Historic Downtown Los Angeles

UPDATE! DUE TO SELL OUTS NEW DATES & TIMES ADDED TO TOUR DATES! This Weekend's Walking Tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles

2012-02-23T09:43:00.000-08:00

The Last Bookstore Presents….

The Secret Lives of Historic Downtown Los Angeles

Saturdays will have the HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101 tour and Sunday will have the HOW LOS ANGLES INVENTED THE WILD WEST (and why no one knows it) tour.

BRADBURY BUILDING

For the next three weekends - see below for days and times) will be two DIFFERENT guided walking tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles’ secret past, its present - and its future.

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.

Tickets now SOLD OUT for both Saturday February 26th's 11 AM and 2 PM AND Saturday March 3rd 11AM and 2 PM walks of "Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101'.

But tickets are still available for March 10th again at 11 AM and 2 PM and March 17th at 11AM and 2 PM for the “Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101” tour that will be a general introduction to our rapidly developing neighborhood and an overview of the multiple histories of the streets of Broadway, Spring and Main.

Tickets are also still available for the "How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West (and why no one knows it)" at 11 AM (4 tickets right now) and 2 PM (six tickets right now) Sunday March 4th - and also March 11th and March 18th at 11 AM and at 2 PM.

WYATT EARP

If you are a participant in Saturday's '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.

And if you take this Sundays. "How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West (and why no one knows it" tour that begins at 11 AM February 26th, you will discover that long before the famed Western cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood existed, Los Angeles was the first town where everything that happened in the Wild West, happened here first and that everyone from Wyatt Earp to Judge Roy Bean came to Los Angeles first before going east to help start the Wild West . You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’ town than any Western town that followed after it.

And besides ‘inventing’ the original Wild West, Los Angeles also remained part of the Wild West for far longer than other place (from 25 years to over 90 years - compared to the average period of 3 or 4 years to 10 years of most cowtowns) and LA was also one of the few towns built upon both cattle and mining.

Tickets for either tour are only $15 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.

THE LAST BOOKSTORE Named The Project of the Year in Historic Downtown Los Angeles

2012-02-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

In the Downtown Los Angeles News annual awards, Historic Downtown's THE LAST BOOKSTORE was selected as the best development project of the year in our district:

Winner: Last Bookstore

A lot of things are important in making a neighborhood a place where people actually come together. Few are as crucial as a bookshop. Although the Historic Core (aka Historic Downtown Los Angeles) last year lost its stalwart Metropolis Books, it scored when Josh Spencer moved his Last Bookstore to a mammoth space at Fifth and Spring streets. The 10,000-square-foot literary emporium is filled with great deals — many of the used tomes cost just $5. The room, meanwhile, reflects and serves its neighborhood, with a funky feel — there’s a taxidermy-style Wooly Mammoth head — amid soaring ceilings. The book business is brutal these days, but this community gathering place does more for the Historic Core than a thousand online retailers will ever do.

Not mentioned in the article is that THE LAST BOOKSTORE is already expanding - again - and just signed a lease for the entire mezzanine level at the Spring Arts Tower - which will double the amount of space they will have for selling books at the corner of 5th and Spring.

Tonight's the Night for the Edwardian Ball at the Belasco Theater!

2012-02-19T14:32:00.001-08:00

Tickets for TONIGHT'S EDWARDIAN BALL in Downtown Los Angeles's historic BELASCO THEATER can still be purchased on line!

Order Tickets

The Los Angeles 2012 Line Up features

Edwardian Ball Creators & Co-Hosts
ROSIN COVEN & VAU DE VIRE SOCIETY

presenting an original staging of ”The Iron Tonic” by Edward Gorey

plus
DJ Xian
Delachaux
Creature Feature
Frisque

The Society’s Variety
Cowboy Girls
Caramel and Cream
VdV Aerial Acts

and in The Ballroom
John Brothers Piano Company
Eric McFadden (Just Added!)
Justin Paul (Playloop/PEX)
Mad Dog (Vau de Vire)
LushBunny (Disorient, Mosaic Lounge)
Dayhota (LA)

Added Attractions
S&G Clothing
(http://sandgclothing.com/)
Dark Garden Corsetry
SuperTall Paul’s Listening Lounge
Shovelman
Majinga the Magician
Malvoye the Mentalist

and of course… YOU!

Emcee’d by
Vegas E. Trip

LA Art Curation by Debi Cable
Kevin Rolly – photography (web)    Lilli Muller – body installation (web)
Raquel Lopez – fabric installation (facebook)    Gabe Leonard – artwork (web)
Sean Boones – live painting! (facebook)    Amy Kaps – performance art (web)
James Stewart – red art paintings (web)    Ashley Bowers – live painting, artwork (facebook)
Michael Pukac – live painting, artwork (web)    Gypsy – live painting, artwork (web)
Michael Stubbs – artwork (web)    Shira Loa – sculpture (web)
Joseph Fernandez – sculpture (facebook)    Nicole Fornier – photography (web)
David Haskel – sculpture (facebook)    Jason Sarrow – blacklight /crystal installation
Ryan Patterson – “Lets Play Dead” installation (website)    Chango – sculpture (facebook)
Debi Cable – artwork and installation (website)    Richard Wilks – big sculpture(website)

ANNOUNCING! Our 2012 Performers & Features!

Featuring… Edwardian Ball Creators & Co-Hosts

ROSIN COVEN & VAU DE VIRE SOCIETY

Performing an Original Presentation of Edward Gorey’s “The Iron Tonic”

Plus…

John Bros. Piano Company

Klown Korps Kollective

Shadow Circus Creature Theatre

The Displayed Labors Sideshow

Cyclecide

Malvoye the Mentalist

Valentine

Emcee Vegas E. Trip

Emcee Kingfish of the Hubba Hubba Revue

And don’t miss…

NEW! Tours through the Museum of Wonders (The Edwardian Odditorium) (Both Nights)

NEW! Leisure Listening Lounge hosted by SuperTall Paul Newman (Both Nights)

NEW! Animated FLIP-BOOK Photo Booth (Both Nights)

Bicycle-Powered Carnival Rides by Cyclecide (Friday Only!)

