Marina del Rey Makeovers Put It on Course Out of 'Time Warp'
Betty and Arthur Klapper left New York for Marina del Rey 12 years ago and never looked back. The Marina, with its boats, restaurants and international visitors, had the urbanity they craved.
Most Southern Californians "like the suburban life," said Betty, 84. "That's not our style. We want to be with people."
Los Angeles County officials hope the Klappers will get a lot more company in the years ahead.
Long-simmering plans to pump glamour back into the often-dowdy Marina and reestablish it as a major attraction for local residents and tourists are finally gaining momentum as major real estate projects there start to hit the market.
The county, which owns Marina del Rey, wants the area to become a magnet for locals and tourists the way that Venice and Santa Monica are. The county is urging Marina leaseholders to upgrade their restaurants, shopping centers, hotels and apartments -- creating a sense of style and excitement that is now lacking.
The problem: Some would-be attractions haven't been upgraded for decades. Many observers say 40-year-old Marina del Rey -- one of the county's most prime pieces of real estate -- has been stuck in the 1960s.
Its older apartment buildings are blocky, bland and lack defining architectural features. The hip stores and trendy restaurants that propel spending on the Westside are mostly absent. It's usually impractical to walk from one establishment to the next because Marina del Rey is laid out for the convenience of motorists, not pedestrians.
As a result, Marina del Rey gets only about 2 million to 5 million visitors a year, compared with an estimated 15 million at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and 16 million at the Grove shopping center in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles.
"The Marina has been sitting in a time warp," said developer Rick Caruso, who built the Grove and just completed a radical upgrade of a Marina del Rey shopping center.
"Now the whole thing is going to explode," he said.
Tom Harrison, a principal at Colony Capital, said, "People skipped around the Marina for years because there was no new product." Colony is one of several well-heeled developers that are injecting funds into upgrading the area.
Still, there is no guarantee Marina del Rey will regain its lost cachet. Local competitors for leisure spending are organized and well funded, said economist Jack Kyser of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Pasadena and Santa Catalina Island all have convention bureaus marketing their attractions, he noted.
