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~- <br />easier to park downtown, but detracted from the pedestrian experience of <br />walking along the street from storefront to storefront. <br />The introduction of mass-produced building materials often meant that <br />new construction lacked the attention to detail of traditional materials and <br />older structures. Many old buildings were "renovated," which often meant <br />stripping the building of ornamentation or covering traditional detailing with <br />modern siding. These materials made for easier maintenance and represented <br />a shift towards a "clean, modern, streamlined" aesthetic. <br />This preference for modernity was also evident in city infrastructure and <br />urban design elements. Traditional light poles of cast iron were replaced by <br />larger fixtures of machined metal that represented an increase in efficiency <br />and celebrated the clean lines of modern manufacturing. In the post-war era, <br />everything modern was considered good, and progress was the dominant <br />theme. <br />The plaza reflected these changes, though it maintained its role as the <br />center of downtown. A 1963 photo shows an increase in automobiles and a <br />filling of the plaza with landscape elements, treating it more as a park than a <br />plaza. <br />San Leandro Downtown Plan & Urban Design Guidelines October2000 <br /> <br />~~ <br />Historic playa and Washington Avenue, <br />c. 1955. <br />,mac .;, f ;, <br />t z:- <br />t~`' <br />~> ~x' ,~r ~ :,, <br />a ,~*-" ~; <br />_,.; :. <br />Demolition of the historic plaza, c. 1960. <br />page 31 <br />