But so does Century City:
And Westwood:
So the traditional theory that "downtown" lines up with the skyscrapers doesn't hold true here, like it does with the Financial District in San Francisco. As far as downtowns go, LA's is hardly the focal point of the city. So much so, in fact, that I had never been there until this week, when I went to an LA Times event about their Information Desk. It turns out that their offices are smack in the middle of Downtown, so I dressed up and hopped on the bus to visit this part of the city for the first time. Here's how I got there:
The 720 again! Who would've thought I'd be on it twice in two weeks?
My 720 experience was much the same as last time, except that it was daylight, I had a purse, and I was dressed in business casual... so the same, excepting for the exponentially increases number of quizzical stares. Apparently, I'm not the sort of commuter a lot of these people were familiar with. I got off at Vermont and got on the Metro Red Line, so I couldn't see where I was going any more.
And here, I'd like to point out one of the misconceptions I had about Downtown. I'd been told all these horror stories about how "ghetto" it was, and read all these articles about the riots and schools and locked parking garages, so my expectations were very low. I was kind of expecting the Oakland of LA (because honestly, walking through Oakland makes me feel infinitely more vulnerable than walking through South Central or Compton).
What I saw when I got off the Metro, the surrounding view was nothing like I expected.
There were tall buildings. Clean sidewalks. Parks. A few small restaurants--too few for a place where people walk to work, but enough for people who drive.
It was just city-like, in a way that shocked me. I felt like it was in an under-populated San Francisco. It felt normal, in a way that most of LA doesn't feel normal to me. It also felt genuinely urban, unlike the relatively un-diverse skyscraper areas on the Westside. I was really surprised, and really happy that I'd accidentally left about an hour too early--time to explore!
I got to eat some good food, hang out in a park, and check out some of the area's great architecture. I was so happy about the whole experience--and then curious. Why would people from the Westside hate on Downtown so much? What about this could be distasteful to them?
Looking back at my post from last week, I realize that racism may be one of the reasons why people are hesitant about going Downtown--the racial diversity is undeniable. The historical mark left by the riots is, too. So while those are both excuses, they just didn't seem to explain the anti-Downtown bias I felt before I saw it. And then I realized why I liked Downtown so much: it felt like a "real" city, a city with a center, a city with diversity, a city with green space. It felt planned, and it felt a little unpredictable. And that's not what most people from LA know to be a city. They know Los Angeles--the big, sprawling, decentralized, semi-"postsuburban,"individualized "city" made up of a hundred other areas that could be cities and towns on their own. Having grown up right near San Francisco, I want a city that acts like a "metropolis"--but Angelenos expect their post-metropolis, and they like it. That's what people here want out of their city, and that's why they'll always argue with New Yorkers over whose city is better.
Maybe I'm clinging to an old ideal here, but metropolis-type cities have always been dear to my heart. San Francisco? Boston? I'm there. Los Angeles? I still need a little selling on this city. But Downtown may have opened the gateway.
Cheers,
Amy
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