Stores, Sights and Santa: A Holiday Tour of Central City on the Minibus : DASH It All--Downtown

When I was a little girl my mother would take my brother and me downtown on the Wilshire bus to see Santa Claus. There was no Santa Claus (that I knew of) in Beverly Hills and there were no really big department stores.

Beverly Drive was the street with most of the shops and Rodeo Drive was just a side street. And though they bid valiantly for the seasonal dollar with their holiday decorations, for me, they couldn’t compete with the excitement of going “downtown.”

In those days, streetcars still clanged their way along the main streets of Los Angeles, which were crowded with Christmas shoppers. And Santa Claus (the only one in my mind) was waiting at the old May Co. at 8th and Broadway.

Shoppers Lured Away

Today, regional malls often make a trip downtown unnecessary. Many Southlanders haven’t been in the metropolitan area in years--other than to pass through on a freeway.

Meanwhile, a large area of downtown Los Angeles has blossomed into a wondrous and, yes, even exciting city again.

If you’re adventurous, there is a convenient way to see the best of it, and the holiday season is a great time to do it.

Because parking can sometimes be difficult and always expensive, the easiest way to begin your downtown adventure is to take the rapid transit into the Civic Center along 1st Street and hop the DASH minibus system that circles around the Central City.

DASH stands for Downtown Area Short Hop and is a joint project of the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation Commission and the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency.

Bring the kids to visit Santa Claus and also introduce them to some of the many cultural, historic and ethnic areas to be found in Los Angeles.

Downtown Loop

You can make the whole downtown loop (without getting off the bus) for 25 cents. Or, you pay 25 cents each time you board. The route covers the metropolitan area from colorfully decorated Chinatown and Olvera Street on the north, through Little Tokyo, the Civic Center, down the Flower Street business corridor, to the shopping meccas of 7th Street, through the Jewelry and Garment districts to 12th Street on the south--an area about two miles long and half a mile wide.

The DASH has long been a favorite escape method for the many day workers along its route who use it to get “out” for lunch or run shopping sorties or errands. Word has spread, however, and out-of-town business people, conventioneers and tourists staying in the many hotels on or near its route (Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles Hilton, Hyatt Regency, New Otani, Sheraton Grande and Biltmore) also have discovered its advantages.

In addition to the reasonable fare, service is frequent and pleasant on the DASH. Though the noontime crunch, especially during the holidays, puts a strain on courtesy, for the most part passengers are friendly, exchanging greetings with the driver, chatting with one another--even apologizing when they step on someone’s toes. Young folks have even been seen getting up to let an older person have a seat.

Courtesy seems to be part of driver training too. On a recent trip, a woman shopper struggled aboard with an armful of packages, mumbled her stop to the driver and sat down with a sigh of relief, only to be told by him that she was going the long way around to reach her hotel. He pulled over at the next stop and pointed out the pickup corner for a bus going the other way. He then radioed the oncoming bus and described the woman: “Green plaid jacket and a black skirt. She’s already paid.”

An unusual occurrence?

“No,” according to the driver, “we do it pretty often, especially for tourists. They frequently lose their bearings.”

A Ticket to Shopper’s Utopia

If Christmas shopping is on your agenda, a ride on the DASH can be a ticket to Utopia. Practically anything can be found along the bus route, either in small specialty shops or major department stores, which include Robinson’s, Broadway, May Co. and Bullock’s. The latter three anchor large, gaily decorated malls with women’s fashion boutiques, men’s stores, candy, card, book, sporting goods, record and video shops as well as fast-food or sit-down restaurants, all within a three-block area along 7th Street. At this time of the year, all are emblazoned with Christmas decorations and sounds of seasonal music enliven the ambiance of the area.

Though you can begin your tour at any stop, it would be difficult, especially with children, to explore everything in one day. If it’s a first visit, I suggest taking the bus the entire route and then returning to investigate one or two places at your leisure. Let’s start from the top (north).

Straddling Broadway, north of City Hall, are the exotic shops and restaurants of Chinatown. A pleasant place to holiday shop or improve your technique with chopsticks. If the scenes look familiar, it’s probably because they often are used for film and TV productions that need a Chinese setting.

Just south of Chinatown, the bus stops at another ethnic enclave, Olvera Street, a reminder of our city’s Mexican heritage. It’s adjacent to the historic Plaza, and the Union Railway Station is just across the way. This is the heart of old Los Angeles. Lining the block-long Olvera Street, sparkling with the spirit of Feliz Navidad, are colorful Mexican restaurants, shops and the Avila Adobe, the oldest house in Los Angeles.

