Discover the Secret History Of Historic Downtown LA This Weekend! Four Walking Tours Starting at THE LAST BOOKSTORE! PLUS CUSTOMIZED NEW WEEKDAY AND LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING TOURS

The Last Bookstore Presents
(and it's just opened 2nd floor with 100,000 books at only ONE DOLLAR each!)
Presents….

... The Secret Lives of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!


The HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101  2 hour walking tours will take place this Saturday July 21st  at both 11 AM and 2 PM and this Sunday July 22nd only at 2 PM - and then also next Sunday July 29th only at 2 PM.   That is two tours each of the next two Saturdays and one tour each of the two next Sundays.


NEXT... the HOW DOWNTOWN LOS ANGLES INVENTED THE WILD WEST (and why no one knows it) walking tour will take place this Sunday July July 22 at 11 AM and next Sunday July 29th at 11 AM - and each tour will be followed by the Historic Downtown LA Sunday July 22nd and 29th  2 PM tours.


And  besides our regular schedule tours, we will be offering customized tours on different days and different times and from one to three hours including weekdays - depending on your schedule.  With a minimum of four reservations, we will design a tour of any part of Downtown focusing on any subject matter you choose.  These tours can be after work, during lunch breaks - or??


FOR MORE INFORMATION  - contact Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 - or bradywestwater@gmail.com

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.  All tours are only $15 per person.  

Wyatt Earp

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.

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 the "How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West (and why no one knows it"tour, 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.

For future updates and more information go to www.historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com

Reflections on My Unexpected Life in Downtown Los Angeles

Roosevet Lofts Finally Fully Finished & Fully Open!

After being one of the earlier projects to go south, the new owners of the Roosevelt lofts at 7th & Flower have just spent $5 million dollars and have now opened the final 71 of 222 residences.  Rents are now a once unimaginable $2.60 to $3.50 a foot, higher than most office leases in older buildings.

And that's a hell of a lot higher than when I, after trying out two other spaces on the 3rd and 11th floors - paid when I occupied much of the 7th floor during the 1990's before any of the new loft buildings had opened.

When I first began my move down her in 1996/1997 (after an aborted attempt to make the move in 1993), I stayed in places on Spring and then on Main before moving to the 95% vacant Roosevelt. It was then the only place that could hold my library, film production space, offices and wrestling mat.

Other than a few copying companies in the building (which did briefs for law firms 24/7), there were just a few of us artist types and we all used Gold's across the street to shower and were nightly entertained by explosions at the end of  Wilshire where movie companies blew up stuff on a regular basis because no one else lived anywhere near there and since Wilshire dead ended one block away, there was no through traffic that needed to be diverted.

We also then shared the building with the LAPD SWAT team who were directly above me and it was not uncommon to see them rappelling past our windows during their exercises - or for us to be in an elevator and suddenly have six very large and very armed men join us for the rest of our ride.

And once one of them checked out my wrestling mat and determined he didn't have to worry about 'accidentally breaking me', I soon had plenty of workout partners.

I soon shot the first of the many movies I had planned to make Downtown, started the final edit of my novel and unexpectedly began my memoirs when one night, when my almost forgotten pasts suddenly came back to life.

But all too soon, after an injury ended my grappling, my dopamine crashed - hard - and suddenly, I found myself living on the streets and it was quite some time before I began to rebuild my life into what it has become today - life with no more films yet made, a novel still needs that final edit and my memoirs yet unfinished.

Now I have to confess there are times when I think back to those early and now so distant seeming days and wonder if I could change what had happened back then and if I could have instead stayed on the path I had then set for myself rather than the the unexpected  path I have followed.  And there are times when I wake up in the morning and wish that had been possible.

But then the phone starts to ring, the emails start to flow and I then realize that even if I had it to do all over again, I would still do the same thing.

The Narcissists Known As Occupy LA Target Art Walk To Get Their Faces on the 11 PM News THREE UPDATES!

The assholes known in DTLA as "Narcissists  Who Can't Stand It if Their Faces Are Not On the 11 PM News" (aka Occupy LA) decided to totally shut down the single busiest intersection and the single most dangerously overcrowded sidewalk at the height of Art Walk. They did this because they knew it would cause the most damage to Art Walk and it would guarantee the most the chaos  - and the best chance to get their faces on the 11 PM news.

Since no one cares about them anymore - they know they have to try and hijack someone else's event to get the TV cameras back on them.

The fact their actions were also guaranteed to to endanger the safety of those of us who actually live in the neighborhood - and the fact it would cause local businesses considerable loss of income they need in these tough financial times - is just an extra added benefit to them.

All they have ever accomplished in LA is to get their faces on the 11 PM news - and that's just fine with them - since as true narcissists, they are incapable of caring about any of the hardships they cause in the communities they infect.

UPDATE - I response to a question if police might be needed to deal with these lunatics - I explained they were only there BECAUSE they knew their illegal actions would force the police to arrest them"

That corner is already filled with police - that's why they chose it. The congestion is so bad they need the police to keep people safe from the cars. This is the same block where the baby girl was killed by a car earlier this year. That's why they choose it. They deliberately created a life endangering situation by forcing the crowds off of the sidewalk and into the traffic lanes, which forced the police to arrest them. It was all a set-up - for the 11 PM news.

SECOND UPDATE

Brigham Yen I was there and the Occupy LA group caused MORE damage and fucked everything up for everyone else. Then some asshole got up on top of a food truck and riled up the entire crowd. Then another asshole started tagging it up. Uncalled for and definitely lame as hell. If this kind of chaos continues we need to shut down art walk people.


