1__ The 2nd Street Tunnel Basking in the glow of traffic
Philip K. Dick fans, get your Blade Runner on and see something truly beautiful by entering the 2nd Street Tunnel in the evening at Figueroa Street and heading east. Watch the red reflections of brake lights illuminate the rainbow-shaped tunnel in a glittering spectacle. In the movie, solitary replicant hunter Rick Deckard drives through the tunnel awash in blue hues, the entrance and exits dripping with the constant acid rain of the futuristic city of Los Angeles. Although Deckard is a loner, he’s not alone. The white tiles that line the 2nd Street Tunnel and the ability to easily cordon off the area to traffic and lookie-loos have made it a favorite location for car commercials and fashion shoots as well as other films like the notable sci-fi cousins Terminator and Gattica. The tunnel may be one of the most filmed unknown icons in Los Angeles. And it almost didn’t happen. Construction began on the 2nd Street Tunnel in 1916. Downtown Los Angeles wasn’t the cluster of emerald skyscrapers it is today. It was Bunker Hill, primarily a residential wealthy suburb of opulent Victorian mansions, which separated Downtown from the rest of Los Angeles. That is, until the tunnel came through. The signature white tiles were sourced from Germany and as anti-German sentiment during World War I grew, so did opposition to using a German product. But the architect of the tunnel stood his aesthetic ground and the tunnel was completed, Teutonic tiles and all. Ironically, many of the wealthy inhabitants of the Bunker Hill enclave began to leave the area as the war came to an end and urbanism encroached on their formerly suburban lifestyle. Many of the Victorians were later partitioned into apartments, two of which became home to writer John Fante and artist Leo Politi (see p. 126), who both went on to champion the new working class of Bunker Hill in their work. 10
Address 2nd Street between Figueroa and Hill Streets, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (enter by car from Figueroa Street heading east toward Hill Street for the best view) | Hours Always open. Reflections are most dazzling from dusk to dawn. | Tip The Blue Ribbon Garden atop nearby Disney Concert Hall (111 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012) is almost an acre of tranquility amid the business of Downtown. Enter via the stairs on Grand Avenue near 2nd Street.
2__ Adams Pack Station “Haulin’ ass since 1936”
In the foothills where Sierra Madre, Arcadia, and Monrovia meet, the Adams Pack Station in Chantry Flat has been providing asses, as in pack mules, since 1936, and cold beer and other sundries since 1953, to Angeles National Forest hikers and the 81 recreational cabins (serving as private vacation residences) that populate the area around and leading to Sturtevant Camp. A walk in Big Santa Anita Canyon is like stepping back in time. Trails of varying difficulty start from the Adams Pack Station parking lot. A 3.8-mile round-trip hike past some of the cabins to Sturtevant Falls will make the bottle of icy suds awaiting your return feel like a well-deserved reward. The rustic cottages that dot the trails near Chantry Flat were built between 1907 and 1936 with materials carried in by mules and humans. The cabins exist on a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service and cabin owners lease the land upon which the dwellings sit. For those looking to spend the night, primitive campsites at Hoegee and Spruce Grove Campgrounds, about a two- and fourmile hike, respectively, from Chantry Flat, operate on a first-comefirst-serve basis. If that seems too hardy, consider booking a stay at Sturtevant Camp. The nostalgic mountain resort offers cabins for rent on the weekends with flushable toilets and hot showers (learn more at www.sturtevantcamp.com). All food and supplies must be brought in. Make arrangements at least a week in advance with Adams Pack Station to have a mule do the heavy lifting. Friday to Sunday, the station grills hot food on outdoor barbecues next to the main building, offering excellent burgers and fries and sometimes pulled-pork sandwiches. Live music is performed on Sundays from noon to 5:30pm. Get to the station by 8am on Friday morning for the best chance of seeing the mule team head out on their weekly canyon haul. 12
Address One Chantry Flat Road, Arcadia, CA 91024, Tel +1 626.447.7356, www.adamspackstation.com, dburgess@adamspackstation.com | Parking On-site lot and street parking along Chantry Flat Road. Adventure Pass required for parking. Passes can be purchased at Adams Pack Station or at other adventure retailers. | Hours Fri – Sun 7am – 5pm | Tip Like camping? Millard Campground (4041 Chaney Trail, Altadena, CA 91001) is like a mini-Big Santa Anita Canyon with fewer recreational cabins. A handful of sites sits next to a small stream. No potable water.
