Downtown LA

When Brian came by to pick me, he was nervous.. the greyhound station was in Skid Row.

Later, when I looked at a map... it wasnt just a phrase, Skid Row is what the industrial side of LA is called.

He never visits that side of town.

Apparently, most Anglenos dont go there if at all possible.

Yeah, its rough lookin.

And I was enchanted.

Reminds me of downtown Brooklyn, with the hustle and bustle of regular folk going about their business.

I could see that downtown Los Angeles, at one point in its history was not unlike New York.

The textured sidewalks, the tall buildings, the cheap commerce.

And the newstands.

When I see newstands, I see vigor.

And because its cheap - the artists and intellectuals are there.

As the yuppies always follow the artists, invariably raising the values of the neighborhoods - downtown is already turning into gold.

Skid Row and all.

I wanna check out downtown LA before it becomes San Francisco.






































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We were both getting hungry, so B suggested we stop by an LA institution.. Phillipe's French Dipped Sandwiches.

Wot?

Basically a deli that serves hot carved meat, with the bread dipped/layered with the meat sauces.

I had Lamb :-)

















And then there was Chinatown a block away...

We really only had time for a quick walk







Look over there, said B..



A picture for GG. :-)





We noted that there seemed to be a massive vietnamese presence in this chinatown...















But then we hada take off cuz there was much more...