Tour Guide
Today is my wife's last final exam; she has three papers due on Friday, but today she has to be over on campus. Toensure she had as minimal disruption as possible, and to make sure we didn't have one very bored mom on our hands, I decided it was time to put on my cap, grab the car keys, and be a Tour Guide.
How does one become a Tour Guide (tm) anyway? Here's the big secret: Know where you're going-- or at least act like you do. A good map or map book also helps. The ability to toss off little bits of trivia every three blocks will see you through even the most mundane neighborhood. Another secret skill is knowing inwards, outwards, backwards, and upwards all the possible routes, parking spaces, shortcuts and the like to the popular attractions so as to minimize time, both in travel and at the actual spot. Most of all, sensing the mood of your passengers garners you fame and respect for acknowledging when to linger and when to floor it.
Today's itinerary included a trip to downtown L.A. to Olvera Street. This is the oldest part of Los Angeles, and is considered the oldest street in town. It was a rundown alley before a nice white lady decided to upgrade it to an Anglicized Mexican marketplace (read: Tijuana without the dirt, dust, ragamuffins, drugs, and the need to actually stop being Ameri-centric and speak another language). It's now been in existence in this form for 75 years. It's a fun place to go and take visitors to town-- there are tons of stalls with all kinds of souvenirs, trinkets, Mexican clothing and good, food, sweets, and tons of other things. The most fun for those in the know is going to the cultural festivals held throughout the year, such as Dia de Los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), and joining the local community in its celebrations.
So we drove down there, first driving along Broadway, which in the heyday of downtown was where all the big, fancy department stores and first-run movie theatres were. Today the stores are all gone, and most of the movie palaces are no longer used for their original function, but a lot of the buildings still remain. It's worth driving down and gazing at the architecture and getting a glimpse of what Los Angeles used to be. It also gave me the opportunity to point out Grand Central Market, which has been in existence for close to a hundred years now. It's a great place to get some cheap meat, produce, and other goods. After arriving at Olvera Street, we walked over and wandered through the various puestos, stopping every now and then to examine goods. Once we finished that, we zipped over to the new cathedral, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Since my in-laws are all good Catholics, and the church was fairly new (opened in 2001 or 2002, I believe), it seemed like a good place to go and scope things out. The outside is very modern, and not to my taste, but inside it is rather beautiful. There are little side chapels, and at the corner is one of the original altars, transplanted from an earlier church. The main chapel is huge, with portraits of dozens of saints together lining each side of the walls. Underneath the church are the crypts, and they're already filling up. One of the more famous residents is Gregory Peck.
After we'd finished the church, I decided that on the way home we'd stop and see Carroll Avenue in Angelino Heights. Angelino Heights was one of L.A.'s very first suburbs, along with Echo Park and Silver Lake. The houses on Carroll Avenue are Victorians, mostly in Eastlake and Queen Anne styles, and the majority of them have been restored and maintained. Some are quite beautiful. Carroll Avenue is just a hop, skip, and jump from Sunset Boulevard, and just south of Echo Park.
Judging from the numerous photos taken today, the Tour Guide (tm) did a very good job. *grin* But there's still tomorrow...
How does one become a Tour Guide (tm) anyway? Here's the big secret: Know where you're going-- or at least act like you do. A good map or map book also helps. The ability to toss off little bits of trivia every three blocks will see you through even the most mundane neighborhood. Another secret skill is knowing inwards, outwards, backwards, and upwards all the possible routes, parking spaces, shortcuts and the like to the popular attractions so as to minimize time, both in travel and at the actual spot. Most of all, sensing the mood of your passengers garners you fame and respect for acknowledging when to linger and when to floor it.
Today's itinerary included a trip to downtown L.A. to Olvera Street. This is the oldest part of Los Angeles, and is considered the oldest street in town. It was a rundown alley before a nice white lady decided to upgrade it to an Anglicized Mexican marketplace (read: Tijuana without the dirt, dust, ragamuffins, drugs, and the need to actually stop being Ameri-centric and speak another language). It's now been in existence in this form for 75 years. It's a fun place to go and take visitors to town-- there are tons of stalls with all kinds of souvenirs, trinkets, Mexican clothing and good, food, sweets, and tons of other things. The most fun for those in the know is going to the cultural festivals held throughout the year, such as Dia de Los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), and joining the local community in its celebrations.
So we drove down there, first driving along Broadway, which in the heyday of downtown was where all the big, fancy department stores and first-run movie theatres were. Today the stores are all gone, and most of the movie palaces are no longer used for their original function, but a lot of the buildings still remain. It's worth driving down and gazing at the architecture and getting a glimpse of what Los Angeles used to be. It also gave me the opportunity to point out Grand Central Market, which has been in existence for close to a hundred years now. It's a great place to get some cheap meat, produce, and other goods. After arriving at Olvera Street, we walked over and wandered through the various puestos, stopping every now and then to examine goods. Once we finished that, we zipped over to the new cathedral, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Since my in-laws are all good Catholics, and the church was fairly new (opened in 2001 or 2002, I believe), it seemed like a good place to go and scope things out. The outside is very modern, and not to my taste, but inside it is rather beautiful. There are little side chapels, and at the corner is one of the original altars, transplanted from an earlier church. The main chapel is huge, with portraits of dozens of saints together lining each side of the walls. Underneath the church are the crypts, and they're already filling up. One of the more famous residents is Gregory Peck.
After we'd finished the church, I decided that on the way home we'd stop and see Carroll Avenue in Angelino Heights. Angelino Heights was one of L.A.'s very first suburbs, along with Echo Park and Silver Lake. The houses on Carroll Avenue are Victorians, mostly in Eastlake and Queen Anne styles, and the majority of them have been restored and maintained. Some are quite beautiful. Carroll Avenue is just a hop, skip, and jump from Sunset Boulevard, and just south of Echo Park.
Judging from the numerous photos taken today, the Tour Guide (tm) did a very good job. *grin* But there's still tomorrow...
posted by Mr. Sandman | 5:29 PM
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