Ballroom Dancing (Saturday Only!)

Barbary Midway Gaming (Friday Only!)

Vendor Bazaar & Piano Saloon (Both Nights)

And much more in store…!

Visit LA's First LA ZINE FEST at Downtown's THE LAST BOOKSTORE!

2012-02-19T09:19:00.000-08:00

LA ZINE FEST All Day At THE LAST BOOKSTORE!

453 S. Spring Street at 5th and Spring!

The first LA Zine fest will span two levels, include 60-plus exhibitors, zine making workshop with Grrl-Zines-A-Go-Go, a panel moderated by Machine Project on how to run your own DIY art space with panelists from The Smell, Synchronicity Space, Echo Curio, and Home Room, interview of V. Vale of RE/Search Publications by Henry Rollins, and much more!

Panel is at 11:30am on the Last Bookstore stage.

Vendor floor in the Mezzanine closes at 5:00 p.m., with live bands rocking The Last Bookstore stage afterwards, sponsored by L.A. Record.

Entry to the Zine Fest is FREE to the public.

Check out the full list of exhibitors here, at the http://lazinefest.wordpress.com/

2012 Exhibitors

4AllEyes Zine
A Book A Week
Adam Roth
Adam Villacin
Allison Krumwiede
Amanda Makes Comics
Andy Ristaino
Autopilot Press
Ayun Halliday/East Village Inky
Band of Outsiders
Bianca Barragan
Bombshell Comics & Hello World Zine
Brainscan/Stolen Sharpie Revolution/Small World Buttons
The Braskis
Brass Tacks Press
Carrie McNinch
Chamanvision
Champoy Hate
Colorsplinters
Crossroads School
Daisy Noemi
The Devastator
The Doktor is In
Doodling Nerd
Double Fur Press
Drippy Bone Books
DUM DUM ZINE
Edward Bolman
Emilio’s Pocket
Emily Alden Foster
Eyeball Burp
Eyedraugh
Foolish Heart
Gabrielle Gamboa
Galatea’s Pants
Gnartoons
Ginger Rabbit Studio
Grrrl Zines A-Go-Go
Gulahlah Comics
Home Room
I Love Bad Movies
Igloo Tornado
Impossible Moon
Josh Crampton
J.T. Steiny
Jed McGowan
Jennie Yim
Jennifer Tong
Jesse Tise, Brad Lynn, Liz Mamont & Javier Ramirez
Jon Barba
Jon Clark
Jon Vermilyea
Kelli Callis
LAM
Library Sciences
Luke Mahan / Selfish Steam
Malachi Ward
Mari Naomi
MARS Design
Meltdown University
Meredith Wallace
Michel Valdes
Most Ancient
My Little Friend Zine/Eryca
Never Press
No Girls Allowed Records
No Kings
Nowhere Place
OMGCow: A Diary Comic
Pentagram Press
Peter Lorre Is Dead Productions
Punk Tree Records & Distro
Razorcake
Red Forest Distro
Revival House Press
Robin Enrico
Rhea Tepplim
Secret Headquarters
Seite Books
Shako Art
She’s Not A Morning Person
Shako Art
Simon Sotelo
Sparkplug Books
Super Secret Pow Wow
Super Trooper
Synchronicity Space
Thi Bui
Three06
¡Three Amigos Press!
Tom Neely
Tomas Moniz (Rad Dad Zine)
TotallyMag!
Tugboat Press
Ultraculture Comix
V. Vale
Van Patten Art
VERGES
The Wonderful World of Rolnik
Xmas on TV
Yumi Sakugawa
Zebratron Friendship Association
Zineworks

Discover the Secret Lives of HIstoric Downtown Saturday Oct. 8th and Sunday Oct. 9th

2011-10-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

The Last Bookstore Presents….

Tours of the Secret Lives of Downtown

Saturday October 8th & Sunday October 9th

Starting at The Last Bookstore's home in the Spring Arts Tower at 453 S. Spring Street, you can take guided walking tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles’s secret past, its present history in making - and its future - with two different tours offered this weekend.

Saturday October 8th will have back to back 'Historic Downtown 101' tours at 11 AM and 1 PM and then on Sunday October 9th - the day of ciclavia when Spring will be closed to cars to allow for bicycles - there will be the "How Los Angeles Invented the Wild West Tour' at 11 and then at 1PM depending on who makes the first reservation there will either be a repeat of the Wild West Tour - or an encore of the "Historic Downtown LA 101 Tour". All these 90 minute tours are only $15 per person. For reservations call 213-804-8396.

MORE DETAILS ON THESE TWO SUNDAY TOURS WILL BE IN THE NEXT POST THAT WILL BE UP SHORTLY

This Saturday October 8th, the “Historic Downtown 101” tour is a general introduction to our rapidly developing neighborhood and an overview of the multiple histories of the streets of Broadway, Spring and Main. 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 & CONCEPT Fashion Weeks, has brought over 150 businesses, artists and non-profit institutions to Downtown.

This tour will be given from 11 AM to 12:30 PM this Saturday October 8th and from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM and for reservations call 213-804-8396. And all 90 minute tours are only $15 per person.

If you are a participant, you will see where first motion picture theater was 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), where Bing Crosby was discovered - 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.

Tickets for all this are only $15 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.

For future updates and more information go to www.historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com

45% off Book Sale! New AND Used Books!

2011-09-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

Historic Downtown's Metropolis Books Closing Sale now has all new and used books at - 45% OFF! And Julie still has a good selection of books about Downtown and Los Angeles in stock - but they won't last long at these prices.

Metropolis Books

The Downtown Source for Books

440 S. Main St. L.A. 90013

Phone-213-612-0174

Fax-213-612-0635

www.MetropolisBooksLA.com

http://metropolisbooksla.wordpress.com/

Shop with us 24/7 online

Monday 11-5

Tuesday-Saturday 11-6:00

Urban Planning (and Mike Davis) in Historic Downtown Tour - Plus Tour of LA's Secret Wild West History!

2011-09-10T14:51:00.001-07:00

Brand new Historic Downtown Los Angeles Tour will be held this on his Sunday!

