Day 5
7/14/2019
Today was my favorite day in Los Angeles and I did not plan a single thing! I am so happy that I met Bev and Christine in Portland because I was able to meet up with them again today! Christine is originally from the LA area and invited me to join them as they discovered Downtown Los Angeles.
Farmers Market
On my way to meet the lovely ladies, I happened to pass by a farmers market on Ivar Street in Hollywood. I browsed the stalls wishing I could stop and get some fresh produce. There was one stall that we selling fruit that was giving out free samples! They had peaches, nectarines, and plums sliced up for you to try. They were delicious!
Walt Disney Concert Hall
I then made my way downtown and met the ladies at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. When they first told me to meet them there, I honestly had no idea what this place was. Yet as I started walking up the street, I recognized the building immediately! I just never knew the name of it! At 11 AM the concert hall offered a free architectural tour of the building. Unfortunately, there was a concert that same night, so the concert hall was closed for rehearsals.
It would have been great to see the inside of the concert hall, but we were able to see the rest of the building and learn about its history. We learned that it was Walt Disney’s daughter, Lillian Disney, who made the initial donation of $50 million to have the concert hall built. Unfortunately, her donation was nowhere close to covering the $275 million cost of the project, and she did not live to see its completion. It took 16 years to be designed and built. The designer of the building is Frank Gehry, most famously known for designing the Guggenheim Museum in Spain.
An interesting fact about the material of the building is that the metal in some areas was so shiny that the sun was reflecting off the building increasing the temperature of nearby apartments by 15 degrees Fahrenheit! So their solution was to sand down those areas of the building so they did not reflect the sun as much.
The Broad Museum
After visiting the Concert Hall, we went across the street to The Broad Museum. It is a museum of contemporary art and is free to visit, as long as you reserve tickets beforehand. Christine kindly reserved our tickets the day before. There were many interesting art pieces in this museum. Some were whimsical, some were thought-provoking, and some were downright disturbing (to me). My favorite pieces had to be the flashing America sign and the larger than life kitchen table!
Angels Flight Trolley
A short was from The Broad lies the Angels Flight trolley. It is two bright orange trolleys that travel one block down the steep hill. The trolleys work in unison on a levy system, the one traveling down helps pull the trolley traveling up the hill. The cars themselves are interesting as well because they are built on an incline, so the middle aisle is stairs. The Angels Flight trolley was featured in the movie La La Land, which has led to the attraction being more popular. Christine informed us that it kept shutting down because no one was using it, but now since the movie, it has had steady business. The trip costs $1.00 up and $1.00 down, or if you have a TAP card, it costs only $0.50 per trip.
Grand Central Market
At the bottom of Angel’s Flight trolley is the Grand Central Market. It is a large building that houses many different types of food stalls. It is LA’s version of Quincy Market in Boston or Reading Terminal in Philadelphia.
The Bradbury Building
We then walked over to the Bradbury Building across the street. It is an old historic building with neat architecture and staircases inside. Scenes from 500 Days of Summer were filmed here.
The Last Bookstore
The next stop on the amazing local tour was The Last Bookstore. It is an awesome independent bookstore that is much larger on the inside than it looks on the outside. It is two floors of books, shops, and quirky corners. They had an arch made out of books and a pile of books with a hole cut in the middle so you can stick your head through and take pictures. Although it was crowded and had many different rooms, it was nowhere near as large as Powell’s Books in Portland.
The Biltmore Hotel
After walking through another Farmer’s Market, we made our way to the Millennium Biltmore Hotel at Pershing Square. It is a beautiful, historic, grand hotel that has phenomenal architecture inside. It transports you back to the 1930’s, making it a popular location to film music videos. Many music videos were filmed here such as: Taylor Swift – Delicate, Ed Sheeran – Thinking out loud, Jennifer Lopez, John Legend, etc.
Smorgasbord
The main event of the day was a visit to Smorgasbord. An outdoor festival of food trucks, food stalls, and clothing vendors. The Smorgasbord embodied millennial LA for me: very hip and trendy. It is located by some former factories that were gentrified into companies’ headquarters. The festival had so many food vendors to choose from, it was hard to decide! It even had a designated vegan section!
First up I got the best lemonade I have ever tasted! It was a cucumber-lime-chia seed lemonade. I know, very hipster of me, but it was so good and refreshing in the blazing heat! For food, I got the Especial fries that had chipotle mayo, pickled red onions, and different types of cheese on top. It was so rich but so tasty! I especially enjoyed the pickled red onions! Yum!
The day out with Bev and Christine was amazing! I had such a fun time and saw a part of LA that I would not have thought to visit! It was great to have a local show us around and introduce us to some hidden gems! Thank you, Christine!
