**Warning this is a ride and park report. Sorry, no motorcycle pictures, downtown areas are best seen on foot. If you simply ride through you miss 90% of what is interesting.
Downtown Los Angeles isn't a tourist destination like Chicago, Boston or NYC. People go there to work, some people live there, lots of people never bother to look around. When I worked there I often spent my lunch hours exploring. New buildings have to allot 1% of their budget for some sort of public art or space. This means if you take the time you will find little parks, fountains, and various art works tucked into unexpected spaces all over the downtown area. Decided to splurge ($10) and take a historic "core" tour to learn more about the background of the city so I thought I would share.
We started in Pershing Square. Not much of a park, broiling hot in the LA afternoon sun and a hang out for the homeless. This art is supposed to represent the California Aqueduct...
In the background you can see the California Jewelry Mart. LA has different shopping districts; jewelry, flower, garment. If you are willing to leave the comfort of the suburban mall and do a little negotiating you can get great deals in these areas.
"America's Got Talent" was having a call at the Biltmore Hotel. I don't know anything about the show but the line was pretty big and full of all different types of people from kids, to hip hop women, long hair rockers, and a Michael Jackson look alike. They were keeping them whipped into a frenzy so there was lots of hooting and hollering going on. Finding lines like this isn't all that uncommon.
Next is the Los Angeles Public Library. It is an amazing place, going underground 8 stories and very beautiful inside. Behind it is the US Bank Tower, the tallest building in California. Tall buildings weren't built in LA until the early 70's when they felt they had the technology down well enough to with stand earthquakes. Now they build them on springs. It is some fun when they get rolling!
There was a wedding being set up the library grounds.
This is the public space that the US Bank Tower created to meet their "art" requirement, there is a waterfall flowing down the center of the steps.
Here is another view of the library with the B of A Center behind. There is a prediction that in a severe earthquake those two towers might swing in and hit each other. Probably won't matter much since in the emergency training I got the city warned that us is severe earthquake the entire 1st floor, street level, would be full of glass and debris. Not much, I can see you can do at that point but make sure you are flexible enough to kiss it goodbye.
The Million Dollar Theatre side entrance.
The Bradbury Building; Built in 1893, this is still a working office building!
My favorite building of the tour, an Art Deco, Power and Water headquarters, beauty. Also still a commercial office building.
For .25 cents you can take Angels Flight and avoid the steps up or down Bunker Hill. It is a funicular (incline railway, run on cables) built in 1901.
Stopped into Grand Central Market (est. 1917). You can get fresh produce and meat as well as prepared food from various regions of Mexico, Vietnam, China, El Salvador, etc. Not all the vendors have a very good command of English so you have to be willing to do some guess work about what you will be getting.
The Butcher had some excellent looking cuts at good prices and none of the stores near my house have 3 kinds of tripe AND full pig's heads.
More for the pork lovers, chicharrones (fried pork skins)
Lots of dried stuff too; shrimp, fruit, beans, and every chili pepper imaginable.
Heading east from here you go into a shopping area that can feel more like a Mexican border town than a U.S. city. Lots of small shops selling all manner of things, music blaring, vendors calling out to hawk things and streets full of people. This shop sold religious articles of every sort. I believe these are for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
LA Conservancy offers a variety of these sort of tours. I'm looking forward to checking out some others.
