Saturday, February 24, 2007 - Downtown Los Angeles walking tour in pictures

Downtown Los Angeles has long been maligned with a bad reputation for nothing to do and a refuge for homeless with homeless areas such as skid row. Recently downtown has undergone a renaissance with multi-million dollar construction projects such as Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Staples center. The planned Bunker Hill and LA live projects plan to breathe more life into downtown, it is fast becoming the in place to live with the addition of lofts, condos and multi-use businesses and dwellings.

Yesterday I had a friend visiting and we decided to do the Downtown walking tour. I would recommend it for anyone that plans to visit as a change to the already familiar Disneyland, Universal Studios and Rodeo Drive circuit. Downtown Los Angeles holds many treasures that  even many 'Angelinos' are not aware of.

There is an excellent site with various tours that you can conduct on foot, at your own pace. One of the features is numerous 'podcasts', where one can download a guided tour and save it to the MP3 player of your choice in order to play it during your walk;

http://www.laconservancy.org/tours/downtown/index.php4

http://www.downtownlawalks.com/

I've decided to let the pictures speak for themselves and added some brief descriptions, but I am sure with the help of the links above and a little research you can find out a lot of detailed information about the jewels that downtown holds.  These are just some of the spots that I visited yesterday, there are many more fountains, museums, statues and old movie theatres that I have not even mentioned.

 I hope this is helpful to anyone that would  like to discover the history behind the city with an undiserved repuatation for little to no culture or history. Enjoy!!.............................

Downtown skyscrapers

On a clear day one can actually see snow capped mountains behind the enormous skyscrapers.  Problem is that with the smoggy haze that usually envelops Los Angeles, these days per year can probably be counted on one hand.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Frank Gehry's latest masterpiece. In addition to the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper forum one of the many places in Los Angeles to catch a philharmonic orchestra, opera or play in downtown. Yesterday was a relatively mild day and the sun reflected off the stainless steel panels was still quite scorching. The heat reflected must be quite severe in the summer months.

Angels Flight

Recently restored and renovated after  a passenger fatality in 2001. It is slated to reopen in 2007 and will carry passengers for the short ride up Bunker Hill, which was previously a fashionable resedential area at the turn of the late 19th Century.

The Bradbury Building

Science Fiction fans may recognize this building from one of my favorite movies Bladerunner. This building was the location shoot for  J.F. Sebastian's apartment building housing numerous creations and replicants. I've included some still shots from Bladerunner in addition to the photo I took yesterday. 

Central Market

If you like ethnic food a good place to stop for lunch is the Central Market just opposite the Bradbury building. Chinese, Thai, El Salvadorian, Argentinain and Mexican is just some of the faire available. The bustling market with sawdust on the floor also contains a tortilla factory in addition to numerous meat and seafood stands.

Cathedral of our Lady of the angels

The recently completed catholic cathedral is interesting for it's minimalistic and even austere feel, note the lack of stained glass windows and almost monchromatic interior.

Chinatown

Twin dragons guard the entrance to LA's chinatown, turtles, jade, tea, t-shirts  whole peking duck and dimsum are on offer. Downtown also contains Little Tokyo for fresh sushi, sake and delicious bento boxes.

Olvera Street