This story actually started a couple of years ago when the Missus won a walking tour of Los Angeles at a silent auction fundraiser for a local repertory theater (now sadly defunct). We all know that 'no one walks in L.A.', at least according to the song but we and 12 of our friends were eligible for a guided 4 hour walking tour of downtown Los Angeles.
Actually, it was a compact section of downtown, because downtown L.A. is pretty darn big. What we we were to see were historic buildings, many of them now re-purposed into office buildings and lofts.
The amount of construction and renovation going on in the downtown area was amazing. Energetic young people are swarming to downtown L.A. and bringing their money with them. It is great to see the city coming back to life.
We saw many structures but I only photographed a few that I hadn't documented previously.
Our group (9 was all we could round up) met in at Pershing Square on a beautiful Saturday in May with our guide and we set off.
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| Our intrepid group getting the low-down from our tour guide before we set off |
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| The Subway building, now an office building. Not the Red Line, but a previous subway that ran trolleys underground into downtown. This was the terminus in downtown |
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| The guide said that the terminal was mobbed during WW2, the height of its popularity |
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| One of the street level windows in the terminal showing a trolley and passengers |
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| A trolley entering the tunnel outside of downtown L.A. |
Here is an excellent write up on the original subway and the interior which we didn't get to see:
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| We found this Fiat 500 behind the Bradbury building. Since Young Son is a proud owner of a red Fiat 500 Turbo Sport, we needed his picture with this version. How anyone could fit in that car is a mystery... |
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| Pretty much the whole day we were downtown this CH54 Skycrane was hard at work lifting things to the top of a building. It was quite loud and echoed a lot. |
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| A mural of water being brought to the city (I think) |
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| The central library, always a favorite of mine. I love the quote |
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| Politically incorrect murals involving the founding of California and Los Angeles. I imagine it won't be long before they are shrouded or taken down all together. The library and the murals are a treat and should be seen |
After our tour ended we headed to Clifton's a fixture in Los Angeles for decades and decades.
Clifton's has to be experienced at least once when living or visiting Los Angeles:
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| the building has three levels of tables available with the food served on the ground floor. It was mobbed at lunch time but emptied out by 1 p.m. |
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| The second floor |
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| Amazingly life-life taxidermy on display! |
We finished our giant lunch and headed back to Pershing square, foot-sore but happy. It was a great walking tour and highly recommended.
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