Downtown L.A. Tour (Part One)

10/30/2008

Yes, there is a downtown Los Angeles, and it is surprisingly accessible.  Most of the subway lines converge there, and it's walkable though unexpectedly hilly.  It's also big, and I was only able to see a small section of it in a day.  There is a lot of interesting design downtown, including the well-known Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels and the Disney Concert Hall.  If you're coming downtown from elsewhere in the LA metro area, take the subway all the way to Union Station.

This 1930s era Mission-style building still serves Amtrak and some regional rail lines.  It's a well-preserved gem with lush tropical landscaping in front.  From there, it is a short walk to the historic center of town, the "Pueblo de Los Angeles State Hstoric Park."

LA was originally settled by the Spanish, and was for a time ruled by Mexico.   The portion of the city centered around Olvera Street  and "the Plaza" -- a circular open space with high gazebo, which happened to be decked out for Day of the Dead celebrations while I was there -- was settled as early as the 1780s. 

If you're into Spanish colonial architecture and Latin American culture, there is a lot to see here.  If you just enjoy the feel of a Central American market (complete with sidewalk food stands wedged impossibly between vendor stalls and permanent buildings), Olvera Street is pretty authentic (though bound to be packed with tourists -- school groups, potentially, as when I visited on a Monday morning).

The walk south then west from Olvera Street to the Catheral of Our Lady of the Angels is not scintillating, but not treacherous either (cross the 101 on Main Street, where there are wide sidewalks, then hang a right on Temple Street).  On the way, you'll pass the 1928 City Hall, which offers free tours (and happens to be the tallest "base isolated" structure in the world).    The Cathedral, by Spanish (appropriately) architect and Pritzker winner Jose Rafael Moneo, is a jaunty composition in buff concrete and alabaster.  There are some great exterior and interior pictures at arcspace.

Though contemporary, it is as powerful, awe-inspiring, and carefully crafted as the historic churches of Europe.  The interior (free to enter) is stunning, with light filtering through translucent stone and steel tri-part chandeliers descending from the ceiling.  Even the pipe organ is perfectly of the place, its angular arrangement unusual for a church organ but a perfect reference for this building.  The website of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles says the church is designed to last 500 years.  I left feeling that after those 500 years it will command the same respect we give to cathedrals now more than 500 years old (Reims, Notre Dame de Paris).  It is truly a landmark.

The plaza around the building is also a lot like those European churches of old: hard, hot, vast, and seemikngly meant to accentuate the bulk of the building.  Our Lady of Angels has a nice plaza around back, though, where water and trees cool pleasant seating areas.

The Cathedral is on the corner of Temple Street and Grand Avenue, which runs south past several key downtown LA sights.  More on those (the music center, Disney Hall, MOCA, the Bunker Hill Steps) in part two....

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