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22 Planning July 1986 A Planning roundtable tackles the problems of the suburban commercial strip. Zipping Up the Strip By Ruth Eckdish Knack Early on a Sunday morning, Firestone Boulevard in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey is deserted. But it isn't hard to imagine what this strip of six-lane highway is like during a weekday rush hour. That's what Planning asked a group of visiting firemen to do last April during the national APA conference. The six out-of-towners were taken on an early morning tour by Downey community development director James Cults and his assistants, Ronald Yoshiki and Gregory Shaffer. Then the group assembled in a city hall conference room to talk about what they had seen. A transcript of the two-hour discussion was edited for this article. Plan- ning managing editor Dennis McClendon helped arrange the roundtable and took the photographs that accompany this article. Recent history In the post-World War II suburban boom, Downey prospered as a primarily residen- tial, blue-collar suburb some 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Its major east-west artery, Firestone Boule- vard, attracted auto dealers, small in- dustrial shops, and an assortment of retail establishments, some clustered in an open- air shopping center called Stonewood. But in the late 1960s, Downey began to feel threatened on the residential front by the plethora of new developments in Or- ange, Riverside, and Ventura counties and blt commercial competition from adjacent communities. Commerce, to the north, is known for having no property tax, and Ger- ritos, to the south, has lured auto dealers to its 35-acre 'auto mall.' Downey's popula- tion also began slipping, from 88,000 in 1970 to 82,000 a decade later. Meanwhile Downey, whose motto is, after all, 'Future Unlimited,' began looking -.~r ways to upgrade its image and deal with ~,,4E~blems as a growing number of elderly residents. Part of the 3.2-mile Firestone Boulevard corridor was declared a redevelopment area in the late 1970s, and two years ago, the city commissioned a revitalization plan from two Los Angeles consulting fn'rns, Archiplan and Economics Research Associates. They recommended such streetscape improvements as a block- long sidewalk canopy. Cults noted that the consultants de- scribed Firestone Boulevard as a 'museum of fifties architecture," and such streamlined structures as Simpson Buick impressed our panel as well. Just off Firestone, on Lakewood Boulevard, is one of the original McDonald°s drive-in restaurants. The city is now assembling land for two 'auto centers,' one of which will include Simpson. It is also attempting to attract retailers to several small shopping centers, or 'promotional centers.' In an ef- fort to intensify the strip's commercial nature, Downeit planners are looking for ways to relocate the fe~ remaining residences scattered along it and to ra- tionalize the zoning, further separating commercial and industrial uses. Problem areas The civic center area, which includes what's left of Downey's original downtown, was described as a special concern of local planners. A new Embassy Suites hotel has added some vitality, and now, said CuRs, the city is aiming for a parking garage, movie theaters, and new restaurants. Cults noted that, while Downey has a design re- The Participants James Cutts Downey community development director. Ena Dubnoff Los Angeles architect and faculty member, University o£ Southern California. Calvin Hamilton Former Los Angeles planning director. Bruce Heckman Executive vice.president of Teska Associates, a planning consulting firm in suburban Evanston, Illinois. James D. Meehan Developer with CM Properties in Santa Aha, California. Dennis R),an Chair of urban design and planning program, University of Washington, Seattle. Richard Tusttan Montgomery County, Maryland, planning director [suburban Washington, D.C.].