by James Roman
Continue west, toward the church entrance. La Placita, as the chapel is nicknamed, was the first American parish for many Catholic immigrants arriving in LA. In the 1980s, it was a sanctuary for refugees threatened with deportation to El Salvador.
Next, turn right (north) on Spring Street. Continue to the end of the block, where Spring Street meets Cesar Chavez Avenue. Turn left, uphill along the outskirts of Chinatown.
Today’s Cesar Chavez Avenue (formerly a section of Sunset Boulevard) is part of Route 66, the road that links Chicago, Illinois, to the Pacific Ocean. It travels through eight states to end in Santa Monica. Route 66 was immortalized for younger generations in Pixar’s animated film Cars (2006).
Travel on Route 66 for one block. At North Broadway, turn right, heading into Chinatown.
12. You’re welcomed by the Twin Dragon Gateway. Installed in July 2001, the dragons symbolize luck, prosperity and longevity. Follow the sidewalk that crosses underneath the dragons. This is North Broadway, the main commercial street for modern-day Chinatown. Architecture adheres to tiled roofs with pagoda references in the rooflines.
Continue on North Broadway for three blocks, to the Central Plaza of New Chinatown, which boasts a variety of shops, restaurants and businesses.
13. You’ll spot the entrance to the Chinatown Central Plaza before you arrive at 947 North Broadway. Completed in 1938, the Central Plaza is the first modern American Chinatown, owned and planned by Chinese residents.
Stroll across Gin Ling Way, the main thoroughfare, or wander down side streets to discover delightful restaurants and shops. Chinatown is a favorite location for filmmakers.
NOTABLE FILMS SHOT HERE:
Chinatown (1974), Rush Hour (1998), The Green Hornet (2011), Dragon Seed (1944), Made of Honor (2008) and many television programs.
Exit from the East Gate, where you entered, on North Broadway.
14. To your left is Phoenix Bakery (969 North Broadway), the oldest business in Chinatown. Its strawberry whipped cream cakes are a local treat.
15. On North Broadway, turn right, and walk to the corner of West College Street. Turn left, onto West College Street. You’ll see the Chinatown Metro stop one block away, at the intersection of Spring Street. The Chinatown Station is on the Gold Line within the LA Metro system. It’s a short ride to Union Station, the next stop.
BUNKER HILL WALKING TOUR
In 1867 Prudent Beaudry purchased and developed Bunker Hill, with lavish two-story Victorian houses for the upper-class residents. In the late twentieth century, through the Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project, the hill was lowered in elevation, and the entire area was redeveloped with modern high rises.
There’s world-famous architecture, too, in downtown Los Angeles—most impressive when measured on a human scale. For this tour, leave the car behind.
Pershing Square
Biltmore Hotel
One Bunker Hill
Bonaventure Hotel
Los Angeles Public Library
Night Sail (Statue)
Sequi (Statue)
Pre-Natal Memories (Statue)
Museum of Contemporary Art
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Music Center
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Mark Taper Forum
Ahmanson Theater
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Grand Park
City Center/Grand Park Station
START:
Metro: Pershing Square Station
END:
Metro: City Center/Grand Park Station
Tour Time:
About 3 hours
Chapters:
9, 15, 19, 22
We’ll start and end at underground Metro stations, walking in a loop through Bunker Hill. Wear sunscreen and walking shoes, but don’t dress too casually. We’ll visit a cathedral and Walt Disney Concert Hall, and some tempting restaurants.
Take the Red Line (the underground Metro Rail) to the Pershing Square Station.
1. Take the escalator up to Pershing Square, at the corner of Hill and Fifth streets.
2. To your west, across the park, you’ll see the Biltmore Hotel. Walk west on Fifth Street to the corner of Olive Street. Cross Olive Street and turn left, toward the Biltmore Hotel’s entrance for pedestrians.
When it opened in 1923, the Biltmore was the largest hotel west of Chicago. Its architects combined the Beaux Arts style with Spanish Baroque to stunning effect. The dazzling interior craftsmanship has earned it a place as an LA Historic-Cultural Landmark.
Don’t be surprised if the interior appears familiar. It’s one of Hollywood filmmakers’ favorite locations for simulating East Coast cities. The Biltmore served as every upscale Washington D.C. venue in the TV series The West Wing. Other TV shows in which the Biltmore depicts East Coast locations: ER, NYPD Blue, CSI: NY, Ally McBeal and Mad Men. Among the many movies filmed here: Ghostbusters, Spider-Man, Beverly Hills Cop, True Lies, Splash, and Chinatown.
In 1960 the Democratic Convention was held in LA, and the Biltmore was the headquarters for nominees John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Archival photos show the Biltmore during that era.
Pass the ballroom and conference rooms on the western side of the building. The Biltmore was the site of the Academy Awards presentations for eight years in the 1930s and 40s.
Exiting on the western side puts you on Grand Avenue. Walk a short distance to the right, to the corner of Fifth Street, then turn to the left, continuing west. Walk westward on Fifth Street.
