Tour of California
Part One - Los Angeles
Part Two - Hollywood, Glendale, Pasadena, Beverly Hills
The last from trip to LA:
Riverside
From where I was in LA, Riverside was a good hour away. Luckily for me the traffic was light all the way there. I had no expectations, but downtown Riverside was actually pretty nice. It has that 1950s-1960s small city feel to it, with a medium to moderately tall buildings, surrounded by single family homes, all in a grid pattern. There was lots of spanish/mexican inspired architecture and the county courthouse was gorgeous. There was a pedestrian mall with quite a lot of people and some type of farmers' market going on. What I liked too was, right near downtown Riverside, was a regional park (Mt. Rubidoux) that you can hike up to and get a great view of the city (of course the visability wasn't the best).
The Mission Inn
Just nonchalantly located on the corner street...
A sea of palm trees, all shapes and sizes...
And finally, my hike up Mt. Rubidoux. Not too bad, especially for the view, unless your like me and foolishly forget water!
Santa Ana
The county seat of Orange County and reportedly the 10th largest city in California (350,000). The business/civic district was very sparse with people(for a weekend) and a lot of the buildings seemed stuck in the 60's. But I believe the real draw of the area is the old Santa Ana downtown which was busy with people. Overall, there were plenty of interesting buildings, but, honestly, Santa Ana is not necessarily a place I'd rush back to again.
Probably one of the saddest looking buildings I've seen...
Makes me wonder what they are brewing in the building on the right
City Hall needs an update
Another great Federal Building!
Old Downtown
I really liked the side of this building, but a sign next door said lofts were being built in the empty space next to it. Seems a shame to cover it up.
Yep that's me
Crystal Cathedral
One of the other places I wanted to visit while in Orange County was the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. I'm not a particularly religious person, but, the building is interesting and beautiful, providing architectural value (which is rare for modern religious buildings).
A building I liked nearby, almost the color of the sky
These kids were so cute!
Religious or not, this is a nice sentiment to walk away with
Long Beach
I, unfortunately, didn't get much time in Long Beach. In fact, I only had an hour, so, I mainly walked the waterfront area. But, even the surrounding neighborhoods driving up seemed very lively at the pedestrian level and I would love to go back and explore the city properly.
If you're going to build a parking garage, make it interesting
I'm obsessed with this red building.
So, that's the end of my LA trip. Like I said, I wish I had had more time to explore Long Beach, I also wanted to go to Venice Beach and Santa Monica, and try to get some great LA skyline pictures, but, it just means another trip is in order! Thanks again for all the great comments....more of California to come...