Downtown
Los Angeles
Just as you'd imagine, Los Angeles downtown
area is framed by freeways rather than any particular geographic
boundary. The Hollywood Fwy lies to the north, the Harbor
Fwy to the west, the Santa Monica Fwy to
the south and a bird's nest of other freeways intertwine beyond
the Los Angeles River to the east. In the
thick of all this concrete and congestion, however, intrepid
urbanites will find a number of pockets worth exploring.
Extending eight blocks east to west, the
city's Civic Center is America's largest
complex of government buildings after Washington, DC. It contains
the most important of Los Angeles city, county,
state and federal office buildings, including the Criminal
Courts Building, where the infamous OJ Simpson murder trial
took place in 1995, and the 1928 City Hall, which served as
the Daily Planet building in the TV show Superman and the
police station in Dragnet. North across Temple St from City
Hall is the excellent LA Children's Museum.
Immediately southeast of the Civic Center
is Little Tokyo. First settled by early Japanese
immigrants in the 1880s and thriving by the 1920s, the neighborhood
was effectively decimated by the anti-Japanese hysteria of
the WWII years. Thanks in part to an injection of investment
from the 'old country,' Little Tokyo is again the locus for
Las Angeles Japanese population of nearly
a quarter million. Among its streets and outdoor shopping
centers, you'll find sushi bars, bento houses and traditional
Japanese gardens. Housed in a historic Buddhist temple, the
Japanese American National Museum exhibits
objects and art that relate the history of Japanese emigration
to, and life in, the USA.
South of the Civic Center, LA's Hispanic
shopping district is a deliciously cluttery mix of
cheap restaurants, frilly wedding dress shops and blaring
Latin pop. For a shocking contrast to the bustling street
scene, step inside the 1893 Bradbury Building,
where a skylit, five-story atrium is surrounded by Belgian
marble, Mexican tiles, ornate French wrought-iron railings,
glazed brick walls, oak paneling and a pair of open-cage elevators.
You've seen it in detail if you've seen the movies Blade Runner
or Wolf. Across the street from the Bradbury, between Broadway
and Hill St, Grand Central Market is LA's
oldest (1917) and largest open-air food market |
