Weekend Getaway To Downtown Los Angeles

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This past weekend we had tickets to the Elvis Costello concert at the Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. The concert was on Saturday night so we headed to Los Angeles late Saturday morning.We checked into our downtown hotel and changed for our night on the town, L.A. style. Since I thought ahead while packing, I packed comfortable boots to walk in. It’s easy to take Uber or a cab from place to place, but you don’t really get the feel of the city unless you have the pavement under your feet and the skyline towering above you. Any big city can be intimidating with mentally ill and homeless people, but in my experience you just have to be aware of your surroundings. I also have noticed through the years that since Los Angeles is starting revitalization, more and more people are living and working in the middle of downtown.

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Dinner consisted of Happy Hour at Bunker Hill Bar & Grill. Prices were good, food mediocre. I was hoping to get a seat at Bestia, a hot restaurant and heavily Yelped one, 2,906 reviews with a 4 ½ star rating, but that was not in the cards that night. We walked down Broadway and decided to grab a drink at the old, but refurbished: Clifton’s Cafeteria. What a trip! Definitely a cafeteria, but the décor and ambiance was straight out of a twisted Disneyland imaginer. There is a huge fake redwood tree surrounded by boulders in the center of the cafeteria and taxidermy placed throughout the 4 levels with their glass eyes staring eerily at you. I was trippin and I don’t do drugs. Some of the customers were dressed in costume, of what – I’m not sure of, but both the men and women had painted faces and big hats with veils covering their gowns, super weird. We discovered a Speakeasy through an opening in the boulders that led to a basement. It would be open after midnight, nope not going there! After our drinks in front of the Goth Bar we headed out to the Ace Hotel.

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I’ve stayed at the Ace Hotel and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a unique, hipster sort of hotel room. But tonight, the theater next door was where Elvis Costello was performing. The venue was and is, beautiful. United Artists took the theater over and made it their offices, then for 50 years the beautiful building was boarded up until now. Walking on Broadway you see many theaters boarded up and you just know they are amazing inside. Fingers crossed more people will take interest and along with revitalizing downtown, revitalize these works of architecture.

Elvis Costello finished his performance at 11:30pm. Instead of driving back to the hotel we felt safe enough to walk the 30 minutes back to our hotel.

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The next morning we hoofed it to the MOCA– Museum of Contemporary Art. On the way to MOCA, the intersection was blocked off due to filming. We asked one of the many “roadies” what was being filmed and found out that a T.V. show called “Training Days” based on the movie, was what they were shooting. Stepping over many of the cables that lined the street for production, I almost ran straight into one of the stars of the show, Bill Paxton. You might know him from “Big Love” and “Apollo 13”. Every time I’m in the L A area, I spot someone from the entertainment world; I haven’t been disappointed yet!

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MOCA is directly across the street from the new museum, The Broad. Unfortunately, tickets for The Broad have been sold out for the next two months. You can however, stand in line, but on the weekends the que can be up to 90 minutes. I have been to MOCA once before, a long time ago so I was definitely up to checking it out again. Admission is $12 and tours are free. After our tour of the museum we headed to see Angel’s Flight. It is a funicular railway in the Bunker Hill District of LA. It opened in 1901. It is not running now but in the near future, it should be up and running.

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Instead of riding Angel’s flight we climbed down the stairs to Grand Central Market. If you have never been there, go! It is an indoor market with produce stands, spice stands and many food vendors. You can get artisan ice cream, authentic Mexican food, pizza, pasta, Asian of all kinds and many more food options. We picked Ramen Hood, ordered at the register and sat at the counter. The ramen noodles were delicious and chewy and the broth had an onion flavor to it. To accompany it we ate a cold cucumber and avocado salad with roasted chickpeas. We were lucky to get a seat, this place is crowded and interesting and plain ol’ fun to walk around and check out. Just be prepared that it is crowded and go before you’re hungry.

After lunch, we walked back to our hotel, gathered our belongings and drove an hour home, back to Orange County. What a fun filled weekend getaway!