Los Angeles. Part Two.
The Arts District, Downtown, and Angelino Heights

The only sunny day in Los Angeles fell on January 1st. Therefore, the author had to get up at 5 a.m. after New Year’s and go out to shoot the city.

Dawn was just beginning, and the homes of ordinary Americans in the suburb of Panorama City were still adorned with New Year’s garlands.

The bus arrived on schedule and was far from empty. Several sleepy, visibly unhappy Mexicans were heading to work.

American buses are similar to those in Russia: somewhat dirty, worn-out, and not very comfortable.

A distinctive feature is a string stretched across the entire cabin, which you pull to request a stop. This legacy has been inherited from trams of the early twentieth century.

Bike racks are often installed at the front of buses. You need to secure your bicycle on a special bracket and purchase an additional ticket.

After an hour and a half of travel, the bus finally reached the nearest subway station. Subway entrances in America vary; often it’s some kind of arch or glass canopy.

Some stations have paid bike parking with a key. Such attention to bicycles is unexpected since the USA is not generally perceived as a bicycle-friendly country.

The subway itself turned out to be quite clean. Stories about leaky pipes, rusty trains, and giant rats are all about New York. Los Angeles has a decent subway system.

After another half an hour of travel, the subway train finally reached the first destination — Union Station. It turned out to be completely empty.

Olvera, the oldest street in Los Angeles, was also empty. American cities, in general, are not particularly historic, so there is nothing much to see here anyway. There’s supposed to be a market or something.

On the approaches to Downtown, right across from the government buildings, tents were still set up where homeless people slept, reminding us of the unfortunate fate of Skid Row’s population.

The whole of Los Angeles was completely deserted on the morning of January 1st.

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It is very challenging to write about Los Angeles. A city of such size is impossible to describe coherently. Between interesting places, there are kilometers of homogeneous residential development, and the hour-long trips between neighborhoods can’t be turned into a smooth narrative.

Therefore, the story about this city will be divided into sections. But that’s actually a good thing because Los Angeles is visited in fragments, with hours of subway or bus rides in between.

There is no coherence in this city, and there won’t be any in the story.

Arts district

Not far from downtown LA, there is an Arts district. It’s hardly a Mecca of street art, but you can find several decent works here.

More than half of the effect comes not from the art but from the urban infrastructure. Lampposts, road signs, plaques, asphalt and road markings, wires — without all this industrial medley, the simple works of American street artists would not deserve such attention.

From the district, you can enjoy one of the best views of downtown: skyscrapers rising from somewhere amidst the semi-rural chaos.

“Save Detroit.”

“Jesus loves you.”

There used to be much more artwork in the district. Maps even had a route through the coolest graffiti.

More than half of the markings on this route led nowhere. Municipal services have erased a significant number of drawings.

In the Arts district, one can find perhaps the most hipster cafes with rare, delicious food that is uncommon in America. That’s just a guess: I couldn’t check, since it was still the morning of January 1st.

On the way from the Arts district to downtown, one comes across a multi-unit residential development in the “Little Tokyo” area. Such buildings are rare in the US and are called condominiums.

Usually, apartment blocks look much worse and are considered high-rise ghettos, in New York, for example. So this is a good neighborhood.

Skyscrapers are gradually getting closer. The Arts district is very close to Skid Row. Just be careful not to turn there by accident: the slums are just around the corner to the left.

Downtown

Look! I’m standing in the middle of a downtown LA street, and no car has run me over because all the streets are empty.

There is absolutely nothing to do downtown. It’s difficult to accept, especially if you love skyscrapers.

Los Angeles skyscrapers are strange. I’d almost say they are as “plastic” and unreal as in Saudi Arabia, but there is still something about them that carries the essence of America.

Certain buildings are quite good.

Nevertheless, Los Angeles is definitely not the city to visit for skyscrapers. Chicago or New York are much cooler in that regard.

Bank of America.

Streets.

Street signs. The conciseness of the English language allows using text instead of symbols: “One Way” is much easier to write than, let’s say, “Odnostoronneye dvizheniye” in Russian.

There is a common misconception that American skyscrapers are concrete jungles. It’s not entirely true. Downtown streets have enough trees planted, and there are also several small parks. New York, in fact, is one of the greenest cities.

And here’s the real problem with any skyscrapers, from Singapore to Los Angeles — the dead, dirty alleys between buildings. The back doors of restaurants and offices open onto them, and that’s where the trash bins are.

Some historical architecture has survived among the downtown skyscrapers. A beautiful building, American classic. The Brockman Building, constructed in 1912, formerly used as offices, now houses luxury apartments.

Vintage clothing advertisements.

In gloomy weather, Los Angeles looks as grim as Baghdad. When the holidays ended, it turned out that the entire city center is packed with clothing and shoe stores that bear little difference from a bazaar in the Middle East.

Fortunately, California is always sunny.

Angelino Heights

We bid farewell to the skyscrapers.

Not far from downtown, there is a truly beautiful neighborhood — Angelino Heights.

The neighborhood is separated from the city center by a high-speed highway. You have to go around and look for a pedestrian bridge. Los Angeles suffers greatly from such roads that divide the city into parts.

On the way, you come across advertisements for a a business course on selling marijuana.

Angelino Heights is situated on hills. From here, skyscrapers are visible on one side, and the San Gabriel mountain range on the other.

In this small neighborhood, remarkably beautiful wooden architecture has been preserved.

Most of these houses were built in the late 19th century. They feature Victorian-style architecture as well as an American genre called “Eastlake.”

The last time I encountered similar houses was in Oxford.

That’s America in a nutshell. Everything is mixed in this country: ghettos and tent camps border skyscrapers, while across the road, there is unimaginably beautiful historic wooden architecture.

If the entire country were organized in the style of Angelino Heights, it would become another Europe. But that’s the charm of America — it is not Europe; it is a blend of cultures from all over the world. In the USA, one can find a piece of any country.

New Year decorations.

An incredible parking post.

An antique lantern.

What kind of cars can be found in such a neighborhood? Of course, muscle cars.

Housing in Angelino Heights is expensive but comparable to the centers of major world capitals. A modest house in this neighborhood will cost around 1 million dollars, while an upgraded version would require between 2 to 5 million.

However, there is a place much wealthier — Beverly Hills.