When you take a closer look

Los Angeles, it seems to me, is a city in the process of clawing its way back to live-ability. We've just been downtown from the Valley via the rapid transit and subway. And it all worked beautifully. It was well-staffed by cheerful attendants who anticipate your needs (I merely looked like I wanted to ask a question and the station-master said, "Can I help you sir?"). It was also well-patronised. This whole system has all gone in since Kate lived here. What we're witnessing is a city that is putting back public transit and overcoming the car and the loss of community that comes with individual mobility.What's more there is downtown living. The 1913 Metropolitan building has been converted to 88 lofts (a restoration made possible by the 1999 Adaptive Reuse Ordinance). All this could be considered in line with what Mayor Villaraigosa said, in praising the deputy mayor Austin Beutner's job creation achievements: "...we no longer let the palm trees do our marketing".

You can see that the downtown was once quite grand, and in places that's being restored.

And here the pavements are populated with just about the right proportion of people. We walked past the Hilton Checkers Hotel and Kate asked the bell captain if it used to be the Mayflower. Yes, he said, it did, and he took us for a tour of the ground floor ("You're very welcome"). Kate said that when she was a kid they'd dress up to come downtown from the Valley. It may take a while, if ever, to return to that. Still, much of the historic downtown is sad and nostalgic.

And you get the sense you wouldn't want to walk around down here at night. We walked past two guys wearing identical clothes, identical brocaded black Mexican handkerchiefs hanging out their back pockets, and grooming distinctive hairstyles. Gang members? I immediately felt a sense of 'keep your distance'. 'Excuse me' mightn't suffice for an excuse if you bumped into them.
 
But the other thing Los Angeles has going for it is a fascinating history. At Universal City station, there were beautiful Mexican mosaics on the platform columns telling the story of California. I just had time to read about Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor, before the train doors shut and we sped off. But then, an hour later we were walking past a building (the first three-storey building in the old pueblo) that Pico had built from the proceeds of a land sale in the San Fernando Valley.

And walking past the old Los Angeles Times building we saw a plaque that identified this as the site of the first school in the Los Angeles area (school house No.1, 1854), the site of the US quartermaster's headquarters 1861, and a camel corral for Fort Tejon.

This city has layers upon layers. (Interestingly, the oldest house in the city, the Avila Adobe of 1818, is not as old as Elizabeth Farm, 1799, in Sydney). But it is a history that is engrossing in itself, without looking to the rest of the United States. And then of course there is the Native American thread.

I must look into this. In fact, from now on, I'm going to find out about the Native American language of each area of go to. I should've looked deeper in San Diego last week, but I did discover that the locals once called San Diego 'Cosoy'.