The Secret Lives of Historic Downtown Los Angeles
Saturdays will have the HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101 tour and Sunday will have the HOW LOS ANGLES INVENTED THE WILD WEST (and why no one knows it) tour.
Saturdays will have the HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101 tour and Sunday will have the HOW LOS ANGLES INVENTED THE WILD WEST (and why no one knows it) tour.
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| BRADBURY BUILDING |
All tours
begin at THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 453 S. Spring Street in the Spring Arts
Tower and will be led by long time Downtown resident Brady Westwater
who, besides being involved with the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council,
the Historic Downtown BID, Gallery Row, Art Walk, and the BOXeight and
the CONCEPT Fashion Weeks, has brought over 150 businesses,
artists and non-profit institutions to Downtown.
Tickets now SOLD OUT for both Saturday February 26th's 11 AM and 2 PM AND Saturday March 3rd 11AM and 2 PM walks of "Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101'.
But tickets are still available for March 10th again at 11 AM and 2 PM and March 17th at 11AM and 2 PM for the “Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101” tour that will be a general introduction to our rapidly developing neighborhood and an overview of the multiple histories of the streets of Broadway, Spring and Main.
Tickets are also still available for the "How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West (and why no one knows it)" at 11 AM (4 tickets right now) and 2 PM (six tickets right now) Sunday March 4th - and also March 11th and March 18th at 11 AM and at 2 PM.
If
you are a participant in Saturday's 'Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101' Tour, you will see the first motion picture theater
built, the place where Babe Ruth signed his contract with the Yankees,
the hotel where Charlie Chaplin lived when he made his early films (and
the place where he made his Los Angeles vaudeville debut in 1910) - plus
the homes and haunts of everyone from actor Nicholas Cage, the Black
Dahlia, Rudolph Valentino, LA’s version of Jack the Ripper, President
Teddy Roosevelt, the Night Stalker, western outlaw Emmet Dalton, actor
Ryan Gosling and more. And you will also visit where O. J. Simpson
bought his knife.
But tickets are still available for March 10th again at 11 AM and 2 PM and March 17th at 11AM and 2 PM for the “Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101” tour that will be a general introduction to our rapidly developing neighborhood and an overview of the multiple histories of the streets of Broadway, Spring and Main.
Tickets are also still available for the "How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West (and why no one knows it)" at 11 AM (4 tickets right now) and 2 PM (six tickets right now) Sunday March 4th - and also March 11th and March 18th at 11 AM and at 2 PM.
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| WYATT EARP |
You’ll
explore an intersection where all four buildings were often visited by
gunfighter/sheriff Wyatt Earp since they were all built or occupied by
friends of his from Tombstone during the shoot-out at the OK Corral. At
this intersection you will also discover what John Wayne, a prime
minister of Italy, Houdini, Winston Churchill, boxer Jack Dempsey, Greta
Garbo, President Woodrow Wilson and multiple Mexican boxing champions
all had in common here.
You
will also see where the first new lofts were opened, the places where
Gallery Row and the Art Walk began and where Fashion Week returned to
Downtown. You will see many of the new boutiques, designer showrooms
and stores that have recently opened in the area along with getting a
sneak preview of what will soon be happening in the area.
And if you take this Sundays. "How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West (and why no one knows it" tour that begins at 11 AM February 26th, you will discover that long before the famed Western cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood existed, Los Angeles was the first town where everything that happened in the Wild West, happened here first and that everyone from Wyatt Earp to Judge Roy Bean came to Los Angeles first before going east to help start the Wild West . You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’ town than any Western town that followed after it.
And besides ‘inventing’ the original Wild West, Los Angeles also remained part of the Wild West for far longer than other place (from 25 years to over 90 years - compared to the average period of 3 or 4 years to 10 years of most cowtowns) and LA was also one of the few towns built upon both cattle and mining.
And if you take this Sundays. "How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West (and why no one knows it" tour that begins at 11 AM February 26th, you will discover that long before the famed Western cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood existed, Los Angeles was the first town where everything that happened in the Wild West, happened here first and that everyone from Wyatt Earp to Judge Roy Bean came to Los Angeles first before going east to help start the Wild West . You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’ town than any Western town that followed after it.
And besides ‘inventing’ the original Wild West, Los Angeles also remained part of the Wild West for far longer than other place (from 25 years to over 90 years - compared to the average period of 3 or 4 years to 10 years of most cowtowns) and LA was also one of the few towns built upon both cattle and mining.
Tickets
for either tour are only $15 per person - free for children under 8 - and
reservations can be made by calling Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 or
emailing bradywestwater@gmail.com. All credit card orders will be
processed at Last Bookstore and cash payments may be made at the start
of the tour. All proceeds will go towards the revitalization and the
study of the history of the neighborhood.
Lastly,
future tours will feature specialized areas of interest such as
architecture, art of all kinds, shopping and food, single streets,
sports (from steer wrestling to luchador wrestlers to a Sumo wrestler),
transportation, specific periods of history, the hidden Wild West
history of Los Angeles, movie locations, Downtown after hours and many
other aspects of the neighborhood. And custom designed can be developed - by request - for groups of four or more.
We
will also be soon starting weekday and evening tours on what it's
like to live in Downtown Los Angeles. You will be introduced to the
many of stores, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues (and often
their owners, too) - along with being given previews of one of a kind
special events - so you can get a feel for what it is like to live in
Downtown Los Angeles.
We
expect this tour to be popular with not only people considering moving
to Downtown and people who work in Downtown and who would like to know
what to do after hours in Downtown - but also to recent and even long
established Downtown residents who want to know more about their
neighborhood.
