Took my 2nd rail trip around L.A. last week, and stayed in a motel on Alvarado Street, near MacArthur Park. Wow! Loved it! Took my Mexican roommate along and, having lived there in the 70's/80's, he was as pleasantly surprised/shocked as I was to see "Tijuana" on our trip: outdoor food stands, vendors and pirated DVD stands! My roomie said they never would have allowed this when he lived there! More, more, more, I say!!!
Generally, in so many cities I've visted, the older parks of the city have been well-developed, and I was puzzled why the MacArthur Park area seems lacking in mid/high rise developments. What gives? So close to downtown, I expected a more scaled-down Central Park area.
In my re-discovery of L.A. I'm now concentrating on the ethnic enclaves of L.A. which is making my trips even more exciting now, given that I used to always stay in Hollywood. I did ride the Red line, got off in Hollywood, stayed there 15 minutes, bored stiff, I couldn't wait to get back to Alvarado Street, or skip over to Chinatown, where I could spend hours shopping and eating. So if the Nimby's in Hollywood are opposed to bringing that city into the 21st century, their loss, hopefully downtown L.A.'s gain!
Looking at the developments in Santa Monica, that will save me a trip over there!
I took the Expo line to the end, and again, I was as disappointed as when I took the green line to Redondo Beach, expecting to be deposited on the beach! Let's hope some development occurs along that line, but there could be some AK-47-carrying Nimby's along that line!
Another poster commented on the lack of developments along some of the rail lines, and given the length of time the Blue Line has been in operation, I'm puzzled why there aren't developments on the Blue line heading south to Long Beach. On route back to the Airport, I got off on the Watts station and had dinner, but where's the developments besides that heavily fortified shopping center?
Next trip: Little Tokyo, Koreatown, more Chinatown, Cambodia Town in Long Beach, another stay on Alvarado, and what other ethnic enclaves are worth seeing in L.A.? No Philipino town? Does Watts have a downtown core area?