Downtown Los Angeles: Getting There and Getting Around

If you visit Los Angeles and arrive in a car, you must understand that you will spend a lot of your sight-seeing day here:

[This photograph does not give you the reality of the mind-numbing bumper to bumper congestion that occurs daily on Los Angeles freeways. Case in point: we spent a full hour Saturday evening driving at the wild and heady pace of 5 mph, speeding north on the 405 past the Los Angeles International Airport.]

You must also understand that, like all major cities of the world, parking space is limited and therefore costly. In downtown Los Angeles, parking costs range from $1.00 to $10.00. And that's if you can actually find a parking lot with available parking.

[I hope you do not think me bitter. Not at all. I am merely stating the facts here.]

Would it not be much much better, much simpler, to utilize the mass transit system? Of course it would! Hop on a bus ($1.25 fare) and let someone else do the driving and dodging, accelerating and braking. Disembark from the rapid bus at the newly constructed Metro Train Station at Vermont and Wilshire.

You can choose stairs or escalator. Queue up to purchase your All Day Pass ($5.00).

Trains come and go every few minutes. Stand on the side of the platform that says Union Station. Pretend that you are in London, riding The Tube. Imagine the British accented voice telling you to 'Mind the Gap' as you step on the train.

Grab a seat if you can and count your stops. Three to Union Station.

Look all around you at the old elegance of this still gracious railway station of yesteryear. Notice the high ceiling, the polished wood painted to match the tile motifs on the walls, columns and floors. Think about rail way station scenes from Funny Girl.

Welcome to Los Angeles!

Walk across Alameda Avenue. Straight ahead you will see Olvera Street, the birthplace of Los Angeles. There are shops, museums, and restaurants to explore. There may even be a movie photo shoot happening!

No cars here. The movie location caterer has to walk several blocks from the closest Starbuck's to bring stars and directors their afternoon coffee.

On Hill Street, at the bottom of Bunker Hill, skyscrapers tower above you, built sturdily to withstand even the strongest earthquake.


In earlier times, the Angel's Flight Funicular transported passengers up and down the hill. But now it hangs sadly on its wires, watching the pedestrians huff and puff on the hundreds of steps that parallel its tracks.


You can't see the details of skyscrapers or funiculars if you are cooped up in your car. It's much more interesting to stroll through Grand Central Market over to Broadway and down to Ninth, across to Maple and the Fashion District.

If you get lost, you can always ask the yellow shirted Los Angeles Downtown Safe Team guy for directions back to the Metro Station at Pershing Square. That's what he's there for.

[Thanks to David McMahon for selecting this post as a top contender for Post Of The Day.]