After COVID-19, Can Downtown L.A. Get Back Up?

Blair Besten halts her stride down 7th Street, stopping in front of an empty storefront. Once upon a time, before the pandemic, it was a vintage-clothing shop. She’s about to tell a story about it when suddenly a bright-red engine from Station No. 9, based in Skid Row, comes barreling down the street, siren blaring. “We get that all the time,” Besten says as the truck passes, alluding to the staggering toll from the winter coronavirus surge.