site area, warehouse size, and year built. You can also play around with different map radii to create a rollup of warehouse space within a specific area, which includes an estimate of daily truck traffic and CO2 produced.
The Guardian also used this data to create the following chart, which is helpful in showing the dominance of certain cities, as well as how much of this industrial space has been built since 2010:
The point of this interactive map, this data, and the accompanying articles is to highlight just how disruptive all of this new industrial space is to these southern California communities and to the environment in general. But I think it is also an important reminder that, whether we like it or not, our online activities have real-world physical implications.
Online shopping requires warehouses and logistics. Online food delivery requires (ghost) kitchens. And online activity, in general, requires the storage of unprecedented amounts of data. All of these "back-end spaces" take up room, even if they're mostly easy to ignore when we're just looking at our phones.
This is our new "phygital" world and, yes, it is changing the landscape of our cities. Now our task is to figure out how to do this in a way that respects communities and respects the environment.
Friend: Ever go to Jilly’s?
Me: No, actually.
Friend: Same.
Me: What about you? [Addressed to random guy in elevator]
Random guy in elevator: I’m from Portland. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I went to check out the new Broadview Hotel last night in Riverdale, Toronto. (Riverside if we’re being pedantic.)
Originally built in 1891 and most recently a boarding house with strip club at grade (Jilly’s – the best party in town!), the building was acquired in 2014 by developer Streetcar and turned into a “58-room boutique hotel and charismatic gathering spot.” The soft opening was July 27, 2017.
Official website here. Lots of interior photos here.
Besides the pink neon above the lobby bar (which is obviously great), I really like what they did in the stairwells. Credit to Supermilk Studio. Here’s a photo I snapped last night while trying to find the WC:
Each floor is painted with murals that pay tribute to the building’s history, from the early days of Dingman’s Hall to its most recent iteration as Jilly’s.
Interestingly enough, the building originally served as an important social hub for the community, though it did not initially house a hotel. On the ground floor was a bank (see, there’s a long tradition of this) and above it were offices and grand meeting halls.
It wasn’t until the original developer sold the building that it was converted to a hotel and granted a liquor license. It’s worth noting that this conversion is said to have faced stiff community opposition. A hotel that serves alcohol to people? Not in my 1906 backyard.
With the reopening of the new Broadview Hotel this summer, you could argue that east of the Don River is once again regaining its grand gathering spot. And the feeling I got when I stepped foot inside the hotel last night was that it was time. The demand was latent and, yes, condos wouldn’t have cut it.
At the same time, this is obviously bigger than the east side. There are many who don’t know this building’s infamous history. Jilly’s? What’s that? Time to go for a walk in the stairwells.
I was over at the Riverside Bridge yesterday taking photos and I was reminded of Eldon Garnet’s installation called, TIME: AND A CLOCK (1995).
The work spans a few physical sites, but perhaps the most well known component is the line of text on the west side of the bridge, which reads in 18″ high letters: “This river I step in is not the river I stand in.” (Photo above from Garnet’s website.)
If you’re from Toronto, you may be already be familiar with this installation. But I love the message and I think it’s an important one. So I thought I would reiterate it here on the blog.
The text is derived from the thinking of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Its meaning is a simple one: change is fundamental to the universe.
Neighborhoods change. Cities change. Industries change. We change. The river you first step into, is not the same river that you’ll be standing in. That initial river has come and gone, replaced by a new river. In the words of Heraclitus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice.”
As people, organizations and cities age, there can be a tendency to resist change. I believe in fighting that tendency.
Because that’s how established rich companies get destroyed by young poor companies. They – the incumbents – underestimate the importance of change. They forget that the river is constantly flowing.