On Sunday morning,September 11^th - there will be the very first ‘Urban Planning & Historic Downtown Los Angeles’ - at 11 AM and then at 2 PM there will be an updated version of the ‘How Downtown Los Angeles Invented the Wild West’ tour.

Both tours will start at THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 453 S. Spring, on the 5^th Street side of the Spring Arts Tower and they are still only $15 per person. For reservations call 213-804-8396.

At the request of some USC urban planning students, the standard Historic Downtown LA Tour - The Past, Present and Future of Downtown - will become a totally new tour examining HIsotric Downtown’s Past, Present and Future from the viewpoint of Urban Planning.

It will also include a small part of an upcoming tour featuring Mike Davis and his writings about Downtown in City of Quartz and the Ecology of Fear that will cover the exact places he wrote about so you can determine for yourself what is fact and what is fabrication.

And then, on the 2PM Wild West Tour, you will discover that long before the famed Western cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood existed, Los Angeles was the first town where all the trappings of the Wild West were created. You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’ town than any Western town that followed after it. Tours, led by Brady Westwater, will begin at the 10,000 square foot THE LAST BOOKSTORE - 453 S. Spring Street. Call 213-804-8396 for reservations.

Description of what WILD WEST TOUR will cover.

Besides ‘inventing’ the original Wild West, Los Angeles also remained part of the Wild West for far longer than other place (from 25 years to over 90 years - depending upon the definition of the term - compared to the average period of 3 or 4 years to 10 years of other towns) and LA was also one of the few towns built upon both cattle and mining.

It started in the 1820’s when Los Angeles (founded in 1781) became the end of the Old Spanish Trail and the Western end of the Santé Fe Trail. During that time LA was regularly visited by many of the early West’s leading mountain Men and fur trappers and a number of these early pioneers ended up settling down in Los Angeles. Los Angeles was also home to the first Western gold rush in 1843 - five years before gold was discovered by John Marshall (who also spent time in Los Angeles) at Sutter’s Mill.

As the largest city in California, Los Angeles was also involved in multiple revolutions and insurrections during both the Spanish and Mexican eras and the exporting of hides from San Pedro starting in the 1820’s made LA the first major cowtown west of the Rockies. And after the Gold Rush started, Los Angeles rancho owners made cattle drives to Northern California gold camps, a full fifteen years before the first cattle drives left Texas.

The money from those cattle started Los Angeles’s first boom and immediately made LA a magnet for gamblers, bandits and get rich quick artists. And many of them were the most hardened criminals who were run out of the gold camps by vigilantes.

That’s possibly why when one historian states that from 1870 to 1885, the five Kansas cowtowns of Abilene, Caldwell, Dodge City, Ellsworth and Wichita had a total of 45 homicides during fifteen years, about of three per year per town - in contrast, Los Angeles, when it’s Wild West days were just getting started in 1850, had 31 homicides in a one year - more than all five major Kansas cowtowns had - combined - over 15 years.

And on a per capita basis LA’s murder comes to 1,240 homicides per 100,000 while the national rate even in the lawless 1990’s was… 9 per 100,000.

So LA didn’t just have the highest murder rate in the old West doing the 1850’s - frontier Los Angeles had the highest homicide rate in all of American history. And even those statistics were likely surpassed in the middle and late 1850’s when it was commonly said - and only partly in jest - that LA had close to a murder a day every day of the year.

So LA’s secret Wild West history isn't just that LA was the wildest town in the history of the Wild West - - but that LA was single-handedly practically as wild as the entire rest of the West put together.

But that is the only the start. Besides murders, frontier Los Angeles was also home to stage robberies, multiple vigilante or rangers organizations (the first one in 1836), far grander saloons and gambling halls than any other cowtown, countless posses that regularly rode over multiple counties, jail breaks, lynchings (including one led by the Mayor), far more gun fights than any other Western town, some of largest man hunts in Western history, bandit gangs that dwarfed those that terrorized other cowtowns, a 10 year two family blood feud that began with two murders and ended up in the ‘Shootout at the Bella Union Hotel’ and more sheriffs, marshals, deputies and police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty than in any other town, including one marshal who was killed his own deputy.

And almost all of this happened 10 years before Dodge City existed, 15 years before Deadwood was founded and 20 years before Tombstone dug its first mine.

But even during the comparatively quiet 1870’s - after its peak years - when the rest of the West was just… beginning its heyday… this ‘quieter’ and the always entertaining stage robberies of Dick Fellows. And LA’s Wild West history continued on until continued on with a final train robbery in the 1890’s in the San Fernando Valley in the 1890’s and Wyatt Earp being hired for special assignments by the LAPD in the 1900’s and 1910s.

This makes LA the only place in the West with an uninterrupted Wild West history that ran uninterrupted for almost 100 years - from Jedediah Smith, Kit Carson and Peg Leg Smith in the mid-to late 1820's to Wyatt Earp in the late 1910’s.

That’s why it’s not surprising many famous characters of the Old West began their careers in Los Angeles. Wyatt Earp worked here as a teamster or stage driver when he was in his teens, Judge Roy Bean - later to be famed as the law West of the Pecos (and played by Paul Newman) - was head of the Los Angeles Rangers in LA before there was even anything West of the Pecos, the lost Dutchman of the Lost Dutchman mine began his mining career here, Outlaw Belle Starr's outlaw son was born here and Kit Carson and Jon C. Fremont both visited here several times before fighting here during the Mexican War.

And that’s only the start of how LA invented the Wild West.

Because after rest of the West died down elsewhere, many of the leading characters of the era moved - or returned to - LA from the 1880’s to the 1920’s, which is one reason why much of early Downtown was built by mining and cattle money. Many of them then also helped reinvent the Wild West in one more way. But this time in was for the Hollywood Western films that told the all stories of all the now famous Cowtowns and Mining camps of the Wild West - all of them with just one exception.

Los Angeles. The place where the Wild West started - and where it ended.

And, again, for reservations or more information - call 213-804-8396.

New Urban Planning (and MIke Davis) Tour This Sunday - Plus A Tour of LA's Secret Wild West History!