3. At the corner of Fifth Street and Grand Avenue, you’ll see the Art Deco treasure called One Bunker Hill, the original home of the Southern California Edison Company. When it was completed in 1931, this was the first building in the west to be heated and air-conditioned solely by electricity.
4. In the distance (to the west), the cylindrical building is the famous Bonaventure Hotel, an ingenious architectural feat that even includes a jogging track around its perimeter. Its glass elevators ascend on the building’s exterior, a radical concept at the time of its construction. The Bonaventure is another favorite filming location. Films include: Rain Man, In The Line Of Fire, Wonderland, True Lies and Alien Nation.
5. At the end of the block, you’ll come to the intersection of Fifth Street and Flower Street. (Do not cross the street.) Turn left on Flower Street where you’ll see the front entrance to The Los Angeles Public Library.
One of the most-visited buildings in America, the Central Library is a National Landmark, with the third-largest collection of books in the U.S. This building was constructed in 1926.
Take the escalators, just past the gift shop, up one level to the second floor, then walk straight ahead toward the glass balcony. Although the building appears to be four stories tall from the exterior façade, inside it’s an eight-story atrium, with California sunlight from giant skylights illuminating all the way to the lowest level, four stories underground.
Turn 180 degrees and head in the opposite direction, away from the glass balcony toward the oldest section of the building. In 1933, muralist Dean Cornwell painted this four-panel history of California. How many of the characters described in this book’s early chapters can you identify?
Return to the first floor, then use the side exit that returns you to Fifth Street. Ahead are steps (and escalator) that lead up Bunker Hill. Ascend to the top of Bunker Hill. Look behind you for a terrific view of the Library’s mosaic roof, crowned with a torch atop the pyramid that represents the “Light of Learning.”
You’re standing at the intersection of Hope Street and 4th Street. Walk straight ahead to the red granite building. Modern construction on Bunker Hill includes courtyards where employees from office towers meet for lunch. Turn right (east) and climb the stairs into the courtyard. Walk through the courtyard. Ahead, you’ll see Grand Avenue.
6. Beside you, see Louise Nevelson’s sculpture, entitled Night Sail. With her art installed at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and major museums
around the world, Nevelson is famous for assembling found objects and transforming them with black paint. Night Sail is one of her rare pieces that is not constructed of found objects.
Turn left to see another commission for this Wells Fargo site.
7. Nancy Graves created this colorful sculpture, entitled Sequi. A graduate of Vassar and Yale, Graves was awarded the Yale Arts Award for Distinguished Artistic Achievement just weeks before the installation of this artwork.
Turn left; walk north to the corner of 3rd Street, then cross Grand Avenue, heading east.
8. On the east side of Grand Avenue, here’s another public plaza with an intriguing sculpture, the perfect response to Louise Nevelson’s Night Sail. Inspired by Nevelson’s technique, artist Mark di Suvero assembled found objects to create Pre-Natal Memories. The steel beams are found objects, painted black, like Nevelson’s works. Unlike Night Sail (Nevelson’s, created in a foundry), di Suvero takes the concept to a higher level, actually using heavy steel “found objects” to assemble something completely new. Pre-Natal Memories is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) to the north.
Walk back to the Grand Avenue sidewalk and head north, toward the red sandstone building’s front entrance.
9. Completed in 1986, the first U.S. commission for Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, the Museum of Contemporary Art opened to great acclaim. The MoCA’s exhibition spaces are under the courtyard level, lit from above by pyramidal skylights. Arata’s idea inspired the natural light concept of the Getty Center.
10. Continue walking north on Grand Avenue. You can’t miss one of the most celebrated architectural achievements on earth: the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
When Walt Disney died, his widow Lillian donated $50 million from her personal fortune to build the adjacent concert hall, dedicated for the LA Philharmonic’s use. Mrs. Disney’s donation was the largest single gift in U.S. history for a cultural building. Local architect Frank Gehry won the competition.
Enter from Grand Avenue, beside the Concert Hall Café. You’ll face the desk that welcomes visitors with audio players for the self-guided tour. See www.laphil.com for tour details.
Take a tour. Like the exterior, there are no flat walls or 90-degree corners inside Disney Hall. You’ll be dazzled by the combination of textured building materials illuminated by sunlight streaming from unexpected angles.
An avid gardener, Mrs. Disney insisted the hall include a garden. In the roof garden, concertgoers can wind through paths and stroll between the hall’s shimmering sails.
Next, return to the ground level and Grand Avenue. Continue to the Music Center across the street.
There are several places of note on the ground floor:
On the south side of the building, Chef Joachim Splichal’s Patina is one of the most exquisite restaurants in LA. There’s also a terrific self-service café on this ground level.
The LA Phil Store is a delightful gift shop for music lovers, with recordings and videos of the LA Philharmonic and other performers, plus books and memorabilia about LA.
The Box Office for Disney Hall is outdoors on Grand Avenue. From September until June, the acclaimed Los Angeles Philharmonic is in residence at Disney Hall.
11. Remain on the west side of Grand Avenue. Cross 1st Street to enter the Music Center from its side staircase. Ascend the stairs and walk straight ahead to the Music Center Plaza.
