Unlike other cities in America, the downtown of LA is not the central hub of action and excitement. Surely, however, the downtown of any city would pale in comparison if its counterpart was a landscape of lush valleys, palm-tree-lined hills, clear blue skies and huge yellow houses gated off from the public. The downtown of LA is where the corporate community resides, though the streets are dirty and the structure is quite haphazard. Unlike in a lot of cities in the USA, there is close to nothing of an arts scene and very few cultural activities: there were barely any museums or exhibitions and few cultural events otherwise. LA is described by its own residents as a ‘sprawling’ metropolis. It is composed of districts that are very spread out from one another. The trouble is that transport infrastructure is very poor. I had been informed that the public transportation that used to exist as over taken by the corporation, Ford, and shut down so that they could sell more cars to residence and make a large profit. No significant transportation infrastructure has been installed since, which made it very difficult to travel across the city. It has also drastically increased the traffic on the roads; the traffic congestion is something which residents seek to avoid, finding it one of the most cumbersome impediments about living in LA. The traffic congestion acts to keep residents in their own district and is why many of the neighbourhoods are self-contained.

 

I arrived by Greyhound coach at 11am but immediately felt uncomfortable when I emerged from the station. Within minutes, I was approached for spare change and was surrounded by joints blowing fumes into the air. I grabbed a taxi to my accommodation. My accommodation was a treat, to say the least. I had booked an affordable night in a hostel, when about a week before I was due to arrive, I received an email to inform me that refurbishments were taking place in the hostel, and so I was being transferred to their sister accommodation complimentary for the one night. This option was a 4-star serviced apartment in the centre of downtown, in LEVEL Living LA. I had been assigned to a 2-bedroom apartment with “hotel-style accommodation”, without paying anything more than the cost of the hostel. I had the option of two beds to myself, both rooms equipped with a television mounted to the wall, a balcony overlooking the city and hotel pool illuminated at night, two bathrooms and a very spacious living room. I can confidently say that I was handed the ultimate LA experience. Walking into an out of the hostel with my large rucksack reminded me that I was not amongst the affluent to be able to afford a stay here except in such exceptional circumstances when I am freely handed a stay.

 

I immediately dropped of my bags and walked around the city centre. The Grand Central Market is a prime spot for scouting out gourmet street food. I tasted the finest of market street food at a Jewish deli open for business there, perched at the wooden counter and surrounded by the aroma of freshly baked bagels, chowing down a delightful herring sandwich and paired with the company of corporate suited professionals seeking sanity from the tumultuous stock market hours during their deserved lunch break. An Israeli banker sat beside me claimed that a vendor inside this market served the best coffee she had tried in LA. There are other well-known food vendors around town such as the soft-serve ice cream shop called Little Damage, whose three unique flavours on the menu at the time were “Dark Cinn” (cinnamon flavoured), “Unicorn Treat” and “Avocado Dreams”. Those in the queue for such “extra” flavours had bold hair styles and dressed as well as the marketing of the shop. The financial district flooded downtown businesses with profit, and without it, I have doubt that there would be much reason to come here. An especially opulent and outlandish place was the Biltmore Hotel. The bathrooms were luxury enough to use their soft hand towels. The ceilings were so elaborately painted and chandeliers sparkled in every direction the eye could look. There was some cultural scene, though not in the sense I had seen in other cities; in contrast, it centred around music such as the Walk Disney Centre where very famous music ensembles played.