City of Los Angeles
Street Scenes

LA has many streets which take on special meaning. Whether they are ethnically rich, famous in some way or just full of shops, you should find something new and different on each one.

Brentwood
West of Bel Air
This is an exclusive residential area that is chic, casual, countrified and full of celebrities. The area features structures of stucco, clapboard cottages and palatial mansions.

Chinatown
Extends from the 700 to the 1000 block of North Broadway and is bordered by Ord, Alameda, Bernard, and Yale Streets
Chinatown is the cultural center for more than 200,000 Chinese-Americans. It feels like China with building roof lines that are exaggerated, curved and heavily ornamented. Both food and gifts are prevalent; live chickens, ducks, and fish, chinaware, Chinese paintings, books, acupuncture and medicinal herbs fill the shop windows. Chinese New Year is celebrated with parades, beauty pageants and food in February or March.

Civic Center
Civic Center is roughly bounded by Temple and First Streets and Main Street and Grand Avenue.
The civic center houses city, county, state and federal offices and is the second-largest governmental center in the US outside of Washington, DC.

Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood is as much a state of mind as an actual street. One of its most famous features, the "Walk of Fame", is on Hollywood Boulevard between Gower Street and LaBrea Avenue and along a portion of Vine Street -- large metal stars are embedded in the sidewalk to honor past and present stars of the entertainment industry. It commemorates more than a 1,000 entertainment celebrities. You can even be a part of it if by adopting your favorite star; adoption requires a willingness to polish it on the first Saturday of each month. For more information call (213) 469-9880
  • Some of the more famous sites on Hollywood Boulevard include:
    • Hollywood Wax Museum
    • Mann's Chinese Theatre
    • Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum
    • Guinness World of Records Museum
    • Pantages Theatre
    • El Capitan Theatre

    Little Tokyo
    Bounded by First and Third Streets from Main to Alameda Streets, southeast of the Civic Center
      Little Tokyo is the heart of the Japanese-American community. It was settled more than 100 years ago and besides gift shops and restaurants it is now home to the Japanese American Museum, the Japanese-American Cultural Center, and a branch of the LA public library which specializes in books about the Japanese-American experience and books in Japanese. Nisei Week is held annually in August with a parade, traditional dancing, festival food and demonstrations of flower arranging, sumi brush painting, the traditional tea ceremony and other Japanese arts.

    Koreatown
    Roughly bounded by Vermont, Pico, Eighth and Western Streets
    This is the hub for the largest Korean population in the US. It is the center of Korean cultural, social and business life.

    La Brea Avenue
    Junctions with Melrose Avenue, south to Wilshire
    This has become a hot spot for art galleries, design-oriented stores and restaurants. There are numerous Art Deco and Spanish buildings of '30's vintage.

    Melrose Avenue
    Highland west to Doheny, the choicest stretch between La Brea and Fairfax
    This trendy street includes adventurous restaurants, fast-food places, shops selling radical, vintage and used clothing, and galleries and design stores.

    Miracle Mile
    Wilshire Boulevard between La Brea and Fairfax Avenue
    This was named the "Miracle Mile" because A.W. Ross turned 18 acres of empty land along Wilshire Boulevard into a prestigious business and shopping district." Mr Ross actually supervised the designs of the buildings along the street. Some of the buildings to look for are:
    • The Security Pacific Bank building, 5209 Wilshire Boulevard (1929), a black and gold miniature of the Richfield Tower
    • Meyer & Holter commercial building, 5217-5231 Wilshire Boulevard (1930) has an imposing set-back tower.
    • The Dark Room, 5370 Wilshire Boulevard, is a period camera in black vitrolite
    • Frank M. Tyler's commercial building, 5464 Wilshire Boulevard (1927), has twin turrets that look like towering Japanese origami
    • Dominguez-Wilshire Building, 5410 Wilshire Boulevard (1930) includes a finely detailed tower which rises above a two-story base

    Rodeo Drive
    Between Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard
    This is LA's answer to the luxury shopping streets of Europe. This is where many top designer labels sell their wares: Celine, Ralph Lauren, Yves St. Laurent, Cartier and Hermes.

    Wilshire Boulevard
    Between Roxbury and Crescent Drives
    Wilshire is home to some of the city's best deprtment and specialy stores and handsome older buildings, slick glass highrises, lofty palm trees and lively pedestrian traffic. Stores include Neiman-Marcus, Jaeger, Saks Fifth Avenue and Buccellati.

    El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument and Olvera Street
    El Pueblo is 44 acres bounded by Alameda, Arcadia, Spring and Macy Streets
    This is the founding site of the City of Los Angeles. It includes
    • Olvera Street, a Mexican marketplace with shops and restaurants
    • Avila Adobe, the oldest house in Los Angeles (1818)
    • Masonic Hall built in 1858
    • Old Plaza was the center of activities in the old pueblo of Los Angeles and contains a kiosk, century old Moreton Bay fig trees, and statues of Felipe de Neve (leader of the group that founded of the city in 1781) and King Carlos II, ruler of Spain.
    • Old Plaza Church (Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles) is the oldest church in the city which was completed in 1822 by the Franciscans
    • Old Plaza Firehouse built in 1884 houses an original chemical wagon, antique firefighting equipment and historic photographs
    • Pico House once an elegant hotel built in 1870 by Pio Pico, the last governor of California under the Mexican flag
    • Sepulveda House a two-story Eastlake Victorian building constructed in 1887. It was once a boarding house with shops and currently houses the visitor center.
    • During April/May, 1995 Archeological Consulting Services (ACS) have unearthed items from the native American period and treasures from the Spanish occupation of the area (1781 to 1820), the Mexican era (1820 to 1850) and the American period which dates from California's 1850 entrance to the Union. They have uncovered tools, ceramics, bones, bottles, beads and other items from a pit located behind a store at the northwest corner of Olvera Street, the oldest thoroughfare in the City.

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