Tour of California - Part Two - More LA and Beyond

[stepper77]

Tour of California

Part One - Los Angeles

After visiting downtown LA, I moved on to see some of the surrounding cities and, of course, went to the touristy bits of LA like Hollywood and Rodeo Drive. So, on we go:

Universal City

A view from Mulholland Drive, unfortunately for me, the visibility was poor





The Los Angeles River (or so the sign said)


Burbank











Glendale

Though my pictures don't necessarily show it, the downtown business area of Glendale was quite busy with people for a Saturday morning.




I got kicked out of this plaza for taking "unauthorized" photos










Ugly, yet, stangely intriguing...






Pasadena

This suburb of LA has been presented a lot recently on this board so some of these may be redundant. But, I thank those posters because I may not have gone over here otherwise.

This is what I call transit oriented development! Very convenient to downtown LA (I took the metro gold line to get here)







I love "scramble" intersections












More transit development, like something you'd see in Europe



Beverly Hills

My hotel






Rodeo Drive










Century City is in the background



Century City

Skyline of Century City, part of LA proper

The skyline from my hotel room


Hollywood/West Hollywood

From my hotel room as well, towards the Hollywood Hills

I believe this is the Hollywood/Vine metro stop(?)

I don't know how good it will be, but the eight year old boy in me can't wait!















And of course....


Shhh...My little boy needed a potty break outside the Pacific Design Center


I took a picture of it with every color change, but, I didn't want to bore anyon, so I'm just posting it green.

[MobyLL]

Niiiiice! You really got around. Thanks for the pics!

[kevN_wk]

Neato!

[Sacto]

Very cool.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Even better than part 1. you hit all my favorite spots. i work in Glendale, frequent Hollywood and Pasadena and im moving to Downtown. i felt as though it was my personal tour. great job.

[dktshb]

Nice to see Glendale and a glimpse of the San Fernando Valley.

[Westsidelife]

Keep 'em coming!

So I have to ask you again, stepper? What are your overall impressions of each of the neighborhoods, specifically Pasadena?

[southpass]

great pictures

BUT, you happened to be shy a couple block from seeing the explosion/current construction that is happening around paseo, east down colorado and lake

[Buckeye Native 001]

Man you got all over the place. Great stuff!

Cute doxie, btw

[vjhe]

Now this is my kind of tour of L.A. These pictures are fantastic! Southern California is calling me, and I just keep ignoring it, but I'm not sure for how much longer.

[stepper77]

Originally Posted by Gatorbitch Squared

Man you got all over the place. Great stuff!

Cute doxie, btw

Thanks, he is a sweetheart. He loved running around the grassy mounds outside PDC.

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

Keep 'em coming!

So I have to ask you again, stepper? What are your overall impressions of each of the neighborhoods, specifically Pasadena?

My impressions? Well, I really like older, well established suburbs that are part of a larger city, but, can function on their own as well. So, I really liked Pasadena. It reminded me a bit of a more stylish Berkeley or Walnut Creek. The city hall building is gorgeous as is the Colorado Street Bridge. I love that Pasadena is connected via public transit with the metro stops and in the main shopping area (Colorado and Fair Oaks?) was full of pedestrian activity on a weekend. There seemed like a lot of places to eat outdoors and there are quite a lot of parks/open spaces in a small area. Ironically, the two housing developments around the metro stops were pretty quiet. However, if I were ever to move to LA, Pasadena would be one of places I would consider living in.

I liked Glendale too. The main downtown area had different activities going on, retail shopping as well as commercial development. It’s relatively clean and convenient as far as driving. Is it connected to any commuter rail? I didn’t get a chance to see any of the residential neighborhoods though, but, my overall impression was good.

Hollywood/West Hollywood reminded in many ways of San Francisco. Not just because they have large gay populations, but, because both places are relatively dense with medium to moderately tall buildings, a bit grimy, but, lived in. There seemed to be a lot of new construction going on too. I presume infill housing? Rodeo Drive, I have to say, disappointed somewhat. I just assumed it was bigger for some reason. It was nice, but, the pedestrian street looked a bit too cartoony or an imitation, like something you'd see in Las Vegas (sorry?!).

Staying in Beverly Hills, I would have preferred if the metro extended further down, say, Santa Monica Blvd or Wilshire. I wouldn't have needed my car as much. I think I've read that an extension into that part of LA is being considered, but, it definitely seems like to me to be a big part of LA not serviced (I don't really take buses). Being from the Bay Area, I was somewhat taken back by the enormous amount of parking garages everywhere, but, then remembered, cars are the only means of getting around in a lot of areas. Which is a shame, but typical of most US cities. Having said that though, parking was cheap (by Bay Area standards), I found it pretty easy to get around in my car and I went all the way out to Riverside, Orange County and Long Beach (my next post) without much difficulty. In what part of LA do you live?

