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LOS ANGELES ON FOOT: |
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| Many downtown walks are less than an hour. You could try out the famous elevators in the Westin Bonaventure on South Figueroa whose ad asks: "Have you seen us in the movies?" You could walk through the movie queen herself, the gilded Regal Biltmore Hotel on South Grand, |   |
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then check out the Bradbury Building (of Blade Runner movie fame) and shop at Ross Cutlery if you'd like a knife like the one OJ bought there. Just about everything downtown has a movie or show bizz connection. A fifteen minute walk from The New Otani is the gussied up Union Station which gives both access to the new 14-mile long Red Line that runs up to Hollywood and Vine and a startling proof that this metropolis with more than its share of angry young men can stop graffiti at its source. |
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Not only does the Red Line and its new stations deny travelers the right to carry cans of black spray paint, they can't carry food or drink or play loud music. There's no billboard advertising on the walls, either. And who said LA had no finesse? From the 1993 Terry Schoonhoven trompe l'oeil
tile mural, Traveler, that now greets passengers as they enter Union
Station to the camp and wacky art in all the Red Line stations that
reaches its zenith at the Hollywood and Vine stop, riding those
parts of the LA Metro Rail is a real eye opener. |
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At the Hollywood/Vine station 18,000 old movie reels cover the ceiling and 240 whimsical hand-painted tiles by Gilbert Lujan decorate the walls. A metal railing with many horizontal bars carries as art the notes from the song, Hooray For Hollywood, and at the top of the steps, tongue-in-cheek statues portray symbols like the once-famous Brown Derby restaurant, the limo that takes you around town, to the next destination, Mann's Chinese Theater. |
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Meantime back at the Biltmore you can pick up a heritage
tour run by the city that wanders around downtown and helps visitors
to understand how this town grew from 141 citizens in 1790 to the
sprawling city of today. You walk through the former Edison building
with its impressive mural depicting power, then up to Bunker Hill
and the Wells Fargo Center which opened with a harpist playing each
day for six months at the McDonalds restaurant (I tell you-those
Los Angelinos are something!). |
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