It's not just Hollywood and the beaches. There's a real city here, although an odd one. Here's Los Angeles - from the iconic City Hall building and the massive Los Angeles Times complex - from the days when newspapers actually mattered - to the Spring Street Historic District with all the solid old oddly-ornamented turn-of-the-century bank buildings - to the glass-walled towers from the last decades. It's not Manhattan of course. It has its own peculiar soul, and an odd emptiness. Hardly...
more »It's not just Hollywood and the beaches. There's a real city here, although an odd one. Here's Los Angeles - from the iconic City Hall building and the massive Los Angeles Times complex - from the days when newspapers actually mattered - to the Spring Street Historic District with all the solid old oddly-ornamented turn-of-the-century bank buildings - to the glass-walled towers from the last decades. It's not Manhattan of course. It has its own peculiar soul, and an odd emptiness. Hardly anyone actually lives in the city. The movers and shakers drive home each night to Beverly Hills or Malibu, and the office workers home to the sprawling suburbs that the post-war freeway system made possible. By early evening the city is surreal. On the weekends the streets are empty. It's a bit spooky - but out here we like it like that.
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