Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Many Downtowns April 26, 2008

The second installment in Esotouric's ongoing architecture series, "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles," is an ambitious and provocative bus tour which sets out to provide a good overview of downtown Los Angeles in the beginning of the 21st century, tracing the neighborhood's roots and long decline to its current boom.

Downtown LA was de-populated fifty years ago by a series of decisions at the highest level of local government and industry. Now, in a seemingly overnight rebirth (actually ten+ years in the making), new residents are filling formerly commercial structures, new businesses are arriving. Where the old and new downtown meet, a thin red line runs, mapping out the desire lines of these two opposing forces. Isolated communities are springing up in pockets, and applying their urban expectations to what they find there. The long balkanization of downtown is vanishing, from the top down (by forces like the CRA and Central City Association) and from the bottom up (block by block by pioneering city dwellers, business owners and urban explorers).

On this tour we'll look at how environment shaped the early waves of settlers and how they in turn shaped downtown in ways that still linger, such as Main Street hotels all facing East to greet arriving rail passengers. By visiting important buildings, and looking at how neighborhoods and intersections have evolved over the years, we will learn where downtown has succeeded, where in its broken places it can become strong.

The tour will feature exquisite architectural gems, including some seldom seen by the general public. But the tour will also offer a sophisticated analysis of downtown and the economic tools used to rebuild the neighborhood. The city's Adaptive Reuse ordinance, as administered by the CRA and interpreted by developers, will be explicated and patterns for evaluating the effectiveness and intimacy of these new spaces explored. We will also put faces on the development of downtown, highlighting the people who have worked for years to repopulate the urban core.

Locations on the tour include:
Grand Central Market
Title Guarantee Building (including its landmark Hugo Ballin murals)
Angels Flight
Pershing Square (including its unheralded tribute to novelist John Fante)

This tour will include a snack break , but you are advised to bring a bag lunch.

Official Website: http://www.esotouric.com