Sunday in DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles)
Whether you live near Los Angeles or are visiting, you need to include a stop in historic and hip DTLA. The business hub of Los Angeles is called downtown. Los Angeles is unique for being a major metropolitan city where few residents live. Most live in the suburbs, unlike New York or Chicago where you have residents living where they are working. This is changing. DTLA is emerging as a desirable place to live because it has everything: the arts, dining, housing and fun. Here are some ideas to fill a Sunday (or any day for that matter).
The Arts District is in the easternmost part of DTLA. Here you will find the famed Southern California Institute of Architecture which is housed in the former Santa Fe Train depot. The structure is one quarter of a mile long and has earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Southern California Institute of Architecture is housed in an old train depot.
Brunch, lunch or for any food cravings in between you must stop at Grand Central Market. Situated on one of downtown’s oldest streets, Broadway, which was in the original 1849 plans for the layout of the city. The famed street runs 10 miles long but in this stretch, in the former theater district, you have a market that is bustling with vendors selling everything from hard to find spices, cheese, coffee and meat, and of course, the many food vendors including Egg Slut, Horse Thief BBQ, Sticky Rice, Wexler’s Deli, La Tostaderia, and McConnell’s Ice Cream are tempting the hungriest visitors to try their fare. Grab a seat outdoors or in, a cold beer or glass of champagne, and your meal and you are set to relax and take it all in. This a perfect people-watching spot. If you’re lucky there might be a parade going by or musicians performing in the nearby park.
Just a few of the vendors in Grand Central Market. It’s a food lover’s paradise.
The MacArthur Park at Wexler’s Deli in Grand Central Market never disappoints.
Need to walk off your meal? You might want to climb Bunker Hill or hop on the Angel’s Flight Railway. The 117-year-old funicular takes passengers on a short ride between Hill Street and Grand Avenue on Bunker Hill. Originally opened in 1901, Angels Flight is the world’s shortest railway and has given more than 100 million rides along its hillside track.
Angel’s Flight Railways
The historic railway is juxtaposed next to one of downtown’s many high rises.
Go a little further south and you will hit Staples Center, home to four of Los Angeles’s professional sports teams: the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks. Adjacent to Staples Center is LA Live, a multi-use venue with restaurants, entertainment and hotels.
Staples Center and LA Live Are the pulse of entertainment downtown
Sporting events, concerts, dining and lodging are all found here.
Dinner, anyone?
Dinner anyone? Many historic buildings have been renovated and turned into multi-purpose structures like the Biscuit Company lofts that housed the former National Biscuit Company. The building offers retail and restaurant space on the ground floor, and live/work lofts on the other floors. Sunday dinner is family style at French inspired Church and State Bistro.
Church and State Bistro
A French Bistro that serves their famous “Church on Sunday” menu like these wild burgundy snails.
You will be transported to a cozy French bistro here in downtown Los Angeles.