2011-09-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

Brand new Historic Downtown Los Angeles Tour willbe held this on his Sunday!
On Sunday morning,September 11^th - there will be the very first ‘Urban Planning & Historic Downtown LosAngeles’ - at 11 AM and then at 2 PM therewill be an updated version of the ‘How Downtown Los Angeles Invented the Wild West’tour.

Both tours will start at THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 453S. Spring, on the 5^th Street side of the Spring Arts Tower and theyare still only $15 per person. Forreservations call Brady Westwater 213-804-8396.

At the request of some USC urban planning students,the standard Historic Downtown LA Tour - The Past, Present and Future ofDowntown - will become a totally new tour examining HIsotric Downtown’s Past,Present and Future from the viewpoint of Urban Planning.

It will also include a small part of an upcoming tourfeaturing Mike Davis and his writings about Downtown in City of Quartz and theEcology of Fear that will cover the exact places he wrote about so you candetermine for yourself what is fact and what is fabrication.

And then, on the 2PM Wild West Tour, you will discover that long before the famedWestern cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwoodexisted, Los Angeles was the first town where all the trappings of the WildWest were created. You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’town than any Western town that followed after it. Tours, led byBrady Westwater, will begin at the 10,000 square foot THE LASTBOOKSTORE - 453 S. Spring Street. Call 213-804-8396 for reservations.

Description of what WILD WEST TOUR will cover.

Besides ‘inventing’ the original Wild West, Los Angeles alsoremained part of the Wild West for far longer than other place (from 25 yearsto over 90 years - depending upon the definition of the term - compared to theaverage period of 3 or 4 years to 10 years of other towns) and LA was also oneof the few towns built upon both cattle and mining.

It started in the 1820’s when Los Angeles (founded in 1781) becamethe end of the Old Spanish Trail and the Western end of the Santé FeTrail. During that time LA was regularly visited by many of the earlyWest’s leading mountain Men and fur trappers and a number of these earlypioneers ended up settling down in Los Angeles. Los Angeles was also hometo the first Western gold rush in 1843 - five years before gold was discoveredby John Marshall (who also spent time in Los Angeles) at Sutter’s Mill.

As the largest city in California, Los Angeles was also involvedin multiple revolutions and insurrections during both the Spanish and Mexicaneras and the exporting of hides from San Pedro starting in the 1820’s made LAthe first major cowtown west of the Rockies. And after the GoldRush started, Los Angeles rancho owners made cattle drives toNorthern California gold camps, a full fifteen years before the first cattledrives left Texas.

The money from those cattle started Los Angeles’s first boom andimmediately made LA a magnet for gamblers, bandits and get rich quickartists. And many of them were the most hardened criminals who wererun out of the gold camps by vigilantes.

That’s possibly why when one historian states that from 1870to 1885, the five Kansas cowtowns of Abilene, Caldwell, Dodge City,Ellsworth and Wichita had a total of 45 homicides during fifteen years, aboutof three per year per town - in contrast, Los Angeles, when it’s Wild Westdays were just getting started in 1850, had 31 homicides in a one year - morethan all five major Kansas cowtowns had - combined - over 15years.

And on a per capita basis LA’s murder comes to 1,240homicides per 100,000 while the national rate even in the lawless 1990’s was… 9per 100,000.

So LA didn’t just have the highest murder rate in the old Westdoing the 1850’s - frontier Los Angeles had the highest homicide rate in all ofAmerican history. And even those statistics were likely surpassed in themiddle and late 1850’s when it was commonly said - and only partly in jest -that LA had close to a murder a day every day of the year.

So LA’s secret Wild West history isn't just that LA was thewildest town in the history of the Wild West - - but that LA wassingle-handedly practically as wild as the entire rest of the West puttogether.

But that is the only the start. Besides murders,frontier Los Angeles was also home to stage robberies, multiple vigilante orrangers organizations (the first one in 1836), far grander saloons and gamblinghalls than any other cowtown, countless posses that regularly rode overmultiple counties, jail breaks, lynchings (including one led by the Mayor), far more gun fights than any other Western town, some of largest manhunts in Western history, bandit gangs that dwarfed those that terrorizedother cowtowns, a 10 year two family blood feud that began with twomurders and ended up in the ‘Shootout at the Bella Union Hotel’ and moresheriffs, marshals, deputies and police officers who lost their lives in theline of duty than in any other town, including one marshal who was killed hisown deputy.

And almost all of this happened 10 years before Dodge Cityexisted, 15 years before Deadwood was founded and 20 years before Tombstone dugits first mine.

But even during the comparatively quiet 1870’s - afterits peak years - when the rest of the West was just… beginning its heyday… this‘quieter’ and the always entertaining stage robberies of DickFellows. And LA’s Wild West history continued on until continued onwith a final train robbery in the 1890’s in the San Fernando Valley in the1890’s and Wyatt Earp being hired for special assignments by the LAPD inthe 1900’s and 1910s.

This makes LA the only place in the West with an uninterruptedWild West history that ran uninterrupted for almost 100 years - fromJedediah Smith, Kit Carson and Peg Leg Smith in the mid-to late 1820's to WyattEarp in the late 1910’s.

That’s why it’s not surprising many famous characters of the OldWest began their careers in Los Angeles. Wyatt Earp worked here as a teamsteror stage driver when he was in his teens, Judge Roy Bean - later to be famed asthe law West of the Pecos (and played by Paul Newman) - was head of the LosAngeles Rangers in LA before there was even anything West of the Pecos, thelost Dutchman of the Lost Dutchman mine began his mining career here, OutlawBelle Starr's outlaw son was born here and Kit Carson and Jon C. Fremont bothvisited here several times before fighting here during the Mexican War.

And that’s only the start of how LA invented the Wild West.

Because after rest of the West died down elsewhere, many of theleading characters of the era moved - or returned to - LA from the 1880’s to the 1920’s, which is one reason why much of early Downtown was builtby mining and cattle money. Many of them then also helped reinventthe Wild West in one more way. But this time in was for the HollywoodWestern films that told the all stories of all the nowfamous Cowtowns and Mining camps of the Wild West - all of them withjust one exception.

Los Angeles. The place where the Wild West started - andwhere it ended.

And, again, for reservations or more information - call213-804-8396.

