Diversions : See Downtown With a Dash Here, a Dash There

A chauffeured self-guided architectural tour of downtown Los Angeles for only 25 cents?

It sounds like a Depression-era fantasy, but it’s real. All you need to do is wait at the nearest Dash bus stop for the ever-familiar white-purple-and-blue bus to appear.

Downtowners see these buildings everyday, but they probably don’t know that the Hall of Justice is not only the oldest structure in the Civic Center, but that it’s classically styled.

Here is a guide to the sights along the four downtown Dash routes. (Please note that some routes go to the same place. For example, you can take A, B or D to City Hall.):

Route A

Our starting point: In front of Robinson’s at 7th and Hope streets.

Your bus will head southwest, eventually passing the backside of Broadway Plaza, a dark brick shopping galleria housing the Hyatt Regency Hotel, a variety of eateries and a potpourri of shops, including the Broadway.

Next, your bus will turn north as it approaches the sunny yellow banner of Seventh Street Marketplace (735 S. Figueroa St.), an eclectic assemblage of 50 stores, restaurants, cafes and bookshops.

Continuing on Figueroa, you will pass a futuristic bronze-clad glass tower on the right. This is the Westin Bonaventure Hotel (404 S. Figueroa).

After making its way through the valley of Flower Street, your bus will turn right on 1st Street, passing Los Angeles Music Center between Hope and Grand streets. The center has three buildings: the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Mark Taper Forum, and the Ahmanson Theater.

Next, you arrive at the Civic Center, a cluster of government buildings along 1st Street. Here, 45,000 people work, making it the largest public job center outside Washington D.C. Included in this sprawling grove of buildings is the L.A. County Court House, a 1950s-style Modern structure at 1st and Grand, and Los Angeles Law Library (1st and Hill).

Look to your right at the 28-story tower with a pyramidal apex at 200 N. Spring St. “Dragnet” viewers know this as the symbol of Los Angeles: City Hall. Note that its gardens are graced with flaming orange birds of paradise, the city’s official flower.

Before circling Little Tokyo, your bus will pass a converted warehouse whose side sports a bold red mural of metaphysical questions. This is Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art’s Temporary Contemporary Museum (134-152 Central Ave.), designed by Frank Gehry. Open: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday.

Your bus will now double back toward your pick-up point, but stay on board. It will travel south on Flower Street, past the Central Library, a potpourri of Egyptian, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic flourishes combined in one stately Beaux Arts form. The library is under reconstruction from a 1986 fire which gutted its interior.

Next, your bus passes Los Angeles’ famous Diamond District (South Hill Street between 5th and 7th streets), where millions of dollars’ worth of jewelry are sold at discount prices.

You will then motor down Los Angeles Street, through the Garment District, where men’s, women’s and children’s apparel are available at wholesale prices or discounted retail prices.

The most famous structure here is the Cooper Building (860 S. Los Angeles St.). Located within are 45 apparel stores, open to the public, offering 25%-75% discounts off retail prices. Famous brands include Guess? and Armani. Tours, luncheons and fashion shows can be arranged for large groups. Open Monday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Our last sight is the California Mart (110 E. 9th St.) housing the offices and display centers of nearly 2,000 apparel manufacturers carrying 12,500 lines of clothing. Although California Mart is not open to the public, one outlet--Consumer Production Sales--offers excess stock to shoppers at cut-rate prices every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 300 lines of clothing, including 175 name brands and numerous designer fashion brands, are available to shoppers on a cash-only basis.

Route A buses (Little Tokyo/Garment District) run weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., every 6 to 10 minutes. Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every 15 minutes.

Other sights along the way: Arco Plaza, Transamerica Building.

Route B

Our starting point: Northeast corner of 5th and Flower streets.

Your Dash bus travels south, passing two distinctly monolithic polished stone towers. These are the Arco Towers (505 S. Flower). Hidden below them is a subterranean shopping arcade.

Your bus heads west on Wilshire Boulevard, passing the modernistic WCT Tower (1100 Wilshire), a sleek sky-rise with an imposing amber-colored base.

You now travel north on Beaudry, past the Pacific Stock Exchange (233 S. Beaudry), a stark International Style white rectangle. You’ll circle the Metropolitan Water District complex (1111 W. Sunset Boulevard) which employs more than 900 state employees.

As the bus again heads south, it takes you past the Hospital of the Good Samaritan (southwest corner of 6th Street and Lucas Avenue). Then it travels east on Wilshire and north on Figueroa, where it passes the much-talked about Art Deco Revivalist Sanwa Bank Plaza (601 S. Figueroa), a 52-story expanse containing a light-bathed atrium.

Past 6th Street, then north at South Olive, look for the ornate Beaux-Arts styled Pacific Mutual Building (523 W. 6th St.) built in 1912. Note the terra cotta facade and three-story arcade base.

Standing prominently where your bus turns west is the Biltmore Hotel (South Olive and 5th streets), a 1-million-square-foot hotel with 1,000 rooms, a Spanish churrigueresque interior and a sprawling galleria of shops and eateries.

Here, you’ll be able to see three important high-rises:

* The new Gas Company Tower (555 5th St.) is a charcoal gray modernistic obelisk with ground-level facade featuring a mural by contemporary artist Frank Stella.

* Nearby, at One Bunker Hill (Grand and 5th), you’ll see the famous Zigzag Moderne-styled Southern California Edison Building; its interior glistens with multicolored marble and murals.

* Beside it is Los Angeles’ tallest building, the 73-story First Interstate World Center (633 W. 5th St.).

