Downtown LA Safe?
 

Generally speaking, is it safe to do a self-guided tour solo in downtown LA using public transit?

In March, I will have a few hours to explore the neighborhoods, here's my plan:

Saturday
- take Bus 81 to Chinatown
- 9 am Chinatown dim sum at Empress Pavilion, check out Chinatown
- take Bus 96 from Chinatown to Olvera OR googlemaps shows I can walk it in 7 mins...is it a reasonable neighborhood to do it in?
- take the visitor center walking tour of Olvera area
- take Dash from Olvera to Little Tokyo
- take Bus 439B/444 from Little Tokyo back to Staples Center area by 3:30pm

Sunday
- take Red Line from 7th Str stop to Civic Center stop
- take guided tour of Walt Disney Concert Hall
- walk around MOCA and Cathedral Our Lady of the Angels
- return to Staples Center area by 1:30pm
- take Bus 14 from Staples Center area to Farmers Market around 4:45pm, return bus 7:12pm. If I catch the bus seems like I'd have 1.5 hrs at the Farmers Market. Worth it for the trip? This seems like a fairly long bus ride (40 mins) - better idea to catch a cab? About how long would the cab ride be & approx much would cab fare be?


Also, I plan on taking Bus 460 from Disneyland to downtown LA. It will be very early on the prior Sunday and I was thinking of sitting up by the driver. Any reason not to do this?

One last thing...the transit website shows new tap cards coming into effect. Will exact change cash fares still be accepted?

Having read yk's excellent Dec trip report that covers many of these locales, I'm just double checking to make sure this is a reasonably safe plan. As you can see most of the self-guided tour is during daylight hours. I'm planning on doing it solo but might go with one other from the event I'm attending if there's interest. Of course I will use common sense, but just thought I'd double check as I thought taking the bus to LAX was a great idea until I received realistic feedback in a previous post.

Thx for any insights.

Enjoy-la!

Hi klam-

<i>- take the visitor center walking tour of Olvera area
- take Dash from Olvera to Little Tokyo
- take Bus 439B/444 from Little Tokyo back to Staples Center area by 3:30pm

Sunday
- take Red Line from 7th Str stop to Civic Center stop
- take guided tour of Walt Disney Concert Hall
- walk around MOCA and Cathedral Our Lady of the Angels</i>

Completely safe for the above. BTW, are you sure the dim sum place is open that early at 9am? Just want to make sure.

regarding the Farmers Market, I assume you're talking about the one at 3rd & Fairfax? 1.5 hrs is more than enough, probably too much, unless you are eating a meal there. Is the Farmers Market open until 7pm on a Sunday?

I'm not sure if I made it clear in my trip report, but I took the bus or metro between Koreatown & downtown LA for all my DT visits. I never felt unsafe on the bus or metro, and never felt unsafe walking around DT at all. Having said that, all my DT visits were during daylight hours.

You're there on a weekend. You can take the DASH Downtown Discovery bus for some of your trips. It runs every 20 minutes from 10 to 5 on Sat and Sun, and cost $0.25:

It covers all the area you will need to be around Downtown:

http://www.ladottransit.com/dash/rou...wntown_we.html

The 14 is a local bus, with stops every other cross street, which is why it's slow. Rapid buses like the 720 along Wilshire are a lot faster, but you'll need a long walk or transfer from Staples Center.

The Farmers Market closes at 7pm on Sunday, but I think you should go there earlier. It gets quiet late Sunday.

You can definitely pay cash fare on Metro buses.

It's about 7 miles from Staples Center to the Farmers Market. About $30 each way by taxi, depending on traffic.

Couple more thoughts:
I'm not sure what the visiting policy is for Cathedral Our Lady of angles on a Sunday. i assume it has services throughout the day, though I suppose you have checked beforehand?

Regarding WDCH, I assume you have checked its tour schedule?
http://musiccenter.org/visit/toursched.html

I agree that the Farmers Market late on Sunday afternoon is not a good idea - it fizzles out and some businesses close early.

See instead if the fabulous Central Library building (those stairs that have been in the movies!) can be visited while you're there - check the hours and location at www.lapl.org/central/ - it's just down from the new Disney concert hall.

Also consider going down the hill from there to the Bonaventure hotel, it has several public rooms and bars etc. with incredible views on upper levels!

Otherwise your plan sounds good except for the church as mentioned, in case they have services.