This LABOR DAY - Monday Sept. 5th - Discover How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West - on one of Two Walking Tours!

2011-09-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

Learn How The Wild West Happened First In Downtown Los Angeles on Today's Historic Downtown LA Walking Tour!

This Labor Day, Monday September 5th, THE LAST BOOKSTORES’s Tours of Historic Downtown LA presents its latest guided walking tour - “How Los Angeles Invented the Wild West (and why no one knows it!)” from 11:00 AM - 1:15 PM and again from 1:30 PM until 3:45 PM. Call 213-804-8396 for more information or reservations. And each tour is still only $15 per person.

WILD WEST TOUR

This Monday you will discover that long before the famed Western cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood existed, Los Angeles was the first town where all the trappings of the Wild West were created. You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’ town than any Western town that followed after it. Tours, led by Brady Westwater, will begin at the 10,000 square foot THE LAST BOOKSTORE - 453 S. Spring Street. Call 213-804-8396 for reservations.

Description of what WILD WEST TOUR will cover.

And on a per capita basis LA’s murder comes to 1,240 homicides per 100,000 while the national rate even in the lawless 1990’s was… 9 per 100,000.

And almost all of this happened 10 years before Dodge City existed, 15 years before Deadwood was founded and 20 years before Tombstone dug its first mine.

And that’s only the start of how LA invented the Wild West.

Los Angeles. The place where the Wild West started - and where it ended.

And, again, for reservations or more information - call 213-804-8396.

Sat. August 27th and Sunday Aug. 28th -Two Walking Tours Of Historic Downtown Los Angeles, First, Discover How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West - And Then The Overview Tour of the Past, Present and Future of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!

2011-08-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Learn How The Wild West Happened First In Downtown Los Angeles - and then Discover the Secret Histories of the Past, Present - and Future of Historic

Downtown Los Angeles!

This Saturday, August 25 and Sunday Aug. 26 THE LAST BOOKSTORES’s Tours of Historic Downtown LA presents its latest guided walking tour - “How Los Angeles Invented the Wild West (and why no one knows it!)” both days from 11:00 AM - 1:15 PM and then the Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101 Tour - an overview of the secret past, present and futures of Historic Downtown Los Angeles will run from 1:30 PM until 3:45 PM. Call 213-804-8396 for more information or reservations. And each tour is still only $15 per person per tour.

WILD WEST TOUR

This Saturday and Sunday you will discover that long before the famed Western cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood existed, Los Angeles was the first town where all the trappings of the Wild West were created. You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’ town than any Western town that followed after it. Tours, led by Brady Westwater, will begin at the 10,000 square foot THE LAST BOOKSTORE - 453 S. Spring Street. Call 213-804-8396 for reservations.

Description of what WILD WEST TOUR will cover.

And on a per capita basis LA’s murder comes to 1,240 homicides per 100,000 while the national rate even in the lawless 1990’s was… 9 per 100,000.

And almost all of this happened 10 years before Dodge City existed, 15 years before Deadwood was founded and 20 years before Tombstone dug its first mine.

And that’s only the start of how LA invented the Wild West.

Los Angeles. The place where the Wild West started - and where it ended.

And if you want to find out reason why that happened and why no one knows about this secret history of Los Angeles - or many of the other of many secret histories of Los Angeles - that will all be explained during the afternoon tours this Saturday and Sunday.

And, again, for reservations or more information - call 213-804-8396.

This morning only! $5 per box of books! Sunday August 7th 10 AM to Noon Last Bookstore Blowout Book sale

2011-08-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Two Hours ONLY! Huge parking lot sale! 20,000 great books at $5 per box TODAY only for two hours. 10 AM until Noon Sunday August 7th! Across from bookstore in parking at 430 S. Spring Street between 4th and 5th Streets. Boxes provided.

This Sunday July 24th Find Out How Los Angeles Invented the Wild West (and why no one knows it!)

2011-07-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

TODAY - Sunday July 24th - at 11 AM and at 2:30 PM
Discover) where the West really started - Downtown Los Angeles!

To celebrate this National Day of the American Cowboy, THE LAST BOOKSTORES’s Tours of Historic Downtown LA presents its latest guided walking tour - “How Los Angeles Invented the Wild West (and why no one knows it!)” on Sunday July 24th from 11 AM - 1:30 PM and from 2:30 PM until 5 PM. Call 213-804-8396 for more information or reservations. And still only $15 per person.

WILD WEST TOURS

This Sunday July 24th you will find out that long before the famed Western cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood existed, Los Angeles was the first town where all the trappings of the Wild West were created. You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’ town than any Western town that followed after it. Tours, led by Brady Westwater, will begin at the 10,000 square foot THE LAST BOOKSTONE - 453 S. Spring Street - and the Western Tour will run from 2:30 PM - 5 PM Saturday July 23^rd and on Sunday July 24^th from 11 AM until 1:30 PM and then also from 2:30 PM until 5 PM. Call 213-804-8396 for reservations.

Description of what WILD WEST TOUR will cover.

And on a per capita basis LA’s murder comes to 1,240 homicides per 100,000 while the national rate even in the lawless 1990’s was… 9 per 100,000.

And almost all of this happened 10 years before Dodge City existed, 15 years before Deadwood was founded and 20 years before Tombstone dug its first mine.

And that’s only the start of how LA invented the Wild West.

Los Angeles. The place where the Wild West started - and where it ended.

And, again, for reservations or more information - call 213-804-8396.

How Los Angeles Invented the Wild West (and why no one knows it!) TWO new tour times added this Weekend

2011-07-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

Celebrate the National Day of the American Cowboy this Saturday (and Sunday) where the West really started - Downtown Los Angeles!

To celebrate this Saturday’s National Day of the American Cowboy, THE LAST BOOKSTORES’s Tours of Historic Downtown LA presents its latest guided walking tour - “How Los Angeles Invented the Wild West (and why no one knows it!)” on both this Saturday afternoon, July 23rd from 2:30 - 5 PM, and on Sunday July 24th from 11 AM - 1:30 PM and from 2:30 PM until 5 PM. Call 213-804-8396 for more information or reservations. And still only $15 per person.

