Thursday, September 10, 2015

The Culture of Culture: An Urban Legacy

The buzzword du jour for corporations is "culture”. Either you have it - or you don't. In which case, send in the consultants! But what is it? Yogurt? Beer? Penicillin? All are cultured. If corporations are people - and the Supreme Court says they are, a corporation's 'culture' must be - its people. Anheuser-Busch, 150 years old is all about beer. Yoplait is yogurt. Dr. Alexander Fleming was shocked to find out he had invented a cash cow for Big Pharma.

So, a corporation's culture is its people - plus its products. But what if the company provides a service instead of a product - what culture do they have? AT&T, for instance, touts 'service.' Some may disagree with that description. 

Culture is also applied to countries, which are after all, people. No other land has the culture of America, made up of immigrants, who work and serve together for a better society. All other countries are tribal in nature – Japan is for Japanese, Italy for Italians, Germany for, well, you know.

Cities too, are culturally unique – Los Angeles is perhaps not more special to Americans who live in Chicago, New York or Miami, for instance. But L.A. is exceptional for its culture – you can drive in an hour or two to the mountains to ski, if there’s ever snow again – or go to the beach. Live in hills, when there’s no fire, or just under the Hollywood sign. Planes and busses daily disgorge new residents determined to be movie stars, and tourists who want to bask in the direct sun, or light reflected from the footprints of stars on the sidewalk at Grauman’s Chinese theatre.

L.A’s Downtown is one of the wonders of the West Coast.
A new wave of culture is budding in Downtown LA. Cool and hip companies boasting young, tech savvy workers are locating from Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach to Downtown LA. Firms like augmented reality Google glass maker, DAQRI, to hip fashion firms like Nasty Gal, are nesting in Downtown, causing hip ripple effects in unlikely neighborhoods like the Ace Hotel block, where we now can enjoy a street cappuccino seated at Ikea-esque café tables on astroturf, as Uber drops a ride nearby. The sidewalks can’t keep up with the “cool” and “hip” spillover, so lanes once used for cars boast places that are supposed to feel sidewalk café-like out of a French film. Yet, there are growing pains.

Downtown LA is like a gangly teenage boy whose voice is dropping octaves before the rest of him has caught up. Is the City truly on it’s way to being a grown up? With some ninety-six plus development projects in various stages of development, it seems some would agree that adulthood is on the horizon.

The question is this: What will LA’s resulting culture be? How in years to come will it be defined and labeled? Hip? Cool? Trendy? Conservative? Diverse? Respectful? Caring? Tech-like? Sustainable? Healthy? Cutting edge? Where on the Myers-Briggs personality test does LA live?

The finalization of those ninety-six plus developments, like the Bloc, the Broad Museum, Metropolis and others, will be our defining cultural tipping point. Hopefully, along the way, as we stroll the streets while sipping a latte, with our “selfie sticks”, we won’t forget those in our picture frame lying on the streets with only a sidewalk to call home. The true definition of our “corporate culture” in years to come, will lie in how we as a City pull together to aid the homeless. The actions and decisions we make/take now on this polarizing plight, will indeed prove to define us more than that new museum, mall or sidewalk café in the years to come.

Unitedway.com/ homeforgood; skidrowhoustingtrust.org; sharednecessities.org

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