Mike Freedman's words, not mine. Though I wish they'd been. Freedman is point man for Freedman, Tung and Bottomley, the urban design firm our city hired to create a plan to revive downtown Newhall. Three hundred shopkeepers, property owners, community activists packed the town hall last month to hear how Freedman would resurrect Old Newhall out of the hodgepodge of nothingness that San Fernando Road has become. That in itself was quite an accomplishment.
Successful downtowns focus on what makes ground-floor businesses successful.
Shops open directly onto the main street, not onto parking lots. Stores are narrow and deep, with doorways few paces apart. And though different, each building exhibits three common elements that establish the area's identity. Or, in Ray Bradbury's words last week, its metaphor. Santa Barbara is the city of white stucco and red tile roofs and palm trees.