[Westsidelife]

I live in Pasadena. I'm so glad to get an outsider's perspective of the place; lovely ain't it? And the fact that it's connected to Downtown via the Gold Line is so convenient, especially in the future when Downtown becomes more of a place to be. There's also another nice walkable and urban street in Pasadena called Lake Ave. It's a ways from Colorado Blvd. though.

I share pretty much the same sentiments on Hollywood/West Hollywood and Rodeo Drive. Hollywood is for the most part a shitty place, but it currently is going through an urban revitalization with lots of transit-oriented development and infill projects. So excited to see one of LA's most recognizable districts rediscovering itself.

We would have the Purple Line running along Wilshire Blvd. all the way to Santa Monica today had it not been for the Westsiders. They didn't want the "economically disadvantaged" folks from the Eastside to be able to access their part of the city.

I hope you were able to visit Griffith Park and the Observatory!

[PhillyRising]

Every time I see a new thread for Los Angeles...the more impressed I am of the place! I really have to get out there soon!

[dktshb]

Westsidelife;2913832]I share pretty much the same sentiments on Hollywood/West Hollywood and Rodeo Drive. Hollywood is for the most part a shitty place, but it currently is going through an urban revitalization with lots of transit-oriented development and infill projects. So excited to see one of LA's most recognizable districts rediscovering itself.

Speak for yourself about Hollywood, it isn't "for the most part a shitty place..." you may want to preface that as your opinion.

[Jularc]

Good stuff. I like this bridge...

[ChrisLA]

^
Yes it is beautiful, there actually are a lot of interesting bridges thoughout Pasadena, and along the 110 coming from downtown LA into this area. The last time I was in over in that area I passed by on the bus. I wanted so bad to go back and get a picture, but had spent too much time further up the street in Old Pasadena that it became too dark.

[ltsmotorsport]

Once again...excellent.

[ChrisLA]

and Long Beach (my next post)

Well hurry up with the Long Beach photos.
I'm looking foward to seeing what you covered. I do hope you went beyond the typical stuff (downtown waterfront) as you did with some of your other threads. Downtown Long Beach is nice, and so is 2nd Street down in the Belmont Shores section of town. But the neighborhoods are beautiful especially along Ocean Avenue heading east, and directly north along this corridor away from the beach. Also streets such as 4th with its funky shops is a cool area to capture (In a way our small version of Melrose Avenue, or at least what it was like in the 90's). Broadway Avenue is mainly the center of gay culture in Long Beach. It has some of the most interesting buildings, along this corridor, and some pretty fancy restaurants at that. I;m sure they probably rival Belmont Shores restaurants. Downtown Long Beach on the other hand, and especially the waterfront focus on the chain eateries, but Pine Avenue are almost all independant and upscale. Those on Broadway, and the the East Village are as well. Oh btw the East Village also has some of the most interesting buildings in the city too. Naples is more modern, and mostly residental but also pretty interesting with its canals, and gondolas going through them. I live in Long Beach, but haven't covered a lot of these areas in my photo tours. Anyway if you didn't get to these places, if you come back I'll be happy to tell you how to get to them, or give you a tour so you can capture them the next time.

[Wheelingman04]

Neat tour.

[stepper77]

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

Well hurry up with the Long Beach photos.
I'm looking foward to seeing what you covered. I do hope you went beyond the typical stuff (downtown waterfront) as you did with some of your other threads. Downtown Long Beach is nice, and so is 2nd Street down in the Belmont Shores section. But the neighborhoods are beautiful especially along Ocean Avenue heading east, and directly north along this corridor away from the beach. Also streets such as 4th with its funky shops is a cool area to capture (In a way our small version of Melrose Avenue, or what it was like in the 90's). Broadway Avenue is mainly the center of gay culture in Long Beach. It has some fo the most intersting buildings, along this corridor, and pretty some fancy restaurants that probably rivals Belmont Shores restarants. Downtown Long Beach, mainly the waterfront focus on the chain eateries, where as Pine Avenue are independant and upscale, as well as those on Broadway, and the the East Village. Oh btw the East Village also has some of the most interesting buildings in the city too. Naples is more modern, and mostly residental but pretty interesing with its canals, and gondolas going though them. I live in Long Beach, but haven't covered a lot of these areas. Anyway if you didn't get to these places, if you come back I'll be happy to tell you how to get to them, or give you a tour so you can capture them the next time.

I'll be posting them today. Unfortunately, I only had about an hour in Long Beach (as I had to leave to meet family) so I only made it to the waterfront area. But, as I was driving to the waterfront I saw so many interesting buildings and neighborhoods that I was a little upset I only had an hour there. I probably could have used a whole day! So, I definitely plan to come back. Thanks for the offer on telling me where all the good places to go are, because I'd love to explore Long Beach more. I will check in with you when I do if you don't mind.