THIRD UPDATE - This was my response to question of the motives of the Occupy LA people:  
 When they were at City Hall Park, they shop lifted from all the shops and stores around City Hall - figuring they had earned that right by they were doing. And only once or twice would any reporter ever cover that part of the story. And they drove a co-op of food growers out of the park when they privatized it for their own needs - but they felt the farmers suffering was OK - since it was for the greater glory of their movement. And tonight - they deliberately caused traffic congestion less than a block from where a baby was killed earlier this year and then forced the police - who are there SPECIFICALLY to make certain no one blocked traffic so that we can all be safe on Art Walk - to arrest them by refusing to stop blocking the sidewalks and the streets and endangering other people's lives. So, I stand by my statement. This are a bunch of spoiled, self-centered people whose main goal in life is to be... famous... by saving the common people through their inspired leadership.

Discover the Secret History Of Historic Downtown LA This Weekend! Four Walking Tours Starting at THE LAST BOOKSTORE! PLUS CUSTOMIZED NEW WEEKDAY AND LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING TOURS!

The Last Bookstore Presents
(and it's just opened 2nd floor with 100,000 books at only ONE DOLLAR each!)
Presents….

... The Secret Lives of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!


The HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101  2 hour walking tours will take place this Saturday July 14th  at both 11 AM and 2 PM and this Sunday July 15th only at 2 PM - and then also next Sunday July 22nd only at 2 PM.   That is two tours each of the next two Saturdays and one tour each of the two next Sundays.


NEXT... the HOW DOWNTOWN LOS ANGLES INVENTED THE WILD WEST (and why no one knows it) walking tour will take place this Sunday July July 15 at 11 AM and next Sunday July 22nd at 11 AM - and each tour will be followed by the Historic Downtown LA Sunday July 15th and 22nd  2 PM tours.


And  besides our regular schedule tours, we will be offering customized tours on different days and different times - depending on your schedule.  With a minimum of four reservations, we will design a tour of any part of Downtown focusing on any subject matter you choose.  These tours can be after work, during lunch breaks - or??


FOR MORE INFORMATION  - contact Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 - or bradywestwater@gmail.com

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.  All tours are only $15 per person.  

Wyatt Earp

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.

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 the "How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West (and why no one knows it"tour, 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.

For future updates and more information go to www.historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com

BLOGDOWNTOWN on Jose Huizar Assuming the Reins of Downtown Los Angeles from Jan Perry

The controversial redistricting of Downtown has had both good and bad impacts. While some have long felt DTLA would - in the long run - have more power and more control of its future if it was in one council district, other were just as vehement that our having two or three representatives n the council was the better option.

One thing almost everyone agreed upon, though, was having that long term decision being turned into a contest between Jan Perry who was about to be termed out and Jose Huizar who was to remain in office, let many of us knowing what it's like to be kids in a messy divorce when you are asked - which parent do you love the most as opposed to what is best for your long term needs.

Even more awkward was the fact - we had no real say in the matter. Now, however, the divorce is final and the custody agreements for the next ten years have been set - and we all need to move on. And so much of what DTLA is - and will continue to be - is a direct result of Jan's connection with and work with our community. 

And I am confident that in the next year Jan will continue to find ways to make the Figueroa Corridor starting at LA Live, Staples, and the Convention Center and going down to USC a new part of a greater DTLA that will increasingly become just one of the economic engines of the great 9th District.

Lease on Downtown LA's Million Dollar Theatre Ended

After a long battle to bring the Million Dollar Theatre back to life as a financial viable venue, Downtown LA Entertainment Pioneer Robert Voskanian and his partner have terminated their lease for the Million Dollar Theater with the Yellen Company..

No formal announcement has been made yet that I am aware of, but i just want to make certain Robert and his partner knows know grateful everyone Downtown - and in the larger larger theater world - is for their efforts and that we hope he can continue in some way to remain part of our community.

Here are several links to the theater:

History of the theater

When the lease was signed

LA Times Obituary of Ira Yellin

Website for Million Dollar Theatre

Discover the Secret History Of Historic Downtown LA This Weekend! Four Walking Tours Starting at THE LAST BOOKSTORE! PLUS CUSTOMIZED NEW WEEKDAY AND LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING TOURS!

The Last Bookstore Presents
(and it's just opened 2nd floor with 100,000 books at only ONE DOLLAR each!)
Presents….

... The Secret Lives of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!


The HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101  2 hour walking tours will take place this Saturday July 7th  at both 11 AM and 2 PM and this Sunday July 8th only at 2 PM - and then also next Sunday July 15th at 2 PM.   That is two tours each of the next two Saturdays and one tour each of the two next Sundays.


NEXT... the HOW DOWNTOWN LOS ANGLES INVENTED THE WILD WEST (and why no one knows it) walking tour will take place this Sunday July 8th at 11 AM and next Sunday July 15th at 11 AM - and each tour will be followed by the Historic Downtown LA Sunday July 8th and 15th 2 PM tours.


And  besides our regular schedule tours, we will be offering customized tours on different days and different times - depending on your schedule.  With a minimum of four reservations, we will design a tour of any part of Downtown focusing on any subject matter you choose.  These tours can be after work, during lunch breaks - or??


FOR MORE INFORMATION  - contact Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 - or bradywestwater@gmail.com

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.  All tours are only $15 per person.  

Wyatt Earp

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.

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 the "How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West (and why no one knows it"tour, 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.

For future updates and more information go to www.historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com