My Saturday and Sunday Morning
tours of Historic Downtown LA are from 10:30 to 12:30 every Saturday
and Sunday (Now at only $10 per person) and they start
at THE LAST BOOKSTORE this Saturday July 9thnd
& Sunday July 10th at 5th & Spring.
Among the many things you will learn this weekend is that if a
friend of Wyatt Earp's had not built the Alexandria Hotel - it would have been
impossible for George Gershwin to have written his iconic Rhapsody in Blue.
And all tours start at THE LAST BOOKSTORE in the Spring Arts Tower at 5th and
Spring - enter on the 5th street side - and they are now only $10 per person.
And besides our regular scheduled 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
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 $10
per person.
If you are a participant in '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.
Tickets for either tour are only $10 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.