One-day stopover in LA. What to see?

On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:15:31 -0800, Hatunen
wrote:

On 28 Jan 2005 13:08:32 -0800, wrote:


wrote:
Hi,

Me and my camera are having a one-day stopover in Los Angeles.
Does
anyone have any suggestions on what to see or do?

I'd head into downtown Los Angeles. Lots of photo opportunities there.
Among the buildings/areas I'd be particularly careful to locate would
be Union Station, Our Lady of the Angeles Cathedral, Grand Central
Market, the Bradbury Building,

Should point out that the Bradbury building is one of those
places you see a lot in American films and is almost instantly
recognizable (like Vasquez Rocks), the interior having appeared
in films as diverse as Chinatown and Bladeunner

Great photo of the Bradburn Building interior at
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bi...id_3118228.gbi

See also
http://www.usc.edu/dept/geography/lo.../bradbury.html

Movie locations at
http://www.brmovie.com/Locations/Bradbury_Building.htm

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Icono Clast wrote:
wrote:
Right. I should have noted that for the Bradbury Building, the
downtown Central Library, and a few of those other places, the more
interesting view is from INSIDE the building, not outside.

You really blow me away, Todd. Your information and descriptions of
your home are equal to the best I've ever seen about anywhere.

Gee, that's nice of you to say. Thanks!

I never spent much time downtown until just the past few years. One of
the great things about my current job is it puts me right on the El
Monte Busway. It's just a ten or fifteen minute ride to downtown.

You didn't mention that the lamp posts around the Bradbury Building
have plaques with a great deal of information about it and the
buildings on the block. I've read them all, I think, and will do so
again when next in the neighborhood.

Heh. Actually, I never noticed any plaques on the lamp posts. Next
time I'm in the area, I'll have to check

Further on down on this thread was a mention of movie shoots at the
Bradbury. Another sometimes-movie location is at 3400 Wilshire, not
too far west of downtown [but too far too walk--take either MTA 720 or
20 or 21 from downtown to get out here]. It's the Ambassador Hotel,
and the adjacent Coconut Grove nightclub. Both are sites of historic
interest, and I've also seen them both in several movies and tv scenes.
Both are also now closed to the public, so the only way to see the
inside of them [or the outside, up close] is on film. But you can get
a peek from a distance at the outside of these buildings from behind a
chain link fence on Wilshire.

The LA Unified School District has a plan to basically raze the
Ambassador, then replace it with a school building that will be built
to present a facade similar in appearance to the current structure.
There's something I find disturbing about the thinking that claims that
a plan such as this is somehow "preservation."

In any event, if interested in reading about the Los Angeles Ambassador
Hotel's history, here's a link:

http://www.hollywoodusa.co.uk/ambassador-hotel.htm

The only obvious thing I would note about the website above is that
they spell "Wilshire" the British way, with a "t" between the "l" and
the "s." Also, it's a little out of date in that it mentions plans for
a "collage" on the site. I don't know if that's a British spelling or
just a mispelling of "college." Either way, that plan is kaput, and
now the land is owned by LAUSD, and the plan is for a combined
elementary/secondary school.

For more information on the conservation effort regarding the
Ambassador, visit:

http://www.laconservancy.org/

Incidentally, there are also various walking tours [both guided and
self-guided] at this site, so the original poster might be interested
in visiting this site.

Finally, another possible place for the OP to visit, if time permits:
Exposition Park and USC. It would probably be too long of a day to
walk all over downtown and then also hit Exposition Park. But if you
make it here, you've got the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
[primary venue for the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics]. The rose garden
around the area might also be interesting. Also, there are a bunch of
large aircraft propped up around the California Science Center. The
patio in front of the Science Center is also photogenic.

Currently on exhibit at the Science Center is Bodyworks II, with a
number of plastination bodies. Kind of creepy if you remind yourself
these are actual bodies. Don't recall whether they let cameras into
the exhibit, anyway.

Just north of Exposition Park is USC, which has also been the scene of
numerous location shoots. See:

http://www.seeing-stars.com/Schools/USC.shtml

For balance, I will also note the site above includes a link to movies
shot at UCLA. UCLA is not convenient to downtown LA. However, if you
instead choose to hang out on the Westside, near Santa Monica, then you
might be inclined to visit UCLA, instead.

