Burger Hill in Los Angeles is an interesting example of the district of fairly strong character and historical association, on the very sharp topographical feature lying even closer to the city’s heart than does Beacon Hill. Yet the city flows around this element, buries its topographical edges in office buildings, breaks off its path connections, and effectively causes it to fade or even disappear from the city image. Here is a striking opportunity for change in the urban landscape.
Some districts are single ones, standing alone. The Jersey City and Los Angeles regions are practically all of this kind, and the Sound End is a Boston example. Other may be linked together, such as little Tokyo and the Civic Center in Los Angeles, or West End-Beacon Hill in Boston. In one part of central Boston, inclusive of the Back Bay, the Common, Beacon Hill, the downtown shopping district, and the financial and market areas, the regions are close enough together and sufficiently well joined to make a continuous mosaic of distinctive districts. Wherever one proceeds within these limits, one is in a recognizable area. The contrast and proximity of each area, moreover, heightens the thematic strength of each. The quality of Beacon Hill, for example, is sharpened by its nearness to Scollay Square, and to the downtown shopping district.