Photos & Highlights from the Downtown LA Urban Hike

The downtown LA skyline

The August Urban Hike criss-crossing downtown LA was my funnest one yet; it was one of my shorter ones (about 6-7 miles) but practically every block had plenty visual appeal, here's some of the amazing stuff I saw during my half-day hike.

Historic buildings such as the Alexandria Hotel and Orpheum Theater

Angels Knoll park (where I found out via tweets is where "500 Days of Summer" filmed) and the recently restored Angels Flight railway (next time I'm gonna pony up that 50-cent to get that souvenir two-ride ticket)

Strolling by the artsy performance centers of the Bunker Hill district, such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall

Windowshopping the stalls and stores of Olvera Street, which happened to be the site of a street carnival that weekend.

All sorts of fun and eclectic sculptures and murals that are sprinkled throughout the area.

The Grand-Hope Park, a little, well-manicured and nicely decorated oasis of green in the urban hustle and bustle.

Checking out the recently developed LA Live complex (though I didn't stay too long.)

My only sore sight for the day, an Ed Hardy store in downtown - ugh! As if that entire block on Melrose isn't vomit-inducing enough.

As always, the other half of the fun is discovering the eats & drinks of the neighborhood, which I'll post about on my other blog, but here's a preview with the delicious grilled cheese from Corkbar.

More photos on my flickr set here, and as for this month's Urban Hike . . .

View Larger Map

. . . I plan to soak up the last of the sunny, warmer days in true Southern California style, with a 8-mile loop along the beaches of South Bay (Redondo, Hermosa & Manhattan -- which I shortened to "Red Herman") The planned route is below, and I plan on starting around 8 a.m. on September 26. Hope to see you there!

Reminder: Downtown LA Urban Hike this Sunday, 11:45 a.m.

Just a quick reminder that this month's Urban Hike, criss-crossing through downtown L.A. on Hope & Spring Streets, will start this Sunday 11:45 a.m.* with a brunch @ Nickel Diner (their 5th & Main Spicy BBQ Pork Hash pictured above.) Or, for those who want to opt out of a carb-loading brunch, meet up around 12:30 p.m. outside -- or anywhere along the way as I livetweet from @LAOCFoodie.

View Larger Map

This route is gonna be around six miles (considerably shorter than most of my previous Urban Hikes) but there will be lots to see along the way, from historical landmarks (Olvera Street, Angel's Flight Railway) to newer attractions (L.A. Live) to artsy buildings (Walt Disney Concert Hall, MOCA) and other fantastic-looking scenery.

And here are some of the fun eating and drinking options I've plotted along the way, mostly low- to mid- end and definitely casual-attire & walk-in friendly. And feel free to recommend more places to stop, asides from Nickel Diner nothing is set in stone.

As always, all you need to bring is your two feet plus comfortable hiking clothes & shoes, a bottle or two of water, and some cash for whatever you will eat/drink/spend en route. Hope to see you there!

P.S. Odd start time, I know -- but Nickel Diner informed me that they stop serving most of their pancakes at noon, so just in case any hikers have a hankering for flapjacks . . .

Colorado Blvd. Urban Hike - from Glendale to Arcadia.

On the Colorado St. bridge heading into Old Town Pasadena (photo credit: Caroline on Crack)

Once again, this month's Urban Hike was a hit - this time traversing most of Colorado St./Blvd. from Glendale to Arcadia. And even though I cheated a bit with a Metro Gold Line ride following a pitcher of sangrias @ La Grande Orange -- with all the side street twists & turns I still logged about 14 miles that day (Here are the maps for my hike before & after Metro-ing.)

Overlooking Arroyo Seco & Colorado Street Bridge

Of course, making this hike even more fun was the company this time, from Nancy who joined me for the first half (before her legs gave out from a hill-run in flip-flops incident the day before,) to Gourmet Pigs who did a brief stroll with us through Eagle Rock, to Caroline on Crack who accompanied me for the final stretch through Pasadena and Arcadia.

As always, despite a few boring blocks, there were plenty of interesting sights and finds, such as:

1. Some funny signage, not that they got us into church for Sundays... or the dental exam chair.

2. Finding a seed bomb dispenser machine outside Little Flower Candy Co. (to which Caroline and I first thought were some funky, beyond-expired gumballs;) Caroline and I both bought one and used them on the grounds outside Eagle Rock Brewery. Here's hoping there'll be some wildlflowers there next time we go.

3. Discovering that Eagle Rock has a Sunday farmer's market at its mall parking lot, though I found its music choices (Lady Gaga, Ke$ha) questionable, or as Nancy puts it "someone isn't letting go of their Saturday night!"

