Downtown Is ‘Oasis of Difference’

New residents, and even California natives, sometimes lose their perspective and start thinking of Los Angeles as a sprawling desert composed not of sand dunes but minimalls, housing tracts and freeways. Often this is because they don’t visit the city’s downtown area.

But for those who take the time to do some exploring, the heart of the city reveals itself to be bursting with life, an oasis of differences, fed by the secret springs of sights to see and things to do that exist nowhere else.

There’s no way to see everything in one day. Instead, bit by bit, little pockets of downtown can be explored and savored. And along the way you may make some surprising discoveries.

Unknown to most people is the observation balcony that rings the top of City Hall, L.A.’s best-known landmark (bordered by Spring, Main, 1st and Temple streets). Take an express elevator to the 22nd floor, then the Tower Elevator up to a pleasant, breezy veranda that on a clear day offers a commanding view of the city.

Later, saunter through the lobby of the building, which is a soaring study in polished marble. See a giant holographic photo of Mayor Tom Bradley, various works by modern painters and even a miniature Shinto shrine that was a gift from Nagoya, Japan, one of Los Angeles’ sister cities.

Connected to City Hall by an elevated walkway over Main Street is City Hall East, which contains on the ground floor a display of models of buildings and artwork of proposed future construction in the city.

Diagonally across from City Hall, at Temple and Main, is the entrance to Fletcher Bowron Square, a public mall that contains the Children’s Museum in addition to an underground shopping mall with open-air atriums at either end. Most of the shops are closed Sundays, but during the week the restaurants, fast-food stands and the usual assortment of mall-type businesses make for a lively atmosphere.

A few blocks north of City Hall on Spring Street is the Plaza, where Los Angeles began in 1781. On one side is the old Plaza church; on the other side of this historic spot is the last concentration of traditional Spanish architecture left in downtown, the Olvera Street shopping and restaurant district.

Right next door, of course, is Chinatown (Hill and Spring streets and Sunset Boulevard), where the shops of Mandarin Plaza, Chinatown Plaza and the newly opened Bamboo Plaza offer everything from a silk suit to a love potion.

A more recent major cultural influence in Los Angeles is Little Tokyo (1st, 3rd, Los Angeles and Alameda streets). This 3-block area of shops and restaurants is crowned by the New Otani Hotel’s roof garden, a peaceful green oasis complete with a small stream, waterfall and bonsai garden.

Other places of interest in Little Tokyo include the James Irvine Garden and the Isamu Noguchi Plaza, which are part of the Japanese American Cultural Center (244 S. San Pedro St.), and the Little Tokyo Bonsai Nursery (622 E. 1st St.). The Oiwake Karoke Bar (511 E. 1st St.) offers patrons the opportunity to get up on stage and sing along with their favorite rock video, while the Little Tokyo bowling alley in the Yaohan Plaza (333 S. Alameda) features computerized scoreboards.

A few blocks off the beaten path is the Museum of Neon Art (704 Traction Ave.), which displays a constantly evolving collection of light-and-motion sculptures.

The Jewelry District (along Broadway at 7th Street) is the place for deals on gaudy baubles, and bargaining is not only acceptable but customary. The Arcade Building (Broadway and Spring, south of 5th Street) is a once-magnificent retail mall now fallen on hard times, but it is a great spot to buy cheap plastic items ranging from toys to wall clocks.

Broadway is the home of the 1890s brick and wrought-iron Bradbury Building (Broadway and 3rd). Peeking inside became so popular a pastime that a fee is now required for entry, and the building is closed on weekends.

Close by is Grand Central Market (Broadway between 3rd and 4th streets), where the inventory runs the gamut from cowboy boots to Chinese food and includes L.A.’s oldest juice bar, formerly called The Fountain of Youth and now called Hoods.

While most Angelenos are familiar with the Music Center, there are other plazas to be enjoyed nearby. For instance, the Security Pacific Plaza (3rd and 4th, Hope and Flower) has an excellent fountain, along with a bright-orange sculpture by Alexander Calder called “Four Arches,” shade trees and usually a hot dog cart.

In an area bordered by 3rd and 8th streets, Grand Avenue and the Harbor Freeway, a number of skyscrapers are changing the skyline. And most of them have something worthy of exploration.

South of the Crocker/IBM towers at 3rd and Hope, for example, is 400 South Hope Gallery, which hosts an ever-changing variety of art exhibits.

Across Grand Avenue to the east is the California Plaza, which contains the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and, one level down in the amphitheater area, the city’s newest and possibly the most interesting waterfall/fountain. On the same level is Holographic Visions (300 S. Grand), an unusual store full of holograms, holographic jewelry, sculpture and artworks.

The Wells Fargo Center (333 S. Grand) has several attractions, including a small Western museum and the Fountain Court, which features an extensive fountain complex, restaurant and an ice cream shop.

Just a short escalator ride below the distinctive Arco Plaza (between Figueroa and Flower, 5th and 6th streets) is a high-tech, two-story subterranean shopping mall with a variety of specialty shops and restaurants. Above, the building features a spectacular entryway, a reflecting pool/fountain and a work by sculptor Herbert Bayer called “Double Ascension.”

The Union Bank Center (455 S. Figueroa) is notable chiefly for a ground-floor restaurant called the Sonora Cafe, which serves superb margaritas and Southwestern food. The Citicorp Plaza (Figueroa and 7th) adjoins the unusual Seventh St. Market Place. A circular excavation several floors deep, Seventh St. Market Place is roofed with glass and filled with trees and open-ironwork elevators, and offers a mix of retail shops and restaurants.

The Home Savings Tower (7th and Flower) is the building that looks like a French chateau from the outside, and the Sky Lobby inside is one of the most spectacular corporate spaces in Los Angeles. Interior appointments include a model of the Statue of Liberty, Art Deco fittings and chandeliers, and a mural of present-day Los Angeles along the perimeter of the room.

Several downtown hotels also offer points of interest, including the vast lobby of the Bonaventure (Flower, Figueroa and 5th streets), and the vertigo-inducing elevator that rises up the side of the hotel’s mirror-glass cylinders to the Buenavista Lounge and Top of Five Restaurant.

Included in the Sheraton Grande complex at 333 S. Figueroa is a multiplex theater that gets most of the first-runs.

The Biltmore (Grand, Olive and 5th), built in 1923, offers an eclectic blend of period architecture and furnishings, the fabulous French Baroque Crystal Ballroom, high tea in the Rendezvous Court, great jazz in the bar during evening hours and a restaurant called Bernard’s that serves unusual culinary items such as roast wild boar and other game.

Bargain hunters will find several points of interest downtown, including the Garment District (7th and 8th, Main and Los Angeles streets), which has dozens of retail shops, especially along Los Angeles Street. The California Mart (8th and 9th, Main and Los Angeles streets) covers 3 million square feet and houses more than 2,000 clothing manufacturers and representatives.

For flowers, it’s the Wholesale Flower Mart (7th and 8th, Maple and San Pedro streets); for produce, the Wholesale Produce Market (Olympic and 11th, Maple and Central).

And for maps, it’s Thomas Brothers (607 W. 7th). That might be a good place to start.