Los Angeles Off the Beaten Path Tips by Dabs

As I was wandering around in downtown Los Angeles trying to locate the Bradbury Building I looked over and saw this mural for the Victor Clothing Company and thought hmmm, that looks a lot like Anthony Quinn. Sure enough, it is Anthony Quinn in his role in Zorba the Greek.

The 100 foot mural by artist Eloy Torrez adorns the side of the Victor Clothing Company, 242 South Broadway, who specialize in wedding outfits. As you walk around this area, you will find a lot of stores selling colorful wedding dresses, I somehow neglected to take a picture :-(

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You might be tempted to pass by this building if you were to judge it from the non descript exterior but if you venture inside you will be in for a treat-the naturally lighted atrium courtyard topped with a skylight, the intricate design work of the wrought iron staircases, the Victorian birdcage elevators that are still manually operated.

It was designed in 1893 by novice architect George Wyman who is said to have taken the job after communicating with his dead brother, via a Ouija board, who said "Take the Bradbury; it will make you famous." His inspiration was a science fiction book, Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy.

The Bradbury Building was used to film parts of Blade Runner.

It's located at 304 South Broadway and you can visit the first floor lobby between 9 and 5 every day although it sounded like with a little "donation" that the guards might take you up to the 5th floor. After visiting, if you want a bite to eat, hop across the street to the Grand Central Market.

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Across the street from the Bradbury Building in downtown LA is the city's largest and most active food market, Grand Central Market, with shops selling produce, meat and seafood. But the draw for a tourist are the many little places to eat, I saw Chinese, Thai, El Salvadorian and Mexican before settling on a couple of empanadas from an Argentinian place.

Located at 317 S. Broadway

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Next door to the Grand Central Market is a building that didn't show up in my guidebook, the Million Dollar Theater. I love ornate terra cotta facades and this one was the most ornate that I saw in the downtown area, designed in a style called churrigueresque. You can see bison heads, Texas longhorm skulls and dancing women adorning the facade of this building, which can be seen in the attached photo.

The Million Dollar Theater was one of America's first movie palaces, built by Sid Grauman (also responsible for Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood) in 1918 at a cost of, you've guessed it, $1 million.

Although you are no longer allowed inside, there was a 2,200-seat auditorium that resembled a Spanish Colonial cathedral. It was later turned into a church and appears to currently be vacant.

Located at 307 S. Broadway, next to the Grand Central Market

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Website: http://www.cinematreasures.org/theater/15/

Broadway, from around 3rd Street to 9th Street, was LA's theater district with most of the theaters built in the 1920s and 1930s, the largest concentration of pre WWII movie theaters in America.

The LA Conservancy walking tour has a walking tour that showcases some of the still standing theaters and they also run a program called Last Remaining Seats where you can watch classic films in one of the grand old movie theaters.

Here's a nice summary of the theaters in this area, not sure of it's accuracy but you can get an idea of where the theaters are and some of their history.

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The Angels Flight funicular was nicknamed "the shortest railway in the world" and unfortunately I think you need to add another adjective, non operational.

It opened on December 31, 1901, the two railcars, Olivet and Sinai (named for two mountains in the Bible), carried passengers between the fashionable residential neighborhood on Bunker Hill to the offices and shops below. The fare in 1901 was a penny, it rose to a nickel in 1914 where it stayed until the railway was dismantled and put into storage in 1969.

In 1996, the restoration of the funicular was completed , the fare being raised to a quarter. After a fatal accident in 2001, the funicular was shut down and remains out of operation as of October 2006.

Located at 351 S. Hill Street

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Website: http://www.westworld.com/~elson/larail/angelsflight.html

Virtually all of the legendary restaurants of Old Hollywood have vanished but Musso & Frank Grill opened in 1919 and Hollywood's oldest restaurant is still going strong. It was frequented by many celebrities, gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons frequently interviewed people here, Charlie Chaplin was a regular and a number of writers including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Aldous Huxley and William Faulkner (who lived in a nearby hotel) dined here.

I didn't eat here, the review in Fodor's says "Expect high prices and some attitude", the LA Times review is a bit more kind.

Located at 6667 Hollywood Blvd.

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The Pig 'n Whistle was Hollywood's first family restaurant that welcomed children, opened in 1927, and was the place to stop for a bite to eat after seeing a show at the nearby Egyptian theater. On either side of the name on the front of the building, you can see a dancing flute playing pig.

Located at 6714 Hollywood Boulevard

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Although the attached website says that the Egyptian was renovated and reopened in 1998, I took the attached photo from behind a barricade so there is still obviously some work going on.

The Egyptian was Sid Grauman's first movie palace in Hollywood and the venue for the very first movie premiere, Robin Hood starring Douglas Fairbanks.

It was closed in 1992 and according to the website reopened in 1998. There's a much better picture of the facade on their website, the barricades made a good picture impossible for me.

The website says they are still showing movies there and I imagine with an infusion of $15 million that the interior was renovated pretty nicely so if you have a little extra time maybe you can catch a movie in one of the classic old time movie theaters in Hollywood.

Located at 6712 Hollywood Blvd.

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Website: http://egyptiantheatre.com/egyptian/egypt.htm

The El Capitan Theater was opened in 1926, one of three theatres developed by Charles Toberman in conjunction with Sid Grauman (the other two being the Egyptian and the famous Chinese theatre) in what was at the time a thriving entertainment district. It was used as a live theatre in the 1920s and 1930s, changed over to a movie theater in the 1940s and renamed the Hollywood Paramount.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the interior of this theatre, it has been restored by the Disney company and was reopened in 1991 as a movie theater which also holds special events on occasion so you have to buy a ticket to see the interior.

Located at 6838 Hollywood Blvd.

For some more photos, see the travelogue

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Website: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/el_capitan/