*What does "DTLA" stand for, and why is it appearing all over the place in Los Angeles? It is acronym for "Downtown Los Angeles". I guess it was inevitable. If Mexico City can be "El DF" (The DF, which means, the Federal District), then the downtown area can be DTLA, although it sounds like an insect repellent. And on a side note, the "DF" is passé, officially they are no longer the Federal District, they are the City of Mexico in official terminology.
So, I was walking south on Glendale and getting a little frustrated. I though, did I miss 1st street? I can see downtown Los Angeles, so I am not lost, I can make a beeline for them when I need to, but will I miss out on that other park? Well, luckily, I was not lost, and I saw 1st street approaching. I turned left and just one block away, under the street overpass, was this beautiful mural! So, have the murals of Echo Park been displaced half a mile away? It sure looked like it, although this was only one mural, not several that used to dot the former location. It was also, apparently, a fresh mural, and well-maintained too, with none of the graffiti that used to spoil the murals in Echo Park. I went ahead and took a few photos, which I will include here. These are cellphone photos, once again.
I got to Vista Hermosa Natural Park and entered it with high hopes. The name promises much, "Beautiful View Natural Park", and I climbed up even though I was tired. By then, I had been walking for almost two hours, and while the heat was less oppressive in Los Angeles than in Riverside, it was still very strong. I would look and no, I didn't see any clear views. The vegetation with the branches was quite abundant, and I walked gradually up, where I would encounter clearings with people who were sitting on the grass or on benches, eating food. No vendors once again, and yes, this area is very gentrified, there were so many Anglos where I didn't see them before in this area. I finally climbed up and found a little bit of an opening, but it was not really much, and I took a few photos. The views were not abundant, and they were hidden by branches. It may be that there are better views somewhere else, maybe I needed to explore the park more, but I was ready to leave. I walked up a hill, and next to the park there are these quiet apartment buildings, but they are very quiet, it just didn't seem like the place where you would see noisy humanity before. Who lives there? The apartments were old.
I stared walking east, towards the Disney Concert Hall, and I was really tired. I needed to eat something. Luckily I found a Subway sandwich place next to the hall, and had my tuna salad sub as a combo. It was a relief. Then, on to the Disney Concert Hall, a place I have seen many times before (and photographed).
This time,I did something different. I explored a little more. There are actually stairways that lead up, and while I have been on the upper level, I had never followed these stairways to other areas. Wow! The views open up, and I was glad to take photos with my Autocord, loaded with HP5+, using a makeshift red filter. (I dread the fact that when I develop this roll, my fingers will appear on the edges, so I had to hold the filter next to the lens since I didn't have a filter holder.) I really loved these new vantage points and, apparently, they will let you walk inside if you register at a table. That will be for next time. The heat is on, as the Glen Frey song goes from way, way back in the 1980s, when I was a young man. I needed to move on, and I did.
Visit to Little Tokyo? No go, I was much too tired to make that trek. Visit to Olvera Street? No, I ditched that plan, I was tired. It was now about 2 p.m., and I had been walking for three and a half hours. I wanted to go, go, go home and sit in air conditioning. So I walked back to Chinatown and found my car and drove home. Traffic was light except for the last bit on the 71 freeway, but that was fine. I made it home safely, and I was thankful.
How many photos did I expose? One roll of 120 Lomochrome Purple, one roll of 120 HP5+, another roll of 120 HP5+ started, and about 15 frames of Arista 200 black and white in 35mm. Plus a few cellphone photos. And I felt tired. I got home and had to take a one hour and thirty minute nap.
Here are the cellphone photos of the mural on 1st street and Toluca street.
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