LA's Grand Park

Playing: Mr. Tambourine Man-Jack's Mannequin
Reading: Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Lately, I've been going to Los Angeles a lot. Since my dad went to UCLA, he knows a lot of places to go to. For lunch, he took my mum and me to Mitsuru Cafe, which is supposed to be classic Little Tokyo. I figured if it's been in Little Tokyo for several decades now, it must be good. I ordered the Pork Udon, which was surprisingly tasty despite the plain presentation. The broth had a nice porky flavor to it in addition to the normal vegetable broth and the serving size was huge. After I ate lunch, I also grabbed some dango to-go from there and I highly recommend it. It's hot, sticky, chewy, and incredibly delicious.

After lunch, I explored downtown Los Angeles to get a look at LA's Grand Park, which I've been reading about on a plethora of architecture websites and in various magazines dedicated to Southern California. Since I used to want to be an architect, LA's Grand Park was the perfect place for me to explore. I wanted to be an architect until I learned that their pay is pretty low. USC invited me to an architecture program over the summer, but I can't do it, since it's during the same time as an internship I'm applying for. By the way, here I am, in my adventuring clothes that aren't that great for adventuring in real life: an old Burberry sweater, an Ann Taylor LOFT t-shirt, Citizens of Humanity jeans, a Burberry Prorsum purse, and a Gucci silk scarf.

After Occupy Los Angeles, the city redid the whole park, since it was going to cost a lot of money to fix all the damage done to it by the protestors, so the city decided why not just change it completely? I really like how they redid it with all the sleek, angular buildings. The bright pink chairs on the lawn looked vaguely Seussical to me.

They had this wonderful fountain there and an area for kids to play in the water. I really want to come back here with my friends in our bathing suits that way we can lounge in the fountain and get a few photos before we get kicked out for being a public disturbance, since I'm guessing sitting in fountains isn't appropriate even though I saw many people walking through it. At night, there's supposed to be an incredible light show that they do with the fountain, but I didn't stay late enough to check if that's true.

What I really liked about LA's Grand Park was how accessible it was. You literally could walk across all 12 acres of it without feeling tired and walk to Little Tokyo in less than 10 minutes. Everything was done perfectly and the architecture was incredible. I started out from City Hall and then headed towards the LA Opera, so the architecture went from classical to modern to (sorry to say it) outdated. LA's Grand Park is in a pretty safe part of the city too. Since it's a very business oriented part of town, I think it's generally safe from gangs, since there just aren't that many non-businessmen people around. It's also close to the police station, so having a police presence probably makes it safer too. Overall, I definitely want to come back here soon with some friends. The architecture is amazing here and it's just so beautiful. If you're ever in Los Angeles, you have to spend an afternoon exploring it.

I took a lot of photos of Los Angeles that day and if you'd like to see them, click here.