I've lived in Los Angeles for a little over a year now and I'm constantly discovering neighborhoods, historic buildings, restaurants, and more. I love hopping in the car with the intention of getting a little lost and finding different enclaves of my new home.
This weekend I signed up for a walking tour of Historic Downtown LA with the Los Angeles Conservancy. I wanted to learn more about the buildings I pass by in the car on a weekly basis or have seen in movies like 500 Days of Summer that highlight areas of LA that aren't Hollywood/Rodeo Drive-centric.
The Conservancy runs eight different walking tours on Saturday and Sundays, all lasting about 2.5 hours and cost $10. I went on the Historic Downtown tour which provided a great overview of the historical and cultural landmarks of downtown. Our docent enthusiastically led us around town educating us on the architectural styles surrounding us and how they've evolved to reflect population growth and changes in technology and trends. We started at Pershing Square and continued onto the Biltmore Hotel, Pacific Mutual Building, Mayflower Hotel (now Hilton Checkers), Edison Building, Los Angeles Central Library, Subway Terminal Building, Angels Flight, Grand Central Market, and finished at the Bradbury Building. Wow, seems like a lot to cover, right?
I was surprised at how many buildings and parks we were able to visit in a short amount of time. I was also pleasantly surprised at how in-depth the docent made each stop along the tour. I knew basic factoids, like the Bradbury Building was in Bladerunner, but had no idea that most of the neon signs in Grand Central Market are original from the 1920s.
If you have parents or friends coming to visit LA, I highly recommend one of the Conservancy's tours. Or if you are a big nerd like myself, sign up for one! I'm planning on taking the Art Deco tour in the near future to further my knowledge on landmarks like the Eastern and Oviatt buildings. So park your car, put on your walking shoes, and go learn about the other side of Los Angeles!
MORE LA LOVE ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• For the Love of Los Angeles: 500 Days of Summer
• Destination: Los Angeles A "Best Of" City Guide
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Great Post. I've been to LA a dozen and half times and once, and if someone takes me down Hollywood blvd one more time I'm going to scream. Been there, not into it. 500 days of Summer was awesome because it took me a long time to realise they were in LA! it's not all celebs with tiny dogs and weirdos looking for attention. LA's history is fun if you get to know it.
This is great for locals, too! One of the down sides of LA is that lots of people never leave their own neighborhoods…
The Highland Park tour is great, also. The tour ends in the private home of a blacksmith and an actor. Their house is known for the “Sousa Nook” on its property – which is where the composer would stay/work when he was in town.
I recently brought some friends who’ve lived in Silver Lake for 25 years to Highland Park and they were blown away. They live 5 miles away and had no idea it was even here.
Downtown LA is great -- alas, it takes a New Yorker to appreciate it!!!
The NY Times printed a walking tour many years ago and I was thrilled after following it -- took my partner downtown when we last visited LA this past fall -- he really enjoyed it. The Library wasn't on the "original" tour, but we stumbled into it and were glad we did. One of the highlights for me is that great old cafeteria -- Clifton's.
I lived in LA for 3 years and explored every nook and cranny of that city. We would just jump in the car and go.. ahh, so many great memories!
My sister and I took the Metro from Redondo Beach to downtown LA and rode every single Metro train line and explored the city, for $5. What a great adventure we had!!
Good to read this. Many years ago I stayed in the Biltmore and set off on foot one morning to look at the downtown area. The hotel doorman stopped me, almost with a flying rugger tackle, and warned me it was 'dangerous'. Glad to have ignored him and had great fun exploring this interesting area.
I too just moved to LA, about a year and a half ago, and a friend of mine got my girlfriend and I turned on to this AWESOME walking tour book that I would highly recommend. It's called secret Stairs of Los Angeles by Charles Fleming. What you get is about 50 short walking tours (between 1-3 miles) that through hidden neighborhoods. I love this book because it not only gives you great historical information on each area you're in, but also because it was written so recently, it will point out random funny things along the way, for example, one walk said something like "peek through the slats in the fence to see the most extensive collection of garden gnomes ever". My girlfriend and I love to make a couple mimosas in to go cups and go on these mini adventures.
So much fun -- theres a website for the book that has some of the walks up for free, and I think theres an iphone app
http://www.secretstairs-la.com/welcome.html