The Broad and walking downtown L.A.

The Broad and walking downtown L.A.


On a recent visit to Los Angeles I walked around downtown and was very impressed with the rapid pace of change for the better. There are new office and residential buildings, coffee shops, restaurants, bars and the area is much cleaner and safer than it used to be. Lots of young people are living and working downtown, contributing to its vibrancy.

Of course downtown is very transit accessible and the public transportation options keep improving. I exited the Red/Purple Line Civic Center/Grand Park Metro station and started my walk at Grand Park to L.A. City Hall, then made my way up to Wall Disney Concert Hall and then to the brand new The Broad, a contemporary art museum.

The museum, which opened September 20, 2015, is named after philanthropist Eli Broad, who financed the $140 million building which houses the Broad art collections. The building is designed by architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro and structural engineering firm Leslie E. Robertson Associates.

I had a vegan muffin and coffee at the plaza next to the museum and then walked to Union Station, where I was pleasantly surprised to find a group of pre-Columbian indigenous dancers at Los Angeles Plaza Historic District.

Here are more pictures of The Broad and downtown L.A.

Walking downtown L.A.

The Broad:

The Broad

Civic Center/Grand Park Metro station:

L.A. Metro Civic Center/Grand Park Station
L.A. Scene

L.A. Scene

Santa Monica Farmers Market


Musician performing at Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.



Model posing for a fashion shoot next to an auto body shop and Mexican taco stand. So L.A.


The new Santa Monica Place. It was redeveloped into an outdoor shopping center.


Another surreal scene in the City of Angels. A gigantic inflatable smurf at Santa Monica Place promoting the new 'Smurfs' movie.


L.A.'s historic Union Station first opened to the public in May of 1939. It will soon undergo a major transformation to accommodate high speed trains that will whisk passengers to San Francisco in 2 hours and 38 minutes.



Riding the rails south to San Diego. The Los Angeles skyline can be seen in the distance.