Thx a mint yk for the reassurance. I did check all the biz hours so I should be good.

rkkwan, great details on the transit logistics - thx I will look those up.

DalaiLlama, it would be fab if I could switch the am and pm activites on Sunday but the WDCH only has guided tours until 11am. I considered the library but wanted to check out the Farmers Mkt more. However, based on the responses here I'll look into checking out the library instead. I really enjoyed the tour of the Boston Public Library so I'll see if there are any for the LAPL scheduled during my "free time" window. Thx for the info on the Bonaventure; I'll pop in there as well as the Biltmore.

Thx a mint all for your help - so great!

Enjoy-la!

Instead of going to the Farmer's market on Fairfax, how about checking out the Grand Central Market in downtown near 4th and Broadway? You can walk there from the Library and they are open until 6PM every day. It's great and you can have excellent (and cheap) authentic tacos at Ana Maria's.
http://www.grandcentralsquare.com/

Afterward you can walk across the street and check out the famous Bradbury Building where scenes from Blade Runner were filmed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Building

BTW, the Central Library always has interesting free exhibits. I saw a great one on Paris photography last year. Right now, it's all about Maps but I have not seen it yet. Make sure you check out the ceiling in the Rotunda, it's beautiful. Some friends got married there last year.

I agree with Kristina, go to Grand Central Market while you are downtown. You'll be near the Million Dollar Theatre as well as the Bradbury Building. I'm not sure if you can go inside either one unless on a tour.

You may find that it is faster to walk than wait for a DASH bus on the weekends. Olvera to Little Tokyo is very close, walk straight down Main Street and you'll go by City Hall, turn Left at First Street (passing by the Caltrans building).

It's worth it to go into at least the first floor rotunda of City Hall. You may be able to go to the top floor view as well, not sure but ask at the security desk.

I've never done it using public transportation, but in the most general way YES I think Los Angeles is safe for a tourist going to tourist destinations like you will be.

Kristina & mlgb, thx a mint for the GCM and bldg recs. I'd read one person said it wasn't worth going to the GCM so I didn't look into it anymore since the Fairfax FMkt seems to get all the attn. I love Mexican food so authentic tacos have me storming a trail there now - that they're inexpensive is a bonus...LOL! I'll look into your recs tonite but just wanted to post back now to let you know they sound like fab suggestions.

Appreciate the assurance, suze!

Enjoy-la!

Perhaps it was me who didn't love the Central Library tour. It was just more info than I really needed - more of a "what's where" tour of the library. Having said that, at least the first 15 minutes of my tour was great because the guide talked about the history and architecture of the library and showed us the impressive parts. But the remainder of the 45 minutes was going to childrens section, map section, reference section, computer terminals section... you get the idea. But it's worth going in to check out the dome room and the murals.

For food, I think Central Market is better than Farmers Market. Much cheaper and lots and lots of Mexican stalls to choose from. apart from the Bradbury building, don't forget to take a quick look of Angel's Flight.

Don't know if you watch PBS at all, but last night we watched Globe Trekker on TV and the episode was LA City Guide. Our favorite, Meghan, was the host of that show. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching.

If you like traditional soft tacos, then make sure you have the pork carnitas tacos at Ana Maria's in GCM. They are huge. I recommend you start with just one. I've made the mistake of ordering two twice now before I realized I could order just one. They are about $2.50 each.
Oh, and the Bradbury Bldg is open to all visitors. You just can't go up the stairs inside because it is still an office building. They are used to tourists checking it out inside.
If you exit the GCM onto Broadway, look across the street to the left and you will see the entrance to the Bradbury Bldg (next to a Sprint store).
I have some photos of these places I was going to put on my website. This thread has given me a little incentive so I'll try to get it done in the next few days and post a link back here.

And if you're at Olvera Street, try the soft tacos (handmade tortillas) at Luz del Dia, cute place at the south end of Olvera Street.

Thx a mint again for the extra, very helpful info! yk (will try to catch that as a rerun), Kristina & mlgb (yum and then I'll walk it off)! Fodorites are the best!

Enjoy-la!

