Downtown L.A.'s Hot New Lofts Profiled

"Loft living used to be reserved for some of the most down-to-earth people I know. In the late 1970s and early '80s, artists flocked in increasing numbers to inner-city Los Angeles. Their neighborhood, near Traction Avenue and Hewitt Street, was anchored by Hilbie's (now Bloom's General Store), the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art and Lili Lakich's neon gallery. A surreal, multihued airplane hung precariously above Al's Bar on Hewitt, a beacon for bohemians.

...What's most remarkable is that the loftâ€"its definition once so clear in my mindâ€"has morphed into a host of newfangled forms.

...Developer Tom Gilmore, an ex-New Yorker, began the revitalization of this area by turning three early 20th century buildingsâ€"the San Fernando, Continental and Hellmanâ€"into loft-like apartments, a.k.a. demi-lofts. Carved from former financial and business buildings in the Old Bank District, this generation of lofts generally lacks the spaciousness that the former factories provided. Still, they seem to suit many of L.A.'s new urban pioneers just fine."