WILD WEST TOURS

This Saturday and Sunday, you will find out that long before the famed Western cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood existed, Los Angeles was the first town where all the trappings of the Wild West were created. You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’ town than any Western town that followed after it. Tours, led by Brady Westwater, will begin at the 10,000 square foot THE LAST BOOKSTONE - 453 S. Spring Street - and the Western Tour will run from 2:30 PM - 5 PM Saturday July 23^rd and on Sunday July 24^th from 11 AM until 1:30 PM and then also from 2:30 PM until 5 PM. Call 213-804-8396 for reservations.

Description of what WILD WEST TOUR will cover.

And on a per capita basis LA’s murder comes to 1,240 homicides per 100,000 while the national rate even in the lawless 1990’s was… 9 per 100,000.

And almost all of this happened 10 years before Dodge City existed, 15 years before Deadwood was founded and 20 years before Tombstone dug its first mine.

And that’s only the start of how LA invented the Wild West.

Los Angeles. The place where the Wild West started - and where it ended.

And, again, for reservations or more information - call 213-804-8396.

How Los Angeles Invented the Wild West (and why no one knows it!)

2011-07-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

Celebrate the National Day of the American Cowboy this Saturday (and Sunday) where the West really started - Downtown Los Angeles!

WILD WEST TOURS

This Saturday and Sunday, you will find out that long before the famed Western cowtowns and mining camps Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood existed, Los Angeles was the first town where all the trappings of the Wild West were created. You will also discover LA was a far ‘wilder’ town than any Western town that followed after it. Tours, led by Brady Westwater, will begin at the 10,000 square foot THE LAST BOOKSTONE - 453 S. Spring Street - and the Western Tour will run from 11 AM - 1:30 PM Saturday July 23^rd and on Sunday July 24^th from 2:30 PM until 5 PM. Call 213-804-8396 for reservations.

HISTORIC DOWNTOWN TOURS

Then this Sunday we will also hold our popular “Historic Downtown 101 Tour”, an introduction to the past, present and future of Historic Downtown, this Sunday July 24^th from 11 AM until 1:30 PM and depending upon requests, on Saturday 2:30 - 5 PM, one or the other tour can be scheduled by reservation. And as usual, each 2 1/2 hour tour is only $15 per person. Reservations at 213-804-8396.

Description of what WILD WEST TOUR will cover.

And on a per capita basis LA’s murder comes to 1,240 homicides per 100,000 while the national rate even in the lawless 1990’s was… 9 per 100,000.

And almost all of this happened 10 years before Dodge City existed, 15 years before Deadwood was founded and 20 years before Tombstone dug its first mine.

And that’s only the start of how LA invented the Wild West.

Los Angeles. The place where the Wild West started - and where it ended.

And, again, for reservations or more information - call 213-804-8396.

Escape Carmageddon! Take a Historic Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tour! Our Sunday July 17th Tour - 'How Los Angeles Invented the Wild West!

2011-07-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Escape Carmageddon by fleeing east by car - or bike or take the subway Downtown for our Sunday July 17th walking tour from 11 AM - 1:30 PM.

The Last Bookstore's newest tour - 'How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West - will premiere this Sunday, July 17th, the weekend before next Saturday's 'National Day of the American Cowboy festivities. This tour will then be repeated on both Saturday July 23rd and Sunday July 24th if you miss this special preview.

Our newest tour will feature the hidden Western history of Los Angeles and it will uncover LA's secret origins as the toughest cow town in the history of the Wild West long before the Wild West existed anywhere else - and long before Los Angeles invented the Western film.

Learn what Wyatt Earp, Judge Roy Bean (all the law West of the Pecos), Peg Leg Smith, Belle Star, Peg Leg Smith, the Dutchman of the Los Dutchman Mine, the Dalton Brothers, Liver-Eating Johnson, Death Valley Scotty and many, many other were all doing in Los Angeles.

Escape Carmageddon! Take one of THREE different Historic Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tours! Saturday July 16th and Sunday July 17th!

2011-07-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Escape Carmageddon by fleeing east by car and checking into a hotel Downtown hotel for the weekend - or bike or take the subway Downtown for one of our three different walking tours Saturday July 16th or Sunday, July 17th from 11 AM until 1:30 PM.

The Last Bookstore's newest tour - How Los Angeles Invented The Wild West - will premiere this Sunday, July 17th, the weekend before next Saturday's 'National Day of the American Cowboy festivities. This tour will then be repeated on both Saturday July 23rd and Sunday July 24th if you miss this special preview.

Our newest tour will feature the hidden Western history of Los Angeles and it will uncover LA's secret origins as the toughest cow town in the history of the Wild West long before it invented the Western film. It will also illustrate how parts of that culture still remain alive today.

And usual, this new walking tour will start at THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 453 S. Spring Street, at the corner of 5th Spring and each tour is still only $15 and you can reserve in advance by calling 213-804-8396

Next, this Saturday's (July 16th) event will be our popular Historic Downtown 101 Tour - see description below.

And - by special request - one can also arrange for a tour of Main Street from Historic Downtown to the Plaza and back on Spring Street on either Saturday or Sunday afternoon starting at 2:30 by calling and requesting a reservation. This tour will focus on how LA & Downtown developed in the 19th and 20th centuries - and how it is now developing in the 21st Century.

And, again, each tour is only $15 and you can reserve in advance for all the tours by calling 213-804-8396

The Last Bookstore Presents….

The Secret Lives of Downtown

A series of guided walking tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles’s secret past, its present - and its future.

For future updates and more information go to www.historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com

This Weekend's July 9th and 10th LAST BOOKSTORE Tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!

2011-07-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend of July 9h and 10th there will be at least two tours starting at THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 453 S. Spring Street, at the corner of 5th. They will be at 11 AM this Saturday July 9th and 11 AM his Sunday July 10th and each tour will be 2 1/2 hours. The Saturday tour will be the Historic Downtown 101 Tour - see description below - and the Sunday tour will be a tour of Main Street from Historic Downtown to the Plaza and back on Spring Street. This tour will focus on how LA & Downtown developed in the 19th and 20th centuries - and how it is now developing in the 21st Century.

