On any given Sunday afternoon, when most people are winding down their weekend, San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel comes to life, with hundreds of partygoers packed onto the hotel’s rooftop pool deck. A line typically stretches around the block of persons who look like they could have been taken off the set of the latest MTV spring break special. The Hard Rock Hotel is part of a new breed of hotels that appeal to a younger demographic, a demographic looking for hotels that can be places to have fun as well as rest one’s head. But the active rooftops of hotels like the Hard Rock are also part of a larger trend to better utilize the limited area available in urban environments for development.
Be it solar arrays, photovoltaic panels, roof gardens, or other amenities, the era is past when the tops of buildings were relegated to air conditioning units and helicopter pads. Even the vast roof of the Long Beach Convention Center is now blanketed with solar panels providing over one million kilowatts of energy a year, enough energy to power 150 households annually. Less practical is the large Blue Earth mural by Wyland that adorns the roof of the downtown event arena.
Though not a completely novel concept, the use of building roofs for outdoor activity has certainly been gaining ground of late, in line with increasing urban development. Those who frequent Pine Avenue restaurants might be familiar with Smooths’s rooftop dining terrace, which provides diners and partygoers with a wonderful view of downtown life. Perhaps one of the most interesting rumored rooftop amenities is that of a tennis court atop the Virginia Country Club. Some speculate that the Bixby Knolls Metro Center’s mysterious crown of light poles marks one of the most exclusive racket clubs in the city.
Probably the most famous roof amenity space in Long Beach is also the most underused. Over the main branch of the public library are approximately two acres of park space, created to provide ocean views that are now blocked by development. Unfortunately, because this rooftop park has few amenities, only homeless persons make any use of it.
Had the economy not altered course, downtown Long Beach would have likely been home to a couple more acres of open space with a view. Over a half dozen new projects, including hotel and residential projects were designed with rooftop pools and decks. While many of these have been postponed or canceled, all is not lost as two buildings near completion do come stocked with a bit more fun on top. The Lofts at Promenade is an apartment development made up of two buildings, one facing the Promenade at 3rd Street, the other facing Long Beach Boulevard. The two buildings are unified by a pedestrian bridge and amenity deck. The deck includes barbeques, a pool, and a spa with accompanying cabanas, as well as a yoga studio and health club. These rooftop features will certainly be effective marketing tools for drawing new residents into the development, and into downtown.
Also reaching the end of its construction is the Avia Hotel at the Pike, which will be an incredible addition to the under-utilized entertainment center. This 140-room boutique hotel is the first of two hotels slated to be developed adjacent to the large parking structure along the Pike’s western edge. The Avia will include a wine bar, lounge, restaurant, banquet facilities, and lower level courtyard, along with a rooftop pool deck that should provide one of the best views in the area. If the space is half as interesting as the rendering presents, the city fire marshal will likely have to maintain an eye on its maximum occupancy.
The future will likely see more opportunities for people to occupy the areas in the city with the best views and the best sun. Even if new construction slows, it is possible to retrofit existing buildings so as to take advantage of under-used roof areas. City zoning regulations typically place few restrictions on using the roofs of buildings beyond requirements for structural strength and emergency exits. Some buildings seem to be ideal candidates for more active rooftops. The Famous Department Store and Newberry Building, both on Pine Avenue, were structurally designed to support additional floor levels, allowing for the addition of amenity decks. The parking garages at City Place and the Southern California Edison building at Elm Avenue and Broadway have underutilized, large roofs that could serve their surrounding communities, communities that lack substantial outdoor recreational opportunities.
One of the most interesting roofs to explore is that over the Cinemark multiplex movie theater at the Pike. Pedestrians at street level cannot see this currently unadorned roof, but it is a source of visual blight for many of the nearby high-rise buildings along Ocean Boulevard. This roof provides one of the most striking views of the waterfront, and should be open for public use. This is not just a hypothetical argument: a California State Supreme Court ruling invalidated the land swap that made the site where the Pike now sits available. While the future implications of this are unclear, one potential compromise could be to replace the area lost to private development with a publicly accessible roof area. There are over two acres of available surface over the Cinemark: this is sufficient space for a miniature golf course, lawn bowling, or several tennis courts.
Of course, I do not know if any of these examples would be successful: I mention them just to indicate how there are tremendous possibilities for using roof space in Long Beach. I envision Sunday afternoons in the future in which we might see denizens of Long Beach winding down their weekend by socializing on roofs around the downtown area, strengthening the urban fabric of our downtown.
