Los Angeles - sightseeing
Chinatown and Little Tokyo districts
Los Angeles has a very mixed population, and there are several areas inhabited almost exclusively by members of one of the ’minorities’. One of the most famous is Chinatown, which is located North-East of the beautiful Union Station (the last major train station to be built in the US before planes affirmed themselves as the main means of long-distance transportation), delimited by Alameda Street to the South and Yale Street to the North, Cesar Chavez Avenue to the West and the Pasadena Freeway (110) to the East. The place is the cultural centre of the 200,000+ LA Chinese community, and is full of restaurants and shops selling all sorts of Chinese wares. Another interesting place is Little Tokyo, which after the anti-Japanese paranoia of the Second World War has returned to its past splendours. It is full of sushi restaurants, shopping centres and the like. It hosts several initiatives, including the La Tofu festival in August. Little Tokyo is located around First, Second and Third Street; for more info on all the initiatives, visit the LA Japanese Community site.
The Bradbury Building
Built in 1893, this building does not seem so special from the outside, but inside is incredibly beautiful. It has a weird story: it was commissioned by the millionaire real estate developer Lewis Bradbury, who wanted a building to be remembered by. Bradbury first approached a famous local architect, but was unsatisfied with the projects and asked one of the apprentices of the architect, one George Wyman, who had no real experience as an architect, to make a new project. Wyman apparently accepted the project just because he had been convinced by his long-dead brother contacted via a seance, and his designed was inspired by a science fiction novel. The result is a building which cost 500,000 dollars, 5 times the initial allocated sum, and which has an inner court that shines with light thanks to the huge glazed roof and is enriched by complicated shapes, like the beautiful decorated staircases and a metal lift which can be seen in the film Blade Runner. Lewis Bradbury, unfortunately for him, died before seeing it completed, and Wyman never built something of similar importance.
The Bradbury Building is located in 304, South Broadway. To see some pictures, visit Structurae’s Bradbury Building Page.
The movie industry places
If you’re star struck, and want to know more about where superstars live, eat and go to the toilet, there are plenty of tours and guides that can take you to the outside gate 5 km away from the huge fortified mansion where your favourite actress/actor lives. You will never see the stars themselves, but you will have a good chance to meet the bodyguards and the Dobermanns, however.
Hollywood itself, with sets moving to Canada because it’s cheaper, has lost part of its charm. One place to go if you want to see film sets, displays of special effects and the like, are the Universal Studios in Hollywood, one of the biggest theme parks in LA. Another option is Disneyland, if you don’t mind the long queues (especially during the summer), and the over-sanitized atmosphere that reigns in all of these kinds of parks.
The Getty Center
The Getty Center is both a museum and a foundation for arts, research and learning about history of art. The museum, located in a complex on a hill in Brentwood which was designed by the famous architect Richard Meier, hosts the collection of J. Paul Getty, an oil magnate and great lover of the arts: the collection is one of the richest private collections in the world, and includes Greek and Roman antiquities, European paintings, drawings and sculpture, as well as contemporary photographs (both American and European). The collection of French Furniture and decorative arts is particularly noteworthy, but the painting gallery includes works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Veronese, Van Dyck, Monet, Cezanne and Van Gogh. The museums hosts exhibitions, conferences, symposia, and a number of other initiatives. Admission to the museum, believe it or not, is free. You just have to pay 5$ for the parking place... To learn more, visit the museum’s site at http://www.getty.edu/museum/.
Museum of Contemporary Art
The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) has actually three different locations; the first is at California Plaza, and is in a beautiful designed by the renowned Japanese architect Arata Isozaki; the second is in Little Tokyo, in North Central Avenue; the third in West Hollywood. The three structures house several exhibitions of modern art, as well as a permanent collection of paintings, sculptures and photos from 1940 to the present. To see what’s going on now, visit the comprehensive and informative MOCA site at http://www.moca-la.org/.
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