We took a little jaunt up to LA on Friday. It was a ton of fun (traffic withstanding.) We drove up mid-morning and arrived downtown around lunchtime. The physical downtown of LA was really neat--all of the original 20's era downtown buildings were intact. What once was the glitzy, go-to area is now a run down, busy epicenter for warehouse style clothing shops, cheap jewelry, and take out food. The orignal downtown was full of theaters, and these are still intact, just inhabited by these new stores, who use the elaborate arcades and entranceways for their shops.
After exporing downtown proper, we traveled through Little Tokyo and a korean town looking for food...but we ended up at a tasty Mexican restaurant on the edge of Beverly Hills. We did some shopping on Melrose, where Johanna picked up a cute dress. We took a stroll down a couple neighborhood streets in the area to check out the houses...then went for a classic drive up Laurel Canyon and onto Mulholland Drive at sunset. (Keep in mind that traffic was basically terrible all day, so this took the entire day).
At night, we took Sunset Boulevard down to Hollywood to check out the sites. We saw Borat at a theater down there (very funny), stopped to watch some breakdancers performing on the street (not as good as the guys in Boston, but they had the LA flair), and checked out all the old theaters.
All in all, it was totally fun and we're looking forward to another trip. Hopefully we can find a way to avoid traffic (a long shot), but other than that factor (and the smog), LA is a completely unique and interesting place to check out!
...Palm trees on Sunset Boulevard...
...El Capitan Theater in Hollywood with breakdancers hanging around...
...Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood...a quintessetial extravagent theater (we didn't get to go inside, but saw Borat in the theaters next door...
...A better picture of El Capitan...
...This was an interesting garage door in the Melrose area...I can't tell if its under renovation or whether its finished, but I think it looks great! Cool idea...
...Here's El Coyote, the Mexican restaurant we ate lunch at. It was pretty crazy inside, but didn't get any pics...
...King Kong on Melrose Ave...
...LA downtown proper...
...Houses off of Melrose Ave...
...And a delapidated building near downtown...
...El Capitan Theater in Hollywood with breakdancers hanging around...
...A better picture of El Capitan...
...This was an interesting garage door in the Melrose area...I can't tell if its under renovation or whether its finished, but I think it looks great! Cool idea...
