Walking the Five Boroughs of L.A.

You hear it a lot; Downtown L.A. is a melting pot of cultures. Sure, you can drive thru all the different parts of town, but you don't really get a full appreciation of the cultural variety that walking gives you. With that in mind, I charted out a completely spontaneous trek through the five boroughs of Los Angeles - South Park (the Convention Center/Staples Center part of town), Bunker Hill, Chinatown/Civic Center, Olvera Street/Pershing Square and Little Tokyo. While I don't know the absolute distance, I would estimate the entire trip is about 12 miles. Keep in mind, this entire tour was done on foot.

The trek begins in South Park, outside Staples Center. From there, we head north up Figueroa. Bypassing the often crowded and popular breakfast stop of the Pantry on 9th and Figueroa, we travel up a block to the corner of 8th and Figueroa, stopping in at the Corner Bakery.

The Corner Bakery is a quaint little restaurant serving breakfast food and sandwiches. I ordered the Baked French Toast, which comes on cinnamon toasted bread. Unfortunately, they were out of the bread. Undaunted, I moved to the Commuter Croissant, but they were also out of croissants. Down two strikes, I hedged my bets on something safe; a bagel with scambled eggs, cheese, bacon and diced tomatoes. My server was Saudia, who was more than accomadating and professional and even included a side order of fruit to compensate for the inconvenience.

Bagel with eggs, bacon, cheese and tomatoes at the Corner Bakery.

With my stomach full of carbs, I head up to 7th and Figueroa, then cross right over to Grand Ave. Traveling up Grand Ave., we pass someplace called the Water Court, an entertainment, shopping and food court located off 6th and Grand. Among the waterfalls and numerous fountains is a the Omni Hotel, an outdoor lounge and a spectacular view off to the east.

The pond/waterfall at the Water Court.

From there, we continue heading north, passing the Museum of Cultural Art (MoCA), Disney Conert Hall, Mark Taper Forum and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Once we pass all that, we arrive at Caesar Chavez Blvd. If you continue heading north, you'll just head into a residential area, so we turn right, heading toward Chinatown.

The entrance to Chinatown is on the north side of Alameda.

Caesar Chavez Blvd. splits right between the entrance of Chinatown and Olvera Street. Chinatown would take an entire day to explore, so instead of going in that direction, I turn right and enter Olvera Street. On this particular day, the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration is going on. Walking through the outdoor market, I can't help but stop in at Mr. Churro's and graba hot, fresh churro.

Continuing along and walking through the shaded rest area, I head south on Alameda and return to 1st St. Crossing the street, we pass thru the Civic Center, before heading into Little Tokyo.

Restaurant-row in Little Tokyo.

There are plenty of restaurants to choose from once you enter Little Tokyo. Among them, Koraku, Aoi, Mr. Ramen and Daikokuya are all solid choices. But I'm not really in the mood for ramen, in fact, I'm just looking for a simple bowl of rice with some meat on top. This is when I remember Wakasaya, located in the food court right across the street from the aforementioned restaurants. I order the unagi don (eel) with a side of miso. It's the perfect belnd of sweet sauce and tender meat.

The garden at the Japanese Cultural Community Center.

After lunch, I stroll around Little Tokyo, taking in the Japanese garden outside the Japanese Cultural Center. I start making my way back now and head westward along 3rd St., a trek I would not recommend doing if you are going solo. The streets between San Pedro and Los Angeles St. are rough. The entire block on 3rd from Los Angeles to Hill St. is filled with a majority of bong shops. At Hill St., I turn left and make my way south, toward Olympic Blvd. I'm sure ladies everywhere would enjoy the stroll between 5th and 7th streets as you enter the Jewelry District.

Once at Olympic, the trek comes to a close as a few blocks later, we are back at the beginning, standing outside Staples Center. It was interesting how the entire trek allowed me to bend my linguistic tongue, starting with regular ole English, then switching to Spanish thru Olvera Street and then to Japanese entering Little Tokyo. This trek, which took four hours to complete (and mind you I was walking pretty briskly) is the perfect tour for any tourist or, for that matter, a native Angeleno.

RANDOM SIDE STATS:

Number of Starbucks I Saw - 8

Number of street bums - 29

Number who bothered me for money - 0 (cuz I was wearing my iPod)

Number of LAPD police cars with sirens blaring - 5

Shoes worn for this trek - Nike Shox+