4. Learning from Nancy how Eagle Rock has become a Filipinotown of sorts, exemplified by the businesses in the mall, including a Seafood City supermarket, Jollibee & Goldilocks and even a Pinoy Blockbuster.

5. The number of rampant peafowl that escapes the LA County Arboretum and into the surrounding residential area of Arcadia ~ enough to warrant a "do not feed" sign.

Like previous hikes, I'll post about my eats & drinks along the way on the foodventures blog. In the meantime, if you want to join next month, it'll be an easy afternoon five-miler criss-crossing downtown LA via Hope & Spring, starting with Aug. 29 noon-ish brunch @ Nickel Diner and hopefully ending with a fun downtown-area Happy Hour with a good dose of fun sights & stops along the way -- from Olvera Street to all the live venue spaces along Hope & Grand to Grand Central Market and maybe a swing by of L.A. Live too.

Here's the route for your preview, hope you can make it:

View Larger Map

Here are Caroline & Nancy's posts on the hike; and the more photos on my flickr set here.

The LA/OC Beach Blvd. Urban Hike - 6/27

Touching the ocean at the finish point

This month, the Urban Hike goes long... really long! Almost 23 miles covering L.A. & O.C. as I tackle the entire length of Beach Blvd. from La Habra to Huntington Beach, and visiting La Mirada, Buena Park, Anaheim, Stanton, Garden Grove and Westminster along the way.

Unlike previous hikes which tackled more visually-appealing parts of town, the Beach Blvd. one has quite a few long stretches of nada. Nonetheless, I had a pretty fun time -- thanks a pretty bumping hiking playlist (of GreeeeN, Funky Monkey Babys and Lisa Loeb.)

Some of my more interesting discoveries during the hike:

- Buena Park is O.C.'s Koreatown, spotted numerous restaurants, shops and oddly enough, a sushi academy (huh?) . . . plus a Pub that opens at 7 a.m. -- guess it's never too early to get your drink on!

- Knott's Berry Farm's free-to-public Independence Hall, a replica of the building where the declaration is signed. And also a lot of free-roaming chickens and ducks!

- The Old World German Village in Huntington Beach, a very cute mini-mall of assorted shops, bakeries and of course, pub & restaurant - where I enjoyed a few refreshing drinks and some pastries while watching football fans go World Cup crazy.

- Coming upon Adventure City in Anaheim, which basically looks like a traveling carnival... but permanent, along with a sprinkling of ghost towny hobby shops and a miniature replica of the White House.

- The Sea Breeze pet cemetery that's unusually full of flowers, even moreso than an actual cemetery... I was wondering whether there was a Pet Memorial Day of some sort recently but upon closer inspection, Caroline on Crack and I discovered most of the flowers were fake.

- The traffic lights in O.C. (or at least those along Beach Blvd.) take a loooong time to change, even when there are no cars on the green.

- DDR X! Finally had a chance to play the latest version at Huntington Beach's Century 20 cinema in Bella Terra. Wicked cool.

- Sun protection -- which I woefully neglected and regretted once the day got really sunny, thankfully I tend to tan versus burn, but I'm sure the two shades darker by the end of the day isn't doing my skin any favors in the long run.

Of course, I had my fair share of eating & drinking revelations too, will post on that soon on my other blog. But here's a preview shot of the tasty & healthy Som Tam (spicy papaya salad) I had at Thai Nakorn in Stanton.

More photos from flickr set here.

P.S. For the July Urban Hike on Sunday the 25, I'll be tackling the length of Colorado Blvd./St. from Glendale to Arcadia -- a considerably shorter 14 miles, and one that should include some more scenic attractions such as the Arboretum, Old Town Pasadena and main drag of Eagle Rock. Here's the route and hope you can join:

View Larger Map

Urban Hike this Sunday - LA/OC edition

Hitting the beach in time for sunset in my February Urban Hike

Keeping with my (almost) monthly urban hike ritual, this Sunday I'm tackling the Orange Curtain and walking down the entire length of Beach Blvd. from La Habra to Huntington Beach.

Here's the route:

View Larger Map

Plan on starting at 7 a.m. and hope to make it to the beach before sunset (and even better yet, get to Don the Beachcomber to sneak in a drink before their happy hour ends at 7 p.m.) And here are some of the other interesting eats I've plotted along the way.

As always, feel free to join for all or part of the hike! I'll be livetweeting @LAOCFoodie along the way so feel free to catch up for even a portion of the hike.