At Grand and 2nd streets, look for a unique red-colored Indian sandstone building dwarfed by neighboring skyscrapers. This is Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), 250 S. Grand St., built by award-winning architect Arata Isozaki. The 98,000-square-foot museum is devoted entirely to art created after 1940. Last year in an American Institute of Architects’ poll, the museum was named one of the 10 best buildings in America completed since 1980.

Farther up Grand Street is the heart of Los Angeles’ Civic Center. Your bus will veer east at Temple Street, passing the Hall of Records (320 W. Temple), a modernistic series of rectangular volumes designed by architect Richard Neutra, and the classically styled Hall of Justice, (Broadway and Temple), the oldest structure in the Civic Center.

Behind the Hall of Justice’s giant three-story temple front are avenues of gold marbled walls, Ionic columns and gilded ceilings as well as jail cells.

As your bus continues north on Los Angeles Street, it passes the famous historic district, Olvera Street, “the birthplace of L.A.” Olvera Street features several famous Los Angeles landmarks, including Avila Adobe (1818), the oldest dwelling still standing in Los Angeles; La Casa Pelanconi (1855), the city’s oldest brick dwelling, and Pico House (1869), the first three-story masonry building ever erected in Los Angeles.

On the east side of Alameda Street at Macy Street is Union Station, the last great metropolitan passenger terminal built in the United States. During the 1930s, such famous transcontinental trains as Santa Fe’s “El Capitan,” the “Super Chief” and Union Pacific’s “City of L.A.” arrived here regularly, bringing tourists, immigrants and merchants.

The B Route (Chinatown/City West) operates 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. every five minutes on weekdays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every 15 minutes on Saturdays.

Other points along the way: California Plaza, Chinatown, City Hall, Federal Building, Library Square, Los Angeles County Music Center, Wells Fargo Museum. Route C

Our starting point: 7th Street and Grand Avenue.

Your Dash bus heads south on Grand Street then over to Figueroa Street until it reaches Los Angeles Convention and Exhibit Center (1201 S. Figueroa), 38 acres of exhibition space and parking.

At Figueroa and Exposition Boulevard, your bus will pass Los Angeles’ oldest college (and UCLA’s arch-rival), the University of Southern California, founded in 1880. Be sure to visit the university’s Hancock Memorial Museum, built in 1890, a re-creation of nine rooms from the Hancock Mansion, which resemble the Villa de Medici in Italy. The museum features original furniture once housed at the mansion, including several pieces from Maximilian’s Palace in Mexico City.

Before traveling back downtown, make one final stop at Exposition Park to visit four important sites:

* The California Afro-American Museum (600 State Drive) features exhibits of African-American history. It’s open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

* Southwest of the Afro-American Museum is the Museum of Science and Industry, which hosts nearly 2 million visitors each year.

* A short walk south is Los Angeles Museum of Natural History (903 Exposition), the largest museum of its kind in the West, chronicling human history from 300 million years ago to present.

* Nearby is L.A. Sports Arena and L.A. Memorial Coliseum.

The C Route (Exposition Park) operates from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays (frequency depends on the time of day); 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every 30 minutes on Saturdays.

Other points along the way: Blue Line Grand and Pico stations, California Hospital.

Route D

Our starting point: 7th and Main streets.

There’s not much to see as the Dash bus heads north on Main Street past the eastern outskirts of the Civic Center, toward the northeast downtown district.

At 535 N. Main St. is the city’s oldest church, La Iglesia de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles (The Church of Our Lady, the Queen of Angels). Construction started in 1818.

The bus heads northeast on Macy Street, passing the Public Works Administration’s Moderne-styled U.S. Post Office Terminal Annex at Alameda Street. At 555 Ramirez St., look for Piper Technical Center, headquarters of the city’s Department of General Services.

Now, the bus begins a long southerly journey through a historic section of downtown Los Angeles to Spring Street. It passes the 17-story U.S. Court House at 312 N. Spring, a light-colored edifice resting on a black marble base built during the Great Depression. The Court House, with its streamlined interiors, houses rose and sienna travertine marble.

You also travel past the Reagan State Office Building (on the left at 3rd Street) and the recently restored Hellman Building (Banco Popular Center) at the northeast corner of Spring and West 4th streets. This impressive Beaux Arts building was constructed in 1903.

Across the street at 433 S. Spring is the Zigzag Moderne Title Insurance and Trust Co. Building, now serving as temporary headquarters for Los Angeles Public Library system’s main branch. Note the murals above the building’s entrance by PWA artist Hugo Ballin.

At the southwest corner of south Spring and west 5th streets is the Victorian-style Alexandria Hotel (1906), which once welcomed the nation’s celebrities and political figures. One block away at 618 S. Spring is the old Pacific Coast Stock Exchange, an unassuming PWA Moderne monument-style structure flanked by high-rises.

Your bus will continue south through the Garment District, then east on 16th Street and south again on San Pedro Street. There it will circle around and head north again.

The D Route (Union Station/Blue Line) is the newest Dash route. It operates every 10 minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., weekdays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

Other points along the way: Blue Line San Pedro Station, City Hall, Olvera Street, Union Station.

Make a Dash for It * The Los Angeles Department of Transportation operates four Dash routes in downtown Los Angeles. Free maps are available on buses.

* Fare: 25 cents (exact change required). Transfers are free.

* Major transfer points are at 1st and Grand streets, 7th and Grand, 5th and Flower streets, and Temple and Spring streets.

* Buses run Monday through Saturday.

* Read bus signs and on-board indicators carefully to make sure you have the right bus.

* For information, call (800) 2LA-RIDE.

Dash Downtown Routes Places you can Dash to: 1. Dodger Stadium 2. City Hall 3. Reagan State Office Building 4. Arco Plaza 5. Convention Center 6. L.A. Sports Arena