In the large gazebo, the centerpiece of the Plaza, is a life-size Nativity scene that’s displayed every Christmas season. Also on the Plaza is the city’s first firehouse and the Old Plaza Catholic Church.

‘Hands On’ Exhibits

Back on the bus, the next stop to the south is the Los Angeles Children’s Museum with its “hands on” exhibits, many geared to the holidays. Call (213) 687-8800 for hours, admission cost and tour information if you plan to visit.

Reaching 1st Street, the shuttle stops just a short block from the Temporary Contemporary Art Museum, the forerunner of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Here the bus turns west through still another ethnic area, Little Tokyo, with its Japanese restaurants, shops, international corporate offices and the New Otani Hotel. It then heads past City Hall, the Los Angeles Times, the court buildings, Bunker Hill (where MOCA is now located) and the Music Center before turning south at Hope Street to Flower Street.

Heading south, the DASH passes the World Trade Center, in the 300 block of south Flower, an oasis of travel-related businesses including a visa service, currency exchange, travel agents and a shop with books, maps and other travel aids.

In the 400 block are the cylindrical, reflective-glass covered towers of the Bonaventure Hotel, also seen frequently on TV, with its shops and other amenities, including a pedestrian crosswalk over 5th Street that connects to Arco Plaza, the giant complex that occupies the entire block between 5th and 6th streets.

Beneath the Arco twin towers is the nation’s largest subterranean shopping mall centered with a winter forest scene by an animated family of bears and a group of carolers who perform during the noon hour. In this three-level maze, in addition to a wide selection of shops and boutiques for Christmas shopping, are art galleries, restaurants, a drugstore, tobacconist, government printing office, post office, passport substation, chapel, optometrist, radio station and the Greater Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau.

Across the street from Arco Plaza, at the corner of 5th and Flower streets, is the Wells Fargo History Museum, which appeals to young and old with its compact collection of artifacts from the company’s more than 125 years in the West. Stagecoaches, tools, documents and maps, the Dorsey gold collection and a reproduction of an early Wells Fargo office are featured in the museum.

Still Showing Scars

Also at 5th and Flower is the main public library still showing the scars of the disastrous fire.

Continuing south through the towering buildings of the financial district, where international banks, airlines and other corporations and professionals have offices, the bus turns east on Wilshire Boulevard, then south again on Grand Street to 7th Street where the department stores and malls are located.

There’s a lot of subway construction on 7th Street, so it’s difficult sometimes to find your way to the stores. Here’s a tip: If your plan is to visit all four, it probably would be best to get off when the bus reaches 7th Street and then walk west (if you have a specific store in mind, ask the driver for directions).

Walking west you first come to the recently redecorated Robinson’s on the corner of Hope Street. Across Hope Street is the Broadway Plaza, the site of the Broadway department store and the Hyatt Regency Hotel, plus many other shops and restaurants.

One more block and you reach the Seventh Market Place, across from the L.A. Hilton. Here are the May Co. and Bullock’s department stores. The three-level mall is built around a large, open, circular atrium, which the shops overlook. At this time of the year, holiday music from the lower level restaurant can be heard at noontime.

These stores, malls and satellite shops, clustered as they are, are making 7th Street the Fifth Avenue of Los Angeles.

If you choose not to get off to shop on 7th Street, the DASH turns east passing through the Jewelry District, an older, not too elegant setting for gems. However, the Jewelry Design Center and St. Vincent Jewelry Center and Gallery, as well as many smaller shops, can make a stop rewarding for the knowledgeable shopper.

At Spring Street, just a few blocks farther, the bus turns south through the Garment District, a warren of large and small shops where designer clothing bargains attract the dollar-wise. At the Transamerica Building on 12th Street the shuttle comes to the end of the line.

After a short wait, it heads back uptown. Only now, it returns west along 7th Street then drops down to 8th Street on Grand Avenue, passing the department stores and malls on the south side before heading north on Figueroa, stopping across from May Co. and Bullock’s. At 4th Street, it returns to Flower and heads north completing its round trip by heading back east on 1st Street through Little Tokyo and back to Olvera Street and Chinatown.

Ugly, but Air-Conditioned

The minibuses won’t win a prize for good looks. They look a bit like a military transport of some sort--snub nosed, squat, angular and painted silver--but they’re air-conditioned and clean.

Each holds about 20 to 25 passengers seated and as many standees as girth of bus (and passengers) will allow. And in decent traffic, it takes less than 1 1/2 hours to complete the round trip. Their curb-side stops are marked by distinctive signs showing their route and are located about every two blocks. They run frequently, about every 8 to 10 minutes from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (about every 6 minutes from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.); on Saturdays, every 15 minutes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. No Sunday Service. Information: (800) 874-8885.