‘Downtown Lakewood’

That’s how Norman Alston and Brandon Castillo view the Lakewood Shopping Center.

“You have this downtown infrastructure with a suburban shopping mall feel,” Castillo says. “It doesn’t have a sense of place; it’s just a strip of shops and restaurants. It needs public spaces.”

Castillo is the founder of the Deep Ellum Outdoor Market and his economic development firm focuses on “neighborhood-level improvements.” His specialty is pop-up markets, food festivals and other conduits of “vibrant street life.” Alston, a longtime Hollywood-Santa Monica resident, is an architect who specializes in historic preservation and recently was retained by the Lakewood