| Page Views: 13,751 Last Visit to Los Angeles: - | City of the Angels by malianrob - last update: May 18, 2008 |
| On our way to Downtown LA |
"I'd be safe and warm,
If I was in L.A.
California Dreamin'
on such a winter's day.
-THE MAMAS &THE PAPAS, "California dreamin'," 1966
Los Angeles is so big that I decided to start off one place at a time. A friend of mine is here from Brasil so we have been showing her LA and other places. We had already been to all the beaches and Hollywood and all that and she was interested in Downtown. On our way to Downtown Los Angeles we took the 110 freeway. It was a Saturday and the traffic wasnt too bad. The weather was perfect, about 75 degrees in the winter time (late November). Later in the afternoon it got alittle windy so we made sure to bring jackets.
Southern California has been doing some major redevelopement in many cities, one in particular is Downtown LA. If you havent been here in a while you might be surprised at what you see. There's a revitalization going on here.
For those who dont know, Downtown is broken up into 9 districts, or little neighborhoods.
1. Broadway-Jewelry District
2. Bunker Hill - Financial District- has the tallest buildings/office towers on the west coast.
3. Chinatown
4. Civic Center District- has the largest collection of government buildings outside of Washington DC
5. El Pueblo Historic Park District
6. Little Tokyo
7. Lower Financial District
8. MacArthur Park
9. Garment District
This is just the Downtown section of Los Angeles. There is so much more to see around LA as well. I just thought it would be nice to start here because this is where "LA" began and there is alot of history here. |
| Another picture of Downtown |
|  | The Redline and the METRO to get around We decided to do a walking tour starting at union station and getting as far as we could. We took the red line metro rail to get around but mostly we walked. This subway is very clean, fast and very well guarded. The cost is only $1.25 or $3 for an all day pass, this will also let you go on the DASH buses for free so dont lose your ticket. The tickets arent expensive and riding the redline is based on the honor system. Sometimes your ticket will be checked and most of the time it will not. In any case pay the your fare because you dont know when they will be checked and if you dont have a ticket the fine is pretty steep.
Via the Red Line you can get to:
Civic Center, Pershing Square, Mac Arthur Park, and 7th St where you can take the Blue Line which goes South toward Long Beach. The Gold Line can take you to Pasadena where you can start another adventure. |
Bonaventure Hotel "the city within a city " Located in the financial district the Bonaventure hotel is another LA landmark. It is also centrally located to many of the downtown attractions.
Some of the other really fun/interesting stuff to do while in Los Angles is check out the beaches. Manhattan Beach, and Hermosa are really nice in the South Bay. Huntington and New Port beach in Orange County are nice as well. Santa Monica, Venice and Malibu are also worth checking out.
Everyone likes to go the theme parks and of course the most popular is Disneyland. I like Disneyland but sometimes you just dont get your monies worth. The lines are long, the place is crowded. Everything is expensive and sometimes you cant see too much because there are so many people there that most of the time at Disneyland is spent in lines. Of course if you have never been to Disneyland you might not mind too much. It is a nice place and kids seem to enjoy it quite a bit. An alternative would be Magic Mountain(about 1 hour from LA) or Knotts Berry Farm. They are both cheaper, not as crowded and just as fun. Universal Studios is also a nice place to go to and not too far from Downtown. | | | Across the street from the Bonaventure Hotel |
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| Pros: | "the weather, year round beautiful" | | Cons: | "the traffic" | | In A Nutshell: | "The city thats coming back to life" |
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 Comments for malianrob about Los Angeles | | | | |
GracesTrips Tue Nov 11, 2008 21:02 UTC
Ha!ha! I just noticed what a great pic you posted of the FWY towards downtown! | Phalaenopsis03 Tue Nov 4, 2008 02:54 UTC
hey girl, long time no see. don't forget to vote tomorrow. =) | kevostyle Mon Oct 6, 2008 03:36 UTC
Hey there Dodger fans! Congrats, youe teamis doing really good. My Angelsarent doing so well. | micky-d Sun Oct 5, 2008 22:33 UTC
Dodgers are kickin' arse! Whats up with them Dodgers! |
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