Hi klam-

If you're going to visit the Library and Grand Central Market, Bradbury building, Biltmore etc, I found the "self-guided tour" info very useful here from the LA Conservancey website:
http://www.laconservancy.org/tours/t...elfguided.php4

I did the Printable tour, which I printed out the map and the descriptions of the buildings. Didn't try the podcast tour. You should be able to visit the buildings listed # 1-6
http://www.laconservancy.org/tours/downtown/index.php4

LA's my "hometown" (place of birth), Klam.

what great info, yk - thx! I hadn't come across that at all in my trip planning. I'm going to revamp my itin to take in the GCM and more of these sites!

suze, hometowns always are a special place (=

Enjoy-la!

Hi klam -

I cannot take credit here. It was Fodorite lvk who alerted me of the LA Conservancy's tours, when I asked about LA activites here a few months ago.
http://www.randomhouse.com/category/...=9781400019441

I'm heading back to LA for a weekend in April, and we are planning to take a guided tour by them at that time.

Whooooooooops! Wrong link. Here's the correct one:
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...omment-2793135

Klam, which weekend in March will you be here? There's going to be a Fodor GTG on the weekend of March 20th which will include Dim Sum at Empress Pavilion.

yk, I'm so bummed you won't be here that weekend. But I'm thinking your brother will be?

Yes, I'm planning to be at the GTG.

rkkwan-I look forward to meeting you! Filmwill has a new thread on the GTG on the Asia board, make sure you check it out...

yk, my thx to lvk too then ;) I'm reworking my itin to see if I can take in one of their guided tours.

Kristina, I had no idea of the GTG - thx a mint for mentioning it! I'll be in downtown LA on that Sunday. Actually, I'm there for World Figure Skating Championships (last one before the Olympics!) but am heading to the West Coast a bit early to check out Disneyland - I'm a Dis NUT...LOL! I'd love to meet up for dim sum if it's not too late to sign up/there's still room...I'll go check out that thread.

Enjoy-la!

klam-email "Filmwill", the organizer, for all the details.
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...lmost-here.cfm
That's the most current thread and his address is there.

i even got quoted in Fodor's latest Los Angeles guidebook
:-)

I did a search for the LA GTG and didn't see it cuz I only checked the US forum so thx a mint for that link, Kristina! I e-mailed filmwill yesterday to ask if there's still room for me (but of course, I completely understand if there isn't).

Cool, suze - what did they print?

Enjoy-la!

Nothing earth-shaking, believe me, but it made one of the main pages upfront of the book.

"If I had 1 day in L.A., I would do Olvera Street & Chinatown, then Farmer's Market, perhaps walk of the stars of LaBrea tar pits, then head to Santa Monica and Venice Beach." -suze

Hardly rocket science :-)

The guidebooks "Word of Mouth" quotes are often quite general, like mine above, and are chosen when they make a good preface to the next chapter.

Yours was obviously well worded, suze! :) Good job; I've yet to make any guidebook.

Enjoy-la!

my 6th one ;-)

Posting back to say thx a mint all for the fab info. I've revamped my itin now. Overall, even without the Farmers Mkt on Fairfax, it works out a lot better:

Saturday
- LA Conservancy Historic Core guided tour
- Grand Central Market for lunch
- Little Tokyo
- Union Station

Sunday
- Empress Pavilion dim sum, check out Chinatown
- WDCH guided tour
- Cathedral of Angels, City Hall
- Olvera

yk, the LA Conservancy tours looked so good I've decided to forego the Olvera docent-led tours offered on Sat. And while I won't be able to take the Symphonian tour, I can still take the WDCH tour on Sunday.

I would love to have afternoon tea at the Biltmore but unfortunately the timing doesn't work - at least I will be able to visit the Grand Dame.

Kristina, I just wanted to let you know that I haven't heard back from filmwill, either on the GTG thread or via e-mail, so I guess that dim sum dance card is full...LOL! Too bad as I was looking fwd to my first GTG and meeting you and others whose screennames I recognize. Still, I wanted to post to thank you for letting me know about it.

Enjoy-la!

Hi klam-

I think your itin looks great. It is tough to try to fit everything in just 2 days, so you'll just have to return to LA in the future for the rest!

The Historic Tour seems to be the *best* in terms of seeing all the important buildings.

Are you interested in eating in Little Tokyo? You can always get a taco in Grand Central Market as a snack, then have a real lunch in Little Tokyo. There's also a store in Little Tokyo that makes/sells fresh dorayaki... I missed it on my last visit as it wasn't open on Monday I think.

Also, if you're walking from Grand Central Market to Little Tokyo, you can visit City Hall en route. (is the interior open on weekends?)

