The Miracle Mile

The Miracle Mile is an area in the Mid-Wilshire region of Los Angeles, California, consisting of a roughly one-mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard between Fairfax and La Brea Avenues, and the surrounding neighborhoods (including Park La Brea). It is often confused with the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. Other cities have given the name of Miracle Mile to linear shopping districts, including Tucson, Arizona; Coral Gables, Florida; Elmira, New York; Las Vegas, Nevada and Stockton, California (see disambiguation at Miracle Mile). Image File history File links Miraclemile1. ... Image File history File links Miraclemile1. ... Mid-Wilshire is a region in west-central Los Angeles, California. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... Park La Brea (Spanish: La Brea - The tar, after the local tar pits) is a sprawling apartment complex in the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles, California. ... Magnificent Mile looking south View north from the foot of the Magnificent Mile The Magnificent Mile is the portion of Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois extending from the Chicago River to Oak Street in Near North Side community area. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... Tucson (pronounced ) is the seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles (188 km) southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles (98 km) north of the U.S.-Mexico border. ... Nickname: Location in Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida Coordinates: , Country State County Miami-Dade Government  - Mayor Don Slesnick Area  - City 96. ... This article is about the U.S. State of Florida. ... Elmira is a city located in Chemung County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 30,940. ... This article is about the state. ... This article is about the city of Las Vegas in Nevada. ... This article is about the U.S. State of Nevada. ... Nickname: Motto: Stocktons Great, Take A Look! Location in San Joaquin County and the state of California Coordinates: , Country State County San Joaquin Incorporated 1850 Government  - Mayor Edward J. Chavez  - City Manager J. Gordon Palmer, Jr. ... Miracle Mile has several meanings: The first time an athlete ran a mile in under four minutes, done by Roger Bannister in 1954. ...

Geography

The Miracle Mile District is bordered by the Fairfax District on the north, Hancock Park on the northeast, Mid-City on the southeast, West Pico on the south, and Carthay on the southwest. The district's boundaries are roughly 3rd Street on the north, Highland Avenue on the east, San Vicente Boulevard on the south, and Fairfax Avenue on the west. Major thoroughfares include Wilshire and Olympic Boulevards, La Brea and Fairfax Avenues, and 6th Street. The district's ZIP codes are 90036 and parts of 90019. The Fairfax District is an area of neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles, California, that is roughly bordered by West Hollywood on the north, La Brea Avenue on the east, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills on the west and Wilshire Boulevard on the south. ... Hancock Park is a wealthy neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. ... Mid-City is a district in west-central Los Angeles, California. ... Carthay is a large residential district in western Los Angeles, California. ... 3rd Street in Los Angeles is a major east/west street. ... Highland Avenue is a major north/south arterial road that runs from Caheunga Boulevard in the southern end of the San Fernando Valley to Washington Boulevard in South Los Angeles. ... San Vicente Boulevard is a major east-west throughfare located in the western portion of the Los Angeles, California Metropolitan Area. ... Fairfax Avenue is a street on the west side of Los Angeles, California, which runs from Culver City at its southern end to West Hollywood on its northern end. ... Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile District, looking east toward Downtown Los Angeles Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, looking east toward the Millionaires Mile Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California. ... Olympic Boulevard is a major arterial road in Los Angeles, California. ... La Brea Avenue is a prominent north/south thoroughfare in Los Angeles. ... Fairfax Avenue is a street on the west side of Los Angeles, California, which runs from Culver City at its southern end to West Hollywood on its northern end. ... A ZIP Code is the postal code used by the United States Postal Service, which always writes it with capital letters. ...

The Miracle Mile is lined by many high-rise buildings.

Image File history File links Wilshire_and_San_Vicente_Blvds,_1. ... Image File history File links Wilshire_and_San_Vicente_Blvds,_1. ...

History

In the early 1920s, Wilshire Boulevard west of Western Avenue was an unpaved farm road, extending through dairy farms and bean fields. Developer A.W. Ross saw potential for the area, and developed Wilshire as a commercial district to rival downtown Los Angeles. Western Avenue is a major four lane street slightly west of Downtown Los Angeles and the center portion of Los Angeles County. ...

Ross's insight was that the form and scale of his Wilshire strip should attract and serve automobile traffic rather than pedestrian shoppers. He applied this design both to the street itself and the buildings lining it. Ross gave Wilshire various "firsts": dedicated left-turn lanes, the first timed traffic lights in the United States; he also required merchants to provide automobile parking lots, all to aid traffic flow. Major retailers such as Desmonds, Silverwood's, May Co., Coulter's, Mullen & Bluett, and Seibu eventually spread across Wilshire Boulevard from Fairfax to La Brea. Ross ordered that all building facades along Wilshire be engineered so as to be best seen through a windshield. This meant larger, bolder, simpler signage; longer buildings in a larger scale, oriented towards the boulevard; and architectural ornament and massing perceptible at 30 MPH (50 km/h) instead of at walking speed. These simplified building forms were driven by practical requirements, but contributed to the stylistic language of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne. Asheville City Hall. ... Bathers building, now a Maritime Museum at San Franciscos Aquatic Park, 1937, evokes a streamlined double–ended ferryboat Judges tower at San Franciscos Aquatic Park Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone, was a late branch of the Art Deco style. ...

