This morning, I woke up at 9AM and checked out of the hotel at 11AM. On the way out of the hotel, I picked up a blueberry scone, dried fruit muffin, banana, and coffee, which were still in the lobby as part of the continental breakfast. Upon exiting the hotel, I walked across the street to Arcata Plaza and relaxed on a park bench while enjoying the coffee and muffin.
Arcata plaza can serve as a successful model for creating community spaces and green spaces in small and midsized towns throughout the country. The plaza is a very successful use of green space, adding significantly to the quality of life for all of the citizens of Arcata and enhancing values of nearby properties. The problem with the current green spaces in cities is that most cities have land-use plans which dictate the percentage of space which must be allocated for open spaces (parks, gardens, public walking paths, etc.). However, simply saying that a percentage of a city’s total land should be set aside as green spaces doesn’t achieve the overall best results for inhabitants of a city. There is a huge difference between the value provided to residents when a city concentrates all of its green space in a couple of huge parks consisting of thousands of acres versus a city which intelligently locates small and mid-sized parks throughout the city.
The enormous city blocks in Los Angeles lead to the creation of parks like Rancho Park, Balboa Park, and other large parks which don’t offer the same “value-per-acre” to citizens of a town as smaller, more strategically designed/located parks would offer. Los Angeles can greatly benefit by creating more small and mid-sized parks, especially as population density continues to increase. After all, how valuable are Rancho Park and Balboa Park to people living in Downtown LA? Not at all. Every resident of LA should be able to access a green space by walking a maximum of fifteen minutes
What’s unique about the immediate area of Arcata Plaza which may contribute to its success?
- Traffic/Automobile accessibility: Because the plaza consists of an entire city block, there are six streets openings leading to the plaza
- Architecture: The plaza is surrounded by beautiful, historical aesthetically-pleasing buildings which all contribute to the entertainment aspect of the plaza
- High Density: Zero lot line buildings (buildings built attached to each other)
- Ample Parking: 2 rows of diagonal parking on all four sides of the plaza
- University: The high foot traffic from the University definitely provides a boost to Arcata Plaza, but I think it would still be successful even without the University
- Pedestrian friendly: The plaza welcomes pedestrians to the center lawn through crosswalks from all surrounding street corners and eight paved pathways leading to the center of the plaza
- Entertainment/service types of businesses: Types of businesses surrounding the plaza are bars, coffee shops, restaurants, boutiques, hotels, and other service-related businesses
If I were a local investor, I would definitely feel comfortable owning a long-term-investment-property at Arcata plaza (not just a buy, fix, sell). Arcata plaza’s unique aspects/benefits as an area to invest in, are comparable to Downtown Telluride, 3rd Street Promenade, and the under-construction Palisades Village. Centrally located, pedestrian-oriented, entertainment/tourist real estate seems to be well positioned to dodge the effects of huge lifestyle shifts which are affecting suburban office buildings, large shopping malls, and other property types. Also, pedestrian-oriented, street retail is a property type that I understand and believe in. I don’t see Amazon as being too much of a threat to pedestrian-oriented, entertainment-oriented street retail properties. I wholeheartedly believe that people will always want to go somewhere beautiful and walkable to eat, relax, and hang out. This belief makes me passionate about this sector and much more likely to feel comfortable owning this type of property.
On the other hand, I am personally not enthusiastic about self-storage properties, office buildings, and high-end apartments. Regarding self storage properties, the idea of someone paying $100/month to store furniture or belongings just seems absurd to me. If you don’t have room for anything in your own home, just sell it, give it away, or donate it. Is it really worth spending $6,000 over a period of five years to keep something that’s probably worth only a few hundred dollars? Given my perspective on the self-storage business, I don’t think I would be able to own and/or operate one as successfully as someone who personally believes in the widespread use of self-storage. You won’t be successful in selling a product/space/concept if you don’t believe in it yourself. For that reason, maybe I should look into street-retail, entertainment-oriented properties.