TK

Terri wrote:

Bldg, Bonaventure Hotel's fun elevators.) One word of caut=ADion,
though...we were stopped several times by security people as=ADking
us not to photograph certain buildings.

Oh, yes, definitely, if you go downtown, ride the Bonaventure's
elevators. They're pretty much the only way to get an elevated view of
the LA skyline. Used to be you could go to the observation deck of
City Hall, but because of security concerns, that's no longer possible.
TK

wrote:
Exposition Park

What happened to Charles Eames' "Mathematica"? I got to see it only
once and it wasn't enough. Gone when I returned, dammit!
__________________________________________________ __________
A San Franciscan in (where else?) San Francisco
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net

I recommend downtown Los Angeles; it's the most interesting part of the
city, you can walk around the area easily. From LAX you can take the
Green Line connector bus, this will take you to (of course) the Green
Line. Take the Green Line East to the Blue Line (going North to
downtown). Get off at 7th street. That will put you in the middle of
downtown. Total cost is a couple bucks one way.

The Ambassador is also where Sirhan Sirhan shot Robert Kennedy in 1968.
You are right, the LAUSD plans to build a high school on the site of
the Ambassador hotel (a high school for children of Mexican wetbacks
AKA illegal aliens which have flooded the area surrounding the former
hotel). The LA Conservancy has filed a lawsuit blocking demolition of
the Ambassador Hotel. The Mexcian American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF)
has countered in their claim that, "... the Ambassador hotel has no
historical value." Of course it has no historical value to a bunch of
parasite Mexicans, a "culture" which consists of not much more than
having zillions of babies (which they can't afford), sucking off the
American welfare system, forming gangs, the proliferation of Mexican
literature (graffiti), not learning English, and generally, endless
crime, trash, and poverty.

The Ambassador is also where Sirhan Sirhan shot Robert Kennedy in 1968.
You are right, the LAUSD plans to build a high school on the site of
the Ambassador hotel (a high school for children of Mexican wetbacks
AKA illegal aliens which have flooded the area surrounding the former
hotel). The LA Conservancy has filed a lawsuit blocking demolition of
the Ambassador Hotel. The Mexcian American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF)
has countered in their claim that, "... the Ambassador hotel has no
historical value." Of course it has no historical value to a bunch of
parasite Mexicans, a "culture" which consists of not much more than
having zillions of babies (which they can't afford), sucking off the
American welfare system, forming gangs, the proliferation of Mexican
literature (graffiti), not learning English, and generally, endless
crime, trash, and poverty.

I agree with PeterL that Santa Monica area and Getty Museum are best
use of time. There is an LA city express bus between airport and
museum which you can find detailed on web or newsgroup - the bluebus
route there was ended. It also stops in the UCLA neighborhood, which
has got to have much more charm than downtown. The point of the museum
isn't so much to see the art, but the grandiose setting and view
(city/hills/ocean) of the whole umpteen $billion private complex.

Santa Monica has the superconvient bluebus connecting to airport and is
a great place to wander the upscale village and beach (continue
beachwalk towards Venice). You need to plan out all bus connections
ahead on the web, including the free airport shuttle to bus station.
We are describing very doable options, but it can be nonobvious on the
ground how to go about it. The general environment is otherwise
overflowing with ugliness and pedestrian unfriendlness. A lot depends
if you will overnight in airport or S.M.

P.S. the trick to combining Santa Monica with Getty was detailed in my
posts a year or more ago. With the direct bus cancelled (then,
anyways) you can use a Getty shuttle to overflow parking lot near UCLA.
From there you can connect with S.M. bluebus if you preplan EXACTLY
where to walk, such as across a huge cemetary.

So you could visit S.M. evening and morning, catch lunch at the very
colorful UCLA farmers mkt if running, and check the views at the (free)
Getty, before taking express to airport. The web will let you view
maps and schedules in detail, which is impt due to unforgiving nature
of being on foot in LA - very feasible but considered lunatic fringe in
a place where even the broke, unlicenced, uninsured, and drunk do drive.