And a third tour will be added to our schedule at the end of July in honor of the upcoming "National Day of the American Cowboy" on Saturday July 23rd. This third tour will feature the hidden Western history of Los Angeles and it will uncover LA's secret origins as the toughest cow town in the history of the Wild West. It will also illustrate how parts of that culture still remain alive today.

That tour will debut on Sunday July 17th at 11 AM and it will be also given on the actual day of the Nation Day of the Cowboy, Saturday July 23rd at 11 AM and also on that Sunday July 24th at 11 AM. More details to follow along with other special events that will be held in and around THE LAST BOOKSTORE in honor of the National Day of the Cowboy.

And, as usual , each tour is only $15 and you can reserved in advance by calling 213-804-8396

The Last Bookstore Presents….

The Secret Lives of Downtown

A series of guided walking tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles’s secret past, its present - and its future.

The “Historic Downtown 101” tour is a general introduction to our rapidly developing neighborhood and an overview of the multiple histories of the streets of Broadway, Spring and Main. 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 & CONCEPT Fashion Weeks, has brought over 150 businesses, artists and non-profit institutions to Downtown.

If you are a participant, you will see where first motion picture theater was 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), where Bing Crosby was discovered - 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.

For future updates and more information go to www.historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com

SKINGRAFT 20% Off Sale Until July 11th. And See SKINGRAFT On MTV

2011-07-06T14:46:00.000-07:00


SHOP ONLINE \| NEW ARRIVALS \| SALE \|

	Adam & Jonny Share a Little Playground Talk on MTV Jonny had the chance to share an MTV moment with Adam Lambert on the new Talk@Playground segment the network is producing. Talk@Playgroundhighlights two artists, one in fashion and one in music, dialoguing about what inspires them. Jonny and Adam's piece hasn't gone live yet but there are some behind the scenes shots on Adam's blog. Stay tuned for the release! In other news, the sale is still on! 20% off the entire store until July 11th with 10% donation on all sales in support of marriage equality via the Human Rights Campaign. Visit our Store and enter the discount code at checkout. Discount Code: MarriageEquality

THREE Cool Historic Things to do in Historic Downtown Los Angeles this 4th of July Weekend

2011-07-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

First, of course, is The Last Bookstore's 11 AM to 1:30 PM walking tour of the secret histories of Historic Downtown Los Angeles Sunday, July 3rd. Two and one-half hours of stories - and rare historic photographs - about the past, present and future of Historic Downtown for only $15! All tours start at The Last Bookstore in the Spring Arts Tower 453 S. Spring at its 5th St. door. Call 213-804-8396 or just show up.

You can also call for a special 4th of July tour day/or night - hours of your choosing and the bookstore will be open until 11 PM Saturday, 5 PM on Sunday and on the 4th, it will close early at 6 PM.

(photo courtsey of brighamyen.com)
And among the hidden in plain view secrets on these tours - is not just the oldest flagpole in LA - but the very first flagpole ever put in front of any commercial building in Los Angeles - clear back in the 1860's.

For more details of the tours go to:

http://historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com/2011/06/this-weekends-tours-of-secret-lives-of.html

Above is a photo of the Bradbury Building which we will be visiting. You can see other photos of this building on this great a great LA-centric photo blog:
http://laplaces.blogspot.com/2009/05/bradbury-building.html

SECOND, if you have not yet been to... LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes (aka - LA PLAZA)... a just opened museum about the stories of Mexican American in Los Angeles - shame on you!

But your oversight is, unfortunately, totally understandable as this superb museum has so far gotten shamefully little press. However, the good news on this 4th of July weekend is that your procrastination will pay off since admission tickets are $2 off. The museum is located at 501 N. Main Street - across from the Plaza and Olvera Street) in two historic old buildings, the 1883 Plaza House and the 1888 Vickry-Brunswig Building.

(photos courtesy of blogdowntown, walknride LA and DiscoverLA)

The museum will be open from noon to 7 PM both Sunday and Monday, but you must enter by 6 PM to be admitted and it is better to allow two full hours to fully see everything

THIRD, and speaking of saving money, METROPOLIS BOOKS, also on Main Street between 4th and 5th, has a July sale with 20% off all new books - and a full 50% off of all used books! They are located at 440 S. Main Street. Their phone number is 213-612-0174 and their web address is http://www.metropolisbooksla.com/

Metropolis Books is Downtown's only general interest new book store and it always has a superb collection of new books on Los Angeles and Downtown in particular.

So come this Saturday July 3rd and visit all three places - or on Sunday or Monday the 4th, you can call and ask for a special tour of Historic Downtown on Monday after which (or even before) you can also see the... LA PLAZA.

Metropolis Books Has Big All July Summer Sale!

2011-07-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

Metropolis Books is Downtown's only general interest new book store and it always has a superb collection of new books on Los Angeles and Downtown in particular.

Don't miss this one of a kind sale!

440 S. Main Street
LA CA 90013
213-612-0174
www.MetropolisBooksLA.com

METROPOLIS BOOKS
JULY CLEARANCE SALE!

20% OFF NEW BOOKS

50% OFF ALL USED BOOKS

This Weekend's Tours of the Secret Lives of Historic Downtown Los Angeles! Saturday July 2nd and Sunday July 3rd!

2011-06-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

The Last Bookstore Presents….

The Secret Lives of Downtown

A series of guided walking tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles’s secret past, its present - and its future.

The second two tour - at only $15 per person - will be this Sunday, July 3rd, from 11 AM to 2:30 PM. A special 4th of July tour will also be held upon request. 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 & CONCEPT Fashion Weeks, has brought over 150 businesses, artists and non-profit institutions to Downtown.

The “Historic Downtown 101” tours will be a general introduction to our rapidly developing neighborhood and an overview of the multiple histories of the streets of Broadway, Spring and Main.

If you are a participant, 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.

We will also be soon starting weekday & 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.

For future updates and more information go to www.historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com

Local Tourist Clothing Store One Year Anniversary Party - Friday July 1st!