Sitting at the Arcata Plaza, I decided to walk the 9 miles to Eureka rather than taking the bus. From looking at the Google Map view of the walk, there seemed to be plenty of ocean views and bay views along the walk, and I thought it would be a fun, worthwhile experience.
Following up on yesterday’s journal entry, walking on the side of the road is also a good metaphor for living. For example, if you’re constantly comparing your speed to that of cars/bicyclists, you’ll feel discouraged and miserable. The same applies to comparing yourself to other people in different areas of your life. The right mindset to have is to focus on yourself and confront the situation as a personal challenge. If you’re walking at 4 miles per hour, that’s a great speed and a wonderful speed/situation for you to be in. Better yet, the strongest people go a step further, and formulate their own mindset/perspective that can help them not only in achieving incredible feats, but also to maintain a positive, optimistic attitude in the process. For example, the late ultra cyclist Bob Breedlove, is remembered for encouraging himself and competitors by saying. “Just another day in paradise.” During a 10 day bicycle race across the United States, he created his own mindset/perspective which allowed him to remain positive for days and days of unimaginable physical and mental adversity.
While walking on Highway 255, there was a sign on the road for the upcoming Ma-Le’l Dunes. I visited the recreation area and hiked the trails to the ocean, with the plan of walking a few miles south on the shore until meeting back up with the bridge to Eureka. the dunes were beautiful but I merged inland after only about 1/2 mile of walking on the sand. As I walked inland to meet back up with the Highway, I came across a Nature Center which also had a restroom and water fountain. The building had recently been refurbished by a group named “Friends of the Dunes” and had beautiful characteristics including rooftop vegetation which seamlessly blended into the surrounding landscape, an arched ceiling with no support columns, and a concrete facade which was imprinted with wood design patterns for texture purposes. A man named Pete was doing some landscaping work and we spoke for a few minutes. I asked him if I could walk on the roof of the building and he hesitated, but then agreed to walk me up there. It was obvious that he was (rightfully) very proud of the work they had done on that building.
After visiting the Nature Center, I continued walking on highway 255 for 4.5 miles until reaching the intersection of Highway 101 and Highway 255 in the center of Eureka. At Highway 101, I headed south for a few blocks and checked into the hotel where I would be staying the night. It felt great to be able to leave my pack in the room and walk around the city for the remainder of the afternoon without any extra weight.
After checking into the hotel, I walked a few blocks to the Historic Downtown area of Eureka. The Historic Downtown area consists of about five square blocks between Highway 101 and the waterfront. 2nd Street is the most active street in the Historic downtown area with many bookstores, restaurants, bars, and art galleries.
One of the storefronts on 2nd street is a window showcasing painted wooden sculptures. Over the span of many years, the artist, Romano Gabriel, decorated the exterior of his home in Eureka, CA with the wooden sculptures. In 1977, when he passed away WITHOUT A WILL, a private investor bought his home and dismantled his artwork. Eventually, the community relocated and displayed his artwork in a large window storefront on 2nd Street in Historic downtown. This story reminds me a lot of Salvation Mountain in Niland, CA. Both stories contain very independent men, creating imaginative and unique artwork on a massive scale. However, with Salvation Mountain, Leonard Wright seemed to have much more recognition and seemed to be much better prepared for preserving his artwork after his death.
On 2nd Street, I decided to eat a late lunch/early dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Historic Old Town. The meal was extremely filling and I was only able to eat about half of the food even though I was starving and hadn’t eaten since breakfast. I offered the leftovers to a homeless relaxing on the sidewalk, who seemed extremely grateful to receive the food.
After heading back to the hotel and relaxing for a few hours, I went for a sunset walk to Carson Mansion and Carson House. The Carson Mansion was built in 1886 at a cost of $80,000, and is considered by many to be “the most grand Victorian home in America.” William Carson, a successful self-made businessman in the lumber industry, built the extravagant home. The home currently isn’t open to the public, but is used as a private club facility. The “Pink Lady house” also known as “Carson House” was also built by William Carson and is currently used as a vacation rental.