I think you still can have afternoon tea at Biltmore on Sunday. Assuming you take the 11am guided tour at WDCH, it'll end around 12 noon. Visiting the Cathedral won't take more than an hour. Since you've already "done" City Hall on Sat, you now have a few hours free which you can have your afternoon tea. I think Biltmore starts service at 2pm. Even if you spend 2 hours on afternoon tea, you can still visit Olvera Street afterwards, unless you need to be somewhere else Sunday late afternoon.

hi yk, yes when I looked at the primary bldgs I was interested in, they did match well with the Historic Core tour. Fresh dorayaki...yum! I found a few places that make it so I'll stop by when I'm in LT...hehe.

I don't know if the City Hall will be open on the weekends...if not, I'll have to take a pass as I won't have free time during the weekdays to check it out. Sorry I forgot to mention that the "gala" - skating winners' exhibitions - is on Sunday from 2-4:30pm so it conflicts with afternoon tea. I'm going to head to Olvera after the gala but leave the area by 6:30pm (sunsets at 7:15pm).

Thx again - enjoy-la!

Hi klam_chowder -

Just wondering how your trip went? How was the LA Conservancy tour - did you have a large group? Hope you had a good time in LA!

klam_chowder wanted to see the homeless in Skidrow. But her driver didn't know which street has the highest concentration. She saw some people hanging out on the sidewalks, but didn't see many actual tents out.

<i>But her driver didn't know which street has the highest concentration. </i>

What kind of driver was that!?!? Has he been fired? :-O ;)

Definitely not worth tipping for. At least the driver dropped her off at the right terminal at LAX. I hoped.

My trip was great! Sorry for the delayed posting...I anticipated getting a reasonable amt of sleep on my red eye flight back but of course that only happens in Utopia. The lil girl next to me was lying sideways with her feet nearest to me and she was a sleeping kicker. Hope she rested well as she restlessly unstretched her feet into my legs and ribs several times each hour. Anyhoo, the lack of sleep for that one day blew my schedule and I've been playing catch up...LOL!

The LAC website you suggested, yk, was excellent. My gf and I took the Historic Downtown Core tour on Saturday, 10am-12:30pm. Tip: bringing $10 exact change will make it easier. All the docents were seniors.

We arrived a bit early to check out the park and as soon as enough people registered to comprise a group, a docent took the group out to start. We just had time to sit down and organize our stuff when the tour, with about 10 people total, left at about 9:45am. A great beginning!

The docent started the tour off with a brief history of the LA area, and gave us each a tour-specific booklet which had a map, and the history and details of the venues we would view. The booklet was quite good and our guide asked us to put it away immediately so we would not contradict her if her "facts" were slightly off...LOL! I kept mine out to read the extra details but let the docent lead us and did not mention any discrepancies made. ;)

As expected, the tour covered the historic highlights of the downtown core. The only disappointment was that the Central Library and the Biltmore were talked about while we stood outside, but we did go into those venues. The docent said a separate Biltmore tour was available if we wanted more detail on it. After the tour, we double-backed and checked the venues out for ourselves as the library-run tour and the Biltmore-specific tour clashed with our schedule.

All in all, the tour was okay-good. I've done walking tours before and while this didn't top the list it wasn't a dog either. Of course a lot of it has to do with the guide you get. Our guide was very concerned about where the other groups were, who was leading them, and she dissed another guide twice for ending theirs so early, etc...LOL! All in all, it was worthwhile taking, esp for the very reasonable cost.

I'll post more from my trip tomorrow.

Oh and about that driver? Well, my repeated attempts to pay for his dinner were declined so alas a thx e-mail was all I could offer. Dependable drivers are hard to find these days; I'd recommend this one for your next visit! ;)

Enjoy-la!

Thank you, klam_chowder! If you're going to write more about your trip, I think perhaps you can start a new thread for it and tag it as a TR ... your great description of the LA Conservency tour should be copied and pasted to the new post too, as I am not sure if many people will bother to read through all these 30+ replies on this thread!

I plan to take the Art Deco walking tour this coming weekend. It's good to know that the size of the tours aren't huge.

Doh! My previous post should have read the tour did NOT go into the Central Library nor the Biltmore. Hopefully, that paragraph makes more sense now...LOL!

Okie doke, yk I'll do a quick TR in a new thread. Have a fab time in LA (=

Enjoy-la!