28 March 2023, Los Angeles, USA –

Buoyed by our success at navigating the LA Metro, we planned a longer, more complex excursion.  We confidently added day passes onto our TAP cards, and set off for downtown LA – DTLA for short.  We could see some snow on the Sierra Nevadas in the background, and we realised these were the first mountains we’d seen since Ushuaia.

We left the bus at Pershing Square, and walked up to Bunker Hill.  Did you know that LA has its own funicular?  The Angels Flight funicular dates from 1901, and has been carrying passengers up a (very) short but steep incline ever since.  We couldn’t resist, although the journey took about a minute.

From there we continued north, to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  Designed by Frank Gehry, there was not a straight line to be seen.  Tucked in behind it and up the stairs is a roof garden, a pleasant shady place for a break.

Next we headed downhill through Grand Park, to City Hall.  The cherry blossoms were coming to an end.  Our plan was to visit the Observation Deck on the 26^th floor, but it was closed for a “special event”.  The security guard said we could come back tomorrow, but we’ll be busy packing then.

Our self-designed walking tour led us into the historic Theatre district, around Broadway.  Up till now, we hadn’t seen many people, just a few tourists and some kids playing in the fountains.  This older part of LA made us feel distinctly uneasy; it wasn’t the nicest part of town to be in, although some of the buildings were interesting.  We were here for the Bradbury Building, with its elaborate wrought iron elevator doors and staircases.  We were only allowed into a small public space, and had to take photos on the phone rather than the camera, for reasons which escape me.  The Victor Clothing mural features Anthony Quinn as he appeared in Zorba the Greek.

We ducked into The Last Bookstore with final shopping in mind.  This cavernous store sells thousands of books, mostly second hand, and weighted towards pop culture and art.  They have done some creative displays, like the Tunnel of Books, The Book Loop, and the “flying” books. There is even a Knitters’ Nook (closed off today so hard to see).  It didn’t yield any real treasures for us, though I did purchase a couple of paperbacks.

While hunting for the bus stop, we saw some of the uptown hotels, Pershing Square, and the public library (complete with armed guards – ???). 

Our final stop was at Crenshaw, where we left the train to pay one last space-related visit; the Spacex HQ in Hawthorne.  They have an upright Falcon 9 booster on display, the first time we’d been able to see the landing legs fully deployed.  The complex is enormous; somehow I think we had an idea that they operated out of a few semi-portables.  We kept an eye out for Elon’s private jet at the airport next door, but he must be busy elsewhere.

And so ended our sightseeing in LA.