3__ Amèrica Tropical A long-lost triumph rediscovered
In the late 1960s, just as the Chicano political movement was establishing its identity, hints of a mural were found bleeding through a whitewashed wall just off Olvera Street in Los Angeles. Originally created in 1932 by revered Mexican muralist and activist David Alfaro Siqueiros, the painting’s discovery was perfectly timed. Siqueiros, along with artists Diego Rivera and Josè Clemente Orozco, had become an inspiration for the then burgeoning Chicano art movement. Siqueiros had been commissioned to create an image of America as the land of plenty. But the artist had other plans. Amèrica Tropical depicts two soldiers in the Mexican Revolution aiming at an American eagle sitting atop a double cross on which a Mexican Indian is being crucified. The painting was an enraged criticism of United States oppression and immediately sparked controversy. About a month after his shocking mural was unveiled, Siqueiros was deported from the United States. Within a year, the work was completely covered over. Later, Siqueiros said he’d never intended to paint “a continent of happy men, surrounded by palms and parrots, where the fruit voluntarily detached itself to fall into the mouths of the happy mortals.” It’s said he often painted at night to keep his artistic choices secret. Effective protection, not restoration, of the mural began in the 1990s by the Getty Conservation Institute. It took more than 20 years to clean and preserve the discovery. The choice to restore was rejected because experts believed the original colors and artist’s hand would be impossible to duplicate. The mural can be viewed from a rooftop landing quite a distance away. Still, it’s profound to gaze upon, especially knowing its history. The building beneath houses the Amèrica Tropical Interpretive Center. It’s full of interactive features with rich insight into the times, Siqueiros, and his nearly forgotten masterpiece. 14
44__ Gaam Karaoke
Noreabang until the sun comes up
Dan Sung Sa Plaza, a nondescript strip mall in the northwest quadrant of Berendo and 6th Streets, can serve as a wormhole gateway to an all-inclusive Koreatown experience that includes great food, heavy drink, and a night filled with song. Any part of that equation can be removed or moderated by preference, but excess is a signature motif of noraebang, or Korean karaoke. In the center of the L-shaped, no-nonsense row of shops, a red sign written in Hangul with a hanja sidebar and a Latin alphabet subheader marks Gaam Karaoke. If you don’t read Korean, you won’t see “Gaam” printed anywhere on the sign, but you will see “karaoke.” Gaam Karaoke, not to be confused with Gaam Restaurant two and a half blocks west in Chapman Market Plaza, offers private room rentals, each of which typically features a table in the middle to hold a song book, two wireless mics, a tambourine, upholstered booths, Hite beer bottles, and glasses of Korea’s most popular distilled alcohol, soju, served neat. For the uninhibited, tables can double as a dance floor in a pinch. Kpop, Jpop, Chinese, and English song selections are listed by number. Type the number or a favorite title into the remote. Sounds easy, but for added challenge and authenticity, the remote is only in Korean. Gaam updates its song catalogue about every three to four months, slightly slow for diehard karaoke aficionados, but good enough if you’re looking for a way to kick back and have fun with friends. Noraebang is best experienced in packs, and splitting an entire bottle of whiskey in your private room is de rigueur. Weekends can get busy. Best to book a room in advance and confirm the price. Costs will vary based on the time spent singing and the number in your party. Like a comedy club, a drink minimum is typical. Negotiating in Korean has its advantages, as does a smile and a good attitude. 96
Address 3309 W 6th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020, Tel +1 213.909.5581 | Public transport Red Line to Wilshire / Vermont Station, then a .3-mile walk | Parking $2 valet; metered and unmetered street parking | Hours Daily 6pm – 2am; reservations are highly recommended. | Tip When Roy Choi and Anthony Bourdain crashed Dan Sung Sa, in the same strip mall just two stores away (3317 W 6th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020), on Bourdain’s show The Layover, they let out a well-kept secret. The food here is delicious. Cheese corn might be your favorite mistake of the evening.
45__ Gower Gulch Calling all cowboys!
Starting in the 1920s and lasting well into the 1950s, B-western movies were all the rage. Cheap to make and sure to find an audience, it was said a western was made every ten days. Real cowboys, as well as actors dressed as cowboys, used to hang out in full Western regalia – big Stetsons, low-slung belts, chaps, spurs, and often pistols – at the intersection of Gower Street and Sunset Boulevard in hopes of picking up day work on a movie. Casting agents would contact prospective actors on the pay phones in the back of Columbia Drug, formerly on the southeast corner, or swing by and load up a truck of extras to film in the Valley. The area was christened Gower Gulch. These were rough men, accustomed to living by cowboy laws and working as true range riders. But as the landscape began to change, with the range breaking into homesteads and even subdivisions of the very valley where they filmed, the heyday of cattle runs came to an end. So, many displaced cowboys, in search of a job where riding a horse still mattered, even if it was for a movie, came to Gower Gulch. Rarely is it wise for coarse men with firearms to sit idly. Quarrels are bound to arise and sharp words can trigger violence. Once at Gower Gulch, when cowboy / actor Johnny Tyke allegedly said to Jerome “Blackjack” Ward, “I’ll cut your heart out,” Blackjack pulled out his .45 and fatally shot Tyke in the head. Ward was acquitted on the shaky claim of self-defense, even though no weapon was found on Tyke’s body. A fellow cowboy actor testified his dog had dug up Tyke’s knife in the bushes near the fight. Blackjack later went on to pistol whip a man in a bar with the same gun, unloaded this time. In the 1970s, the strip mall on the southwest corner of Gower and Sunset was remodeled with a kitschy Western backdrop to pay homage to the legacy of the loitering drugstore cowboys of Gower Gulch. 98
Address Southwest corner of N Gower Street and Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028 | Parking Paid on-site lot | Hours Always open | Tip Amoeba Music (6400 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028), three blocks west of Gower Gulch, is a great record store with many in-store concerts in an intimate setting.
Laurel Moglen has produced news for NPRaffiliate stations KPCC and KCRW on the shows “AirTalk,” and “Which Way, LA?” The programs immersed her in all things Los Angeles – its politics, history, current events, and cultural vastness. She has created multiple podcasts for organizations including Travelocity, Forbes Magazine and the California State Parks Foundation. Catch her in a bunch of character roles in reruns of television and film.
Julia Posey is a writer, artist, and clothing designer. She is a native Angeleno and has worked for NPR affiliate KPCC’s “AirTalk” and “Talk of the City.” She has also written and filed stories for KPCC news. She has held many jobs, and in her inauspicious youth – she even worked in a recycling truck. She lives in Highland Park with her husband, sons, and sweet dog.
Lyudmila Zotova’s photographs have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo News, and Eater National, and she is the photographer of the book 111 Shops in Los Angeles That You Must Not Miss (Emons, 2015). Zotova is an alumnus of The Art Institute of California-Orange County and resides in San Diego, California.