The subprime scare may be dwindling the audience for the nation’s real-estate show, but in L.A. a few big-budget projects are still poised for blockbuster openings.

Once upon a time, Los Angeles was a mess of suburbs in search of a city. Sure, it had that Mediterranean climate and all those interesting movie stars, but then there were the more than 6,500 miles of blocked-artery roads that rendered much of the city an endless parking lot (albeit an endless parking lot with excellent fish tacos). Power homes for power brokers could only be found high in the hills or pressed hard against the ocean.

No more. Today, several of L.A.’s once-terminal neighborhoods are on the rise, literally, with an aesthetic that’s new to the market. It’s beginning to look a lot like, well, New York, with a vibrant downtown, clustering high-rises and, dare we say, walkable communities. “There’s a necessity to start going up instead of going out,” explains Josh Williams, an editor at real-estate blog Curbed LA.

(Continue reading this story on New York Times)

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