San Francisco had been fun and the time had now come to embark on the second part of our Californian holiday. We’d booked tickets with Southwest for the short (50 minute) flight down to Los Angeles. It was our first time travelling with this low cost airline who include checked bags in their ticket prices along with complimentary light refreshments during the flight.
On arrival into Los Angeles International Airport we quickly collected our luggage and then bought TAP Cards from a machine at $2 (£1.60) each. We then loaded these with seven day travel cards at the bargain price of $12.50 (£10) each as they were being discounted 50% at the time of travel. Travel cards cover the entire metro (underground) network and all buses displaying the metro logo.
We were staying at a hotel in the Downtown area so caught the Green Line to Willowbrook / Rosa Park station from where we changed to the Blue and Purple lines to Pershing Square. Our hotel for the next five nights was at Citizen M, a newly opened luxurious hotel.
After speedily checking ourselves in we took the lift up to our 10th floor room which was quite small but perfectly formed with everything that we needed. Lights, TV, curtains, mood lighting, air-con and housekeeping are all controlled by an in-room iPad which worked well and was simple to use. As it was quite late there wasn’t time to do much more than go out for a walk and find somewhere for dinner.
The next day ….
Sunny Southern California didn’t seem to have got the message as it was pouring with rain when we opened the curtains, but not to be deterred we put our hoods up and set off to explore the Downtown area near the hotel starting with Union Station. This elaborate station opened in May 1939 and is approached by means of a tiled plaza with a fountain and towering palm trees.
Along with New York City’s Grand Central Station it is one of the most beautiful railway stations of the USA, blending influences of Spanish Colonial with Art-Deco, emphasising the cultural heritage of Los Angeles.
The grand waiting room has huge windows, a tiled floor and a vaulted ceiling with 286 upholstered mahogany chairs for passengers to sit on whilst waiting to begin their journeys. The historic ticket hall is equally grand and nowadays is used as an event space.
Leaving the station it was just a short walk to Olvera Street, a historic thoroughfare and part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument. The street was created in 1930 to preserve the customs and trades of early California, with many of the merchants being descendants of the original vendors. We wandered along the tree lined block with its painted wooden stalls, cafes and gift shops but it was very quiet with many of the stalls closed most probably due to the bad weather.
From there we moved on to the city’s Chinatown district located near the civic centre. Its central plaza is approached through the Dragon Gateway and is home to numerous Chinese businesses, shops and restaurants. Of special note is the Thien Hau Temple dedicated to the ocean goddess Mazu and is one of the most popular places of worship among Asian residents in the Los Angeles area.
We were then ready for a bite to eat so headed to the Grand Central Market on South Broadway which has been a city landmark since 1917. When the market first opened, it was billed as the largest and finest market on the Pacific coast. It’s now a large food emporium with 40 stalls offering a wide choice of cuisines.
Just across the road from the market hall stands the Angels Flight Railway, a 120 year old funicular railway taking passengers on a short ride up and down Bunker Hill. This is one of the world’s shortest railways as the journey last for less than a minute but is a fun experience and the fare is very cheap at $1 (80p) or 50 cents if you have a TAP card.
From the top station it was then just a short walk along to The Broad, contemporary art museum. Admission is free but tickets need to be booked online in advance.
Its galleries house a large collection that includes Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans and the Balloon Dog by Jeff Kroons.
Additional timed free entry tickets are required to view the Infinity Mirrored Room and as this is extremely popular I suggest booking these tickets well in advance. “The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” by Yayoi Kusama accommodates up to groups of four visitors at one time for a period of one minute. I’m pleased we were able to secure tickets as it was a highlight of visiting the museum.
Last but not least of the places we wished to visit in Downtown was The Last Bookshop on Spring Street. This iconic bookshop is housed in a former banking hall and contains artful displays of books throughout the store.
Some books are arranged by colour, others created to form a tunnel and a hole in a bookshelf that you can pop your head through. The bookstore specialises in used books, vinyl records and comics and with its large marble pillars and maze of bookshelves it’s a very interesting place to visit.
For our afternoon activity we took the metro to Hollywood, getting off at Vermont/Sunset on the Red Line so that we could walk along part of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This ‘must do’ activity consists of over 2,700 terrazzo and brass stars embedded into the pavement along both sides of Hollywood Boulevard.
Each star bears the name of a celebrity who has made a significant contribution to the entertainment industry and we had fun picking names out from Elton John to Michael Jackson.
We then called into the Dolby Theatre and walked up the famous staircase where Hollywood stars make their grand entrance each year when they are arriving for the annual academy awards.
Located close by are two more iconic theatres El Capitan, which is a fully restored cinema and the venue for most of the Disney film premieres. The other notable theatre is the TCL Chinese Theatre which opened in 1927 and was built to represent the excesses of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
It was then time to turn our attention to a different kind of star with a visit to the Griffith Observatory. Getting there was very easy as we took the Dash bus from outside the Vermont/ Sunset metro station on line B (red). This bus runs each day at 20 minute intervals and is currently free of charge.
Before going into the observatory we viewed the iconic Hollywood Sign from the grounds of the observatory. Visibility was very poor due to the inclement weather but thankfully we still managed to see the sign, although views of the Pacific Ocean and downtown were hidden by low cloud.
The Griffith Observatory opens at noon on weekdays and 10.00 at weekends offering free admission and is located on the south slope of Mt. Hollywood in Griffith Park.
The entrance leads into the central rotunda which is very ornate with its vaulted ceiling and upper walls displaying exquisite murals. The observatory opened in 1935 after Colonel Griffiths left money in his will to build the observatory to make astronomy accessible to the public.
Each gallery focusses on different areas of astronomy from Depths and Edge of Space, to Hall of the Sky and Hall of the Eye. It was fascinating spending time looking through telescopes and exploring the various exhibits before catching the free bus back down the hill to the metro station and returning to our hotel. Later in the evening we enjoyed a meal at the Karl Strauss Brewing Company quite close to the hotel.
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