2011-06-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

https://www.facebook.com/TheLocalTouristSpot

Time	Friday, July 1 · 7:00pm - 11:00pm

Location	the local tourist spot 450 S. Main (cross 5th)

Created By	TheLocal TouristSpot

More Info	who'd a thunk we'd still be here after a year, but we did it and its time to celebrate!!! DJ Empty Dranks Cupcakes New New hope to see your smiling face!

Celebrate the Palace Theater's 100 year Birthday AND Take the Historic Downtown Tour This Saturday

2011-06-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

You can see the 100 year old Palace this Saturday June 24th (http://blogdowntown.com/2011/06/6287-palace-tours-highlight-100-years-on-broadway) as part of the Historic Downtown LA guided tour that runs from 11AM - 1:30 PM Saturday June 24th 2011 or you can see the 11 AM presentation at the Palace, then take their self-guided tour of the building - and then take the Sunday June 25th Historic Downtown LA Tour from Noon to 2:30 PM. For information or reservations, call Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396

http://historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com/2011/06/guided-tours-of-historic-downtown-los.html

Palace Tours Highlight 100 Years on Broadway

By Eric Richardson
Published: Thursday, June 23, 2011, at 08:06AM

Eric Richardson / blogdowntown

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — A free event inside the 1911 Palace Theatre will highlight 100 years of Broadway life on Saturday.
Theatre historian Ed Kelsey will kick things off with a presentation of vintage photographs and history, after which docents will assist attendees in self-guided tours of the century-old Palace, where the first phase of restoration has just been completed.
The event, which is scheduled to run from 11am to 1pm, is part of Broadway 100, a Bringing Back Broadway effort of highlight the Palace, Cameo and Arcade theatres, all of which opened between the fall of 1910 and the summer of 1911.
On Sunday, June 26, the Palace will host three sold-out screenings of "Sunset Boulevard," part of the L.A. Conservancy's 25th anniversary Last Remaining Seats series. You can read a history of the theatre—which opened in 1911 as the Orpheum—at the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation's website.
100 Years on Broadway / Palace Theatre / 630 S. Broadway / Saturday, June 25, 2011 / Doors open at 10:45am, 11am presentation / Free

Blogdowntown Recommends 'Secrets of Historic Downtown LA' Tours This Saturday and Sunday

2011-06-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

Downtown's Cowboy Launching History Tours
By ERIC RICHARDSON
Published: Thursday, June 23, 2011, at 07:21AM

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — If you want to get to know the story of Downtown's development, you're not going to hear it from a much more colorful character than Brady Westwater. He's had some sort of a hand in most deals that had come through the Historic Core over the last decade, and probably done them all while wearing his trademark cowboy hat and wrestling t-shirts.

This Saturday, Westwater partners with The Last Bookstore to kick off a series of tours with "Historic Downtown 101." He promises "an overview of the multiple histories of the streets of Broadway, Spring and Main" that will offer a view of both new and old history of Downtown.

Attendance is $15, proceeds from which will go to "the revitalization and the study of the history of the neighborhood." To reserve a spot, call Westwater at 213-804-8396.

Tours are this Saturday June 25th from 11 AM - 1:30 PM and Sunday, June 26th, from Noon to 2:30 PM and the Saturday tour will include the interior of the Palace Theater.

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4386121434576458106&postID=4182588513504583554

http://blogdowntown.com/2011/06/6286-downtowns-cowboy-launching-history-tours

National City Tower at 8th and Spring Now For Sale - Details at Globe Street.com

2011-06-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

National City Tower Hits Market for $33M

By Bob Howard Los Angeles).

LOSANGELES-Owner National City Towers LLC has tapped Charles Dunn Co. to market National City Tower. The property is a vintage 1924, 12-story, 118,162-square-foot residential and retail tower that is being offered at an asking price of $32.75 million.

The tower is an adaptive reuse development of the former headquarters of National City Bank of Los Angeles that includes 93 residential lofts that are approximately 95% occupied, as well as ground floor and basement retail space. The Dunn team on the listing is Janet Neman and Bryan Glenn, both experienced in marketing residential properties in the Downtown Los Angeles market. “National City Tower is truly a trophy asset and presents a buyer with a rare opportunity to own a stabilized and meticulously renovated historic property in the heart of Downtown,” said Neman.....

Neman

Located in the Financial District at 810 S. Spring St., National City Tower was built in 1924 in the Beaux Arts style. In 2008, it was redeveloped and transformed into the residential and retail property it is today. Its 93 residential spaces include 12 studios, 61 one-bedroom units, 16 two-bedroom units, two, two-bedroom penthouses and two three-bedroom penthouses. Unit sizes range from approximately 617 square feet to the largest two-story, penthouse unit of approximately 1,884 square feet.

http://www.globest.com/news/1942_1942/losangeles/311461-1.html?ET=globest:e26400:222200a:&st=email

The above linked article then goes into detail about the declining residential vacancy rates in Downtown Los Angeles despite new buildings constantly opening. And the majority of the buildings in the Historic Downtown are that have been open for more than a year have been consistently maintaining occupancy rates in the 95% range.

But with the declining numbers of older office buildings left to convert, and the increasing demand to live in the area - even during a major downturn - demand is likely to exceed supply well before there is a major economic upturn. Then, when that happens, with many of these building already converted to condos, rents should really start to rise.

Guided Tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles start Saturday & Sunday, June 25th and 26th, 2011

2011-06-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

The Last Bookstore Presents….

The Secret Lives of Downtown

A series of guided walking tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles’s secret past, its present - and its future.

The first two tours - at only $15 per person - start this Saturday June 25th from 11 AM - 1:30 PM and Sunday, June 26th, from Noon to 2:30 PM. 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 & CONCEPT Fashion Weeks, has brought over 150 businesses, artists and non-profit institutions to Downtown.

The first two “Historic Downtown 101” tours will be a general introduction to our rapidly developing neighborhood and an overview of the multiple histories of the streets of Broadway, Spring and Main.

Tickets for all this are only $15 per person - free for children under 8 - and reservations can be made by calling Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396. All credit card orders should be processed either at Last Bookstore or after you make reservations. All proceeds will go towards the revitalization and the study of the history of the neighborhood.

For future updates and more information go to www.historicdowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com