12. You’re walking beside the famous Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. This theater is the former home of the LA Philharmonic, now the dedicated home for the LA Opera, also used by visiting dance companies. It is best known for hosting the Academy Awards ceremonies for decades.
Inspired by New York’s Lincoln Center, Dorothy Buffum Chandler (wife of Los Angeles Times publisher Norman Chandler) led an effort to build a central home for the performing arts in downtown LA. Her nine-year campaign raised 19 million dollars from LA’s wealthiest citizens and corporations; their names appear in gold throughout the Music Center complex.
13. The Mark Taper Forum (named for a real estate developer who donated to Mrs. Chandler’s cause) at the Music Center is the site for plays. Many important plays began at the Taper before heading to Broadway and regional success. The most intimate theater in the complex, with less than 1000 seats, the Taper is hailed for its great sight lines and acoustics.
14. The Ahmanson Theater is the Music Center’s big stage for musicals, and has hosted many pre-Broadway tryouts, along with touring productions of large-scale shows.
From the center of the Music Center Plaza, face east, with your back to the central fountain. Ahead, down the graceful slope, is a view of City Hall.
Constructed in 1928, City Hall is retrofitted to withstand a magnitude 8.2 earthquake. Symbolically, the concrete that forms its base is made of sand from all fifty-eight counties in California, with water taken from all twenty-one original missions.
You’ve seen LA City Hall in the movies. Films include: War of the Worlds (1953), The Bad News Bears (1976), L.A. Confidential (1997) and Gangster Squad (2013); TV shows include: Perry Mason, Dragnet, Adam-12 and The Adventures of Superman—where it serves as the offices for The Daily Planet.
15. Next, turn to the left and head north, past the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theater, down the stairs. Come to the corner of Grand Avenue and Temple Street, the site of our last major stop. Diagonally across the street, you’ll see the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
With more than five million Catholics in 287 parishes, LA is home to the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese on the continent. This modern cathedral is its mother church.
Observe the traffic lights, then cross Grand Avenue and Temple Street. Walk down Temple Street (east) beside the Cathedral to this entrance, called the “sheepgate,” a reference to Jesus Christ, a shepherd leading his flock, welcoming all.
Step into the Cathedral courtyard. To the left, a staircase leads to the Upper Plaza and a full view of the Cathedral.
The statue of the Virgin Mary over the entrance to the Cathedral refers to the first name bestowed on this territory by the first Spanish explorers: Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles.
Enter the Cathedral. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, the building was completed in September 2002, with controversy over the cost ($190 million, not including the land), and Moneo’s deconstructivist design.
The nave and transepts seat approximately 3,000 worshippers. The presbytery to the left of the altar can seat up to 300 priests. A fun fact: the Cathedral is one foot longer than St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City!
The lower level is a mausoleum containing 1,270 crypts and 4,746 columbarium niches for burials. Among the notable names buried at the Cathedral: Saint Vibiana, patron saint of the Archdiocese of LA, and Oscar-winning actor Gregory Peck.
After exploring the Cathedral, go back to the sheepgate on the lower plaza, and exit onto Temple Street. Turn left (east) and continue down the hill. At the end of the block, turn right (south) onto Hill Street.
16. Walk south on Hill Street. We’re heading toward the slope between the Music Center and City Hall, known as the Grand Park.
The park offers views of City Hall and a great view of the headquarters for the Los Angeles Times at 1st and Spring streets. Since the building opened in 1935, it’s been the site of protests and takeover schemes, yet it is famous for magnificent murals (inside) its iconic Art Moderne architecture, and an impressive collection of Pulitzer Prizes. (Free tours are available, with reservations in advance. Phone 213-237-5757 for tour information.) The Grand Park is also notable for its collection of exotic trees from all continents. Each is labeled with an explanation of its origins.
17. On Hill Street, just south of the Grand Park, you’ll find the entrance to Civic Center/Grand Park Station, where our tour ends.
HOLLYWOOD DRIVING TOUR
Explore this route by car to visit the Hollywood sign and the earliest houses built in the Hollywood H
ills, the enclave originally known as Hollywoodland. These are not palatial estates, but the quaint, historic homes of entertainment industry professionals for nearly a century. The tour continues to Paramount Studios and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Windsor Square and Larchmont Village.
Hollywood Boulevard & Vine Street
Avalon
Capitol Records Building
Hollywood Tower Apartments
Entrance to Hollywoodland
Hollywoodland Realty office
Sunset Ranch
Rodgerton Drive
Sunset-Gower Studios
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Raleigh Studios
Paramount Studios
Windsor Square
Former home of Norman Chandler
Former home of George Getty II
Larchmont Village
START:
Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street
END:
Larchmont Village
Tour Time:
About 5 hours
Chapters:
9, 10, 12, 18, 24
Ever wonder how Hollywood got its name? One story credits Canadian developer Hobart Johnstone Whitley (1847-1931), who became a U.S. citizen in 1870, then visited Los Angeles on his honeymoon with his second wife, Gigi, in 1886. They devised the name Hollywood when, years later, Whitely bought 400 acres to construct Whitley Heights, the first residences for silent movie stars. Whitley Heights became a National Historic District in 1982.