Photo Diary: A Sunday Staycation in Downtown LA

Southwest tries to embed the theme: “Want to get away?” The answer is yes. Please yes! Take me away from this awful sham of a life!

I think ideally, we’d like to end up on a Corona themed beach, but we always don’t have that amount of time. My wife had the Monday off, which coincided with the Kings championship parade. We had Starwood points looking at us in the eye, so we had opportunity enough to do anything we wanted(within a fifty mile radius).

I’ve spent plenty of time downtown, but only there in bits and pieces with my wife. This would give us the chance to be a tourist in our own city. The funny thing is, even if you are from here, you still look like a tourist.

We saw plenty of people visiting from parts unknown. We also saw plenty of people sleeping on the sidewalk. There’s enough of a presence that you feel generally safe, but a little on guard.

We focused on the historic core, basically scaling Broadway and Spring streets. We had no destination, we were on a quest. Here’s what ensued:

1:02 PM – We exit at the 7th St Red Line station. I think this pic is overexposed or this guy is starting into a blank panel.

1:08 PM – Land ho! The US Bank building is the tallest ever to be built in Los Angeles. Until it gets replaced by the Wilshire Grand Tower.

1:12 PM – The Westin Bonaventure. Our home away from home for our less than 24 hour cycle.

1:19 PM – We check in and I make my first reference to “It’s a Living”. I don’t think it went over well with the staff.

1:52 PM – The view from our room. The tint from the windows makes you feel like you’re trapped inside an Instagram app!

2:35 PM – This is the Rendezvous Court of the Biltmore, which was the original lobby of the hotel over ninety years ago. Now it’s a great little spot to sit down and talk like Randolph and Mortimer.

2:41 PM – We peeked our heads into the main ballroom. If I’m correct, this is room that originally held the Oscars. If I’m incorrect, this room can be rented out for $50/hr.

2:59 PM – We head into Grand Central Market. Not because we were hungry, but we heard so much good things about Wexler’s Deli, we had to partake. We were not alone!

3:27 PM – Our most beautiful interior in Los Angeles, the Bradbury Building. And you don’t need any special connections to get inside. Unless you want to go upstairs, but it’s all you need.

3:31 PM – The elevators are closed, but you can stick your camera inside to give you the illusion. I don’t think I know how to work the thing anyways.

3:32 PM – The homeless is a big problem as they haven’t been able to remove this tramp for years!

3:41 PM – There are many dressmakers along Broadway and all their work is exquisite. Taking a tour is well worth your time. I bought three for myself!

3:51 PM – One of my favorites, the Tower Theater. It’s probably because it’s on a corner and you have and extra side to look at.

3:54 PM – Broadway and 7th used to be the Terminus of Route 66 all the way from Chicago. Now it’s about the terminal location for the Blackhawks playoff run!

3:56 PM – Another one of our venerable theaters reminding some their purpose in life. Go Orpheum!

3:58 PM – I have to make amends. I called the Sun Realty Building, the Eastern a few weeks back. This is the real deal. Unmistakenly.

4:08 PM – Parklet alert! Sorry to lose two spots, but foosball and exercise machines make it a no-brainer!

4:26 PM – We stop inside the lounge, DNO to rest our feet, have a summery libation and watch the Argentinians unfairly have to play two countries at once!

4:47 PM – We enter The Last Bookstore, which is only a name. Right?

5:16 PM – You’ll find all sorts of installations, as well as artist’s studios throughout the bookstore. Just don’t get wrapped up in it.

5:20 PM – You can tell by the safe that the bookstore used to be a bank. You can also guess this room has no AC.

5:47 PM – We nosed ourselves into CB1, a gallery next door. I don’t know a lot about art, but I did expect to run into Samantha from Sex and the City.

From there, we passed by Pershing Square to our hotel to freshen up for a dinner at Bottega Louie. I didn’t include all of our pics, but you can tell that a lot can be accomplished in a short amount of time.

Going to the beach would have been nice too, but we felt taken away as if we were in Paris. This is the vision we all have for downtown’s future, except it’ll be purely Los Angeles.