The old May Co. building, now LACMA West, marks the western border of Miracle Mile's "Museum Row"

Ross's moves were unprecedented, a huge commercial success, and proved historically influential. Ross had invented the car-oriented urban form—what Reyner Banham called "the linear downtown" model later adopted across the United states. The moves also contributed to Los Angeles' reputation as a city dominated by the car. A sculptural bust of Ross stands at 5800 Wilshire, with the inscription, "A. W. Ross, founder and developer of the Miracle Mile. Vision to see, wisdom to know, courage to do." Image File history File links Highsmithmaycompanywilshire. ... Image File history File links Highsmithmaycompanywilshire. ... Reyner Banham (1922-1988) was a prolific Anglo-American architectural critic and writer best known for his 1960 theoretical treatise Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, and his 1971 book Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies in which he categorized the Angelean experience into four ecological models...

As wealth and newcomers poured into the fast-growing city, Ross' parcel became one of Los Angeles's most desirable areas. Acclaimed as "America's Champs-Élysées, "^{[citation needed]} this stretch of Wilshire near the La Brea Tar Pits received the name of "Miracle Mile" for its improbable rise to prominence. Although the rise of shopping malls and the development in the 1960s of high-rise financial and business districts in downtown and Century City lessened the Miracle Mile's importance as a retail and business center, it has retained its vitality thanks to the addition of several museums and several commercial high-rises. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and La Brea Tar Pits museums, among others, positioned "Museum Row" on the Miracle Mile as a rival to Exposition Park. Today, the district is one of the city's most vibrant. The Champs-Élysées (pronounced  ) is the most prestigious and broadest avenue in Paris. ... La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles Countys Miracle Mile District. ... For the traditional meaning of the word mall, see pedestrian street or promenade. ... View of the Century City skyline from the Getty Center. ... The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, also known as LACMA, is the official art museum of the County of Los Angeles, California. ... La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles Countys Miracle Mile District. ... Exposition Park is located in South Los Angeles, across the street from the University of Southern California (USC). ...

Traffic

The L.A. County Museum of Art is located in Miracle Mile

The Miracle Mile District is one of the city's more densely populated areas, but is considerably more affluent than other high-density neighborhoods like Westlake and Koreatown. As a result, traffic congestion in the district is bad even by the standards of Los Angeles. To alleviate the problem and provide an alternative to automobiles for commuters, proposals have been made to extend Los Angeles Metro's Purple Line subway to Fairfax Avenue or points further west, from its current terminus at Western Avenue in Koreatown. However, a federal ban on tunneling operations in the area was passed at the behest of the district's Congressional representative, Henry Waxman, after a 1985 explosion caused by the buildup of pockets of methane in the district's long-depleted oil wells destroyed a department store. (As methane deposits abound in most of Los Angeles, some have considered this a dubious justification for a ban on subway construction.) In late 2005, the ban was overturned, owing to tunneling techniques that make it possible to mitigate the methane concern. A westerly extension of the subway has recently been supported by many civic officials in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica, the three cities through which the extension may run. In early 2008, the project— which is destined to terminate in Santa Monica—received $5 billion in federal funds. Alvarado Street, looking north from just southwest of the Wilshire Boulevard intersection. ... For other Koreatowns, see Koreatown. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... This article is about the present transit agency. ... Diagram of the Metro Purple Line. ... “Mass Transit” redirects here. ... For other Koreatowns, see Koreatown. ... Type Bicameral Speaker of the House of Representatives House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D) since January 4, 2007 Steny Hoyer, (D) since January 4, 2007 House Minority Leader John Boehner, (R) since January 4, 2007 Members 435 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party... Henry Arnold Waxman (born September 12, 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is an American politician. ... Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula . ...

External links

• Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[Miracle Mile:] "Older, it's got plenty of mileage left" (13 June 2004)
• Historic Photo Essay of the Miracle Mile District
• Miracle Mile Residential Association
• Miracle Mile Action Committee and Miracle Mile Safety Patrol

v • d • e City of Los Angeles Topics History · Transportation · Culture · Landmarks · Maps · Notable people · Mayors · Other elected officials Regions Downtown · Eastside · Harbor Area · Greater Hollywood · Westlake & Silver Lake/Los Feliz · San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys · South Los Angeles · Westside · Wilshire

v • d • e Wilshire region, Los Angeles, California Districts and neighborhoods Arlington Heights · Carthay · Country Club Park · Fairfax District · Hancock Park · Harvard Heights · Koreatown · Lafayette Square · Larchmont · Little Ethiopia · Miracle Mile · Park La Brea · Picfair Village · Wilshire Center · Wilshire Park · Windsor Square Points of interest La Brea Tar Pits · Los Angeles County Museum of Art Downtown · Eastside · Harbor Area · Greater Hollywood · Westlake & Silver Lake/Los Feliz · San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys · South Los Angeles · Westside · Wilshire