Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [94]
In the modern Tom Bradley wing, escalators cascade down four glass-walled floors through a whimsically decorated glass atrium. Besides 2.1 million books, the library also holds a prized archive of historical photographs, art exhibits, a gift store and a restaurant and keeps a dynamic events schedule for both kids and grownups. One of the best programs is the Aloud LA (www.lfla.org/aloud) series of lectures, conversations and performances often featuring major movers and shakers in arts, literature and politics. It’s free but hugely popular, so make online reservations early or join the stand-by line.
US BANK TOWER & BUNKER HILLS STEPS
The tallest of the many office towers in the heart of Downtown’s financial district is the US Bank Tower (Map; 655 W 5th St), at 1018ft the tallest building between Chicago and Taiwan. Film buffs might remember it being attacked by an alien spaceship in Independence Day.
The tower abuts the Bunker Hill Steps, an attractive staircase that links 5th St with the Wells Fargo Center and other hilltop office complexes. At the top is a small fountain featuring a female nude by Robert Graham. En route you pass McCormick & Schmick’s, famous for its happy hour Click here.
PERSHING SQUARE & AROUND
The hub of Downtown’s historic core, Pershing Square (Map; www.laparks.org) was LA’s first public park in 1866 and is now a postmodern concrete patch enlivened by public art, summer concerts, a holiday-season ice rink and the hulking 1923 Millennium Biltmore Hotel (Map; 213-624-1011; www.thebiltmore.com; 506 S Grand Ave; ). LA’s most illustrious defender of the grand-hotel tradition, it has hosted presidents, kings and celebrities, plus the 1960 Democratic National Convention and eight Academy Awards ceremonies. Its sumptuous interior boasts carved and gilded ceilings, marble floors, grand staircases and palatial ballrooms decorated by White House muralist Giovanni Smeraldi. Afternoon tea is served daily in the rococo-style Rendezvous Court. Click here for details about staying at the hotel.
South of Pershing Sq, gold and diamonds are the main currency in the Jewelry District (Map; 213-683-1956; www.lajd.net; Hill St btwn 6th & 8th Sts), the country’s second largest after New York. One of the marts occupies the historic Pantages Theatre (401-21 W 7th St), a hugely popular vaudeville venue in the 1920s. Nearby is one of Downtown’s newest oddities, St Vincent Court (Map; 7th St btwn Hill St & Broadway), a recently restored alleyway supposed to look like a quaint Parisian street, and lined with Middle Eastern cafés where clusters of men sip minty tea, and workers, shoppers and the occasional hipster chow down on gyro and kebabs.
BROADWAY
Now a cut-rate retail spine catering primarily to Latino shoppers, cacophonous Broadway started out in the early 20th century as a glamorous shopping and theater strip where megastars like Charlie Chaplin leapt from limos to attend premieres at lavish movie palaces. As LA grew more suburban, Broadway plunged into decline and over time most theaters were closed, even gutted and turned into churches or tawdry swap meets. But like the rest of Downtown, Broadway is changing. Several of the old theaters have been restored and again host screenings and parties, while other buildings are being converted into lofts, and even some hipster bars have sprung up.
There are parking garages all along Broadway and one-hour free parking at the Grand Central Market (see below; enter on Hill St) with purchase and validation.
Bradbury Building
This 1893 building (Map; 213-626-1893; 304 S Broadway;