ARTISTIC RENAISSANCE GALLERY ROW IN DOWNTOWN L.A. REVITALIZES ONCE-RUNDOWN AREA WITH 30 ART GALLERIES.Byline: MELISSA HECKSCHER >LA.COM (1) (Computer Output Microfilm) Creating microfilm or microfiche from the computer. A COM machine receives print-image output from the computer either online or via tape or disk and creates a film image of each page. Like much of downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or , the blossoming 14-block stretch known as Gallery Row was once a veritable no-man's land No-Man's land Hand surgery A fanciful term for the fibrous sheath of the flexor tendons of the hand, specifically in the zone from the distal palmar crease to the proximal interphalangeal joint. See Rule of threes. , a place seen by outsiders as a respite only for derelicts. But -- as with much of downtown Los Angeles -- things are changing. "When I moved here, Spring Street and Main Street were pretty run-down run·down n. 1. A point-by-point summary. 2. Baseball A play in which a runner is trapped between bases and is pursued by fielders attempting to make the tag. adj. also run-down 1. a. ," said Bert Green, who moved his Bert Green Fine Art gallery to Fifth Street in 2003, drawn in part by lower rents and city-spawned financial incentives. It was just over four years ago that the Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. ,
at the urging of community activists, designated the portion of Spring
and Main streets between Second and Ninth streets as Gallery Row.
The area adjacent to Skid Row skid row a run-down area frequented by alcoholics. [Am. Culture: Misc.] See : Alcoholism Skid Row district of down-and-outs and bums. [Am. Usage: Brewer Dictionary, 1008] See : Failure then was known for its dense homeless population and drug scene. "This is the area of town that in the teens and '20s was the financial district of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. ," Green said, adding that it's also referred to as the Historic Core and the Old Bank District. "There's an opportunity here to restore it and have what is really unique in an area that nobody knows exists." When Green moved in, his was one of three galleries in the area. Today there are more than 30. "It's a remarkable time and place right now in downtown L.A.," he said. "We expect Gallery Row to have a natural life span of five to 10 to 15 years. Inevitably, the rent will begin to get too expensive. ... I think eventually it'll take on the characteristics of cities like New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden ." Melissa Heckscher (310) 540-5511 Ext.416; melissa.heckscher@dailybreeze.com Gaining a Quick Culture appreciation for the arts Want to explore downtown but don't want to venture into Los Angeles' only urban frontier on your own? No problem. Quick Culture, an L.A.-based company specializing in private art-appreciation tours, recently began offering two-hour walking tours of Gallery Row and other downtown districts for those who don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. where to start when it comes to exiting east off of the 110 Freeway. "It's a challenge to get people downtown because there's this sense of the unknown," said Quick Culture co-founder Charlotte Robinson. "People are intimidated by downtown. ... But there's actually stuff down here." With more than 30 galleries in 14 blocks, Robinson said Gallery Row stands out because of its bohemian sincerity, a natural byproduct by·prod·uct or by-prod·uct n. 1. Something produced in the making of something else. 2. A secondary result; a side effect. Noun 1. , she said, of being a fresh batch of newcomers in a city already teeming teem 1 v. teemed, teem·ing, teems v.intr. 1. To be full of things; abound or swarm: A drop of water teems with microorganisms. 2. with established galleries. "A number of the galleries are owned by the artists themselves. Some of them have their studios there," Robinson said. "It's a real home that they're trying to create. It's very real." Not to mention, there's the obvious urban advantage: An easy walk. "It's nice to be able to walk around the neighborhood," Robinson said. "You can go from Point A to Point B and, because you are walking, you can discover things along the way." Those things aren't necessarily inside the galleries. The 12-story Hotel Alexandria on Spring Street, Robinson pointed out, was once the socialite hub of L.A., hosting the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill and President Theodore Roosevelt. And nearby, the Grand Central Market stands as Los Angeles County's oldest open-air market. Farther west, Angel's Flight, a steep one-block railroad on Hill Street, was known as the "shortest railway in the world." "What we try to do with the tour is do some gallery stops and some architectural stops," Robinson said. "That way people can learn a little bit about the neighborhood." The downtown tour is the newest offering by Robinson and Quick Culture partner Ellen Greenberg, best-known for their tours of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, where they both worked as docents. Other art tours explore Santa Monica's Bergamot Station Bergamot Station is a facility housing many art galleries in Santa Monica, California, USA. History The name "Bergamot Station" dates back to 1875 when it was a stop for the Pacific Electric rail system which served the Los Angeles area from 1875 to 1953. , and the arts districts of the Mid-Wilshire area, Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. and Culver City Culver City, city (1990 pop. 38,793), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1917. It is a center of the U.S. motion-picture industry, whose roots in the city date to c.1915. Its chief manufactures are rubber products and computers. . >M.H. Want to know more about Gallery Row? Head downtown and check out these spots: >Galleries >M.J. Higgins Gallery, 244 S. Main St., (213) 617-1700, www.mjhiggins.com Fine art, photography and eco-friendly furnishings from Los Angeles-based artists. >Crewest Gallery, 110 Winston St., (213) 627-8272, www.crewestgallery.com L.A.'s first art gallery dedicated to graffiti artists. >Red Dot Gallery, 118 W. Fifth St., www.weeneez.com, (213) 817-6002 A contemporary art gallery and tapas restaurant combined. (Note: The gallery has wine tastings on select Thursdays.) >626 Art Gallery, 626-A Spring St. (213) 614-8874, www.626artgallery.com Artist-owned gallery specializing in local, nationally renowned and black artists. >Infusion Gallery, 719 S. Spring St., (213) 683-8827 www.infusiongallery.com A 3,000-square-foot contemporary arts gallery devoted to emerging and midcareer artists and owned by a husband-and-wife team whose studio is in the rear. >Bert Green Fine Art, 102 W. Fifth St., (213) 624-6212, www.bgfa.us Featuring the work of established as well as emerging artists, this is one of the more traditional gallery spaces downtown. >Food/Eats >Pitfire Pizza, 108 W. Second St., (213) 808-1200, www.pitfirepizza.com Healthy pizzas, pasta, panini Panini (pä`nēnē), fl. c.400 B.C., Indian grammarian. His Ashtādhyāyī [eight books] (tr. 1891) is one of the earliest works of descriptive linguistics and is also the first individually authored treatise on Sanskrit. and salads, all created using fresh ingredients from local farmers markets. >Pete's Cafe and Bar, 400 Main St., (213) 617-1000, www.petescafe.com Casual sit-down restaurant featuring all-American fare (burgers, salads and sandwiches). >626 Reserve, 626-A Spring St. (213) 614-8874 www.626reserve.com Hip, upscale wine bar popular with local loft-dwellers and wine enthusiasts. Light dinner and dessert menu. The bar, attached to the 626 Art Gallery, has regular jazz and wine-tasting events. >Weeneez, 500 S. Spring St., (213) 817-6002, www.weeneez.com Adjacent (and part of) the Red Dot Gallery, Weeneez features 1950s-style diner diner, restaurant resembling the railroad dining car that is its source. In the mid-19th cent., the first dining cars that appeared on trains were nothing more than an empty car with a fastened-down table. George M. decor and a menu of hot dogs, burgers, homemade lemonade and freshly baked cookies. >Nearby >Grand Central Market, 317 S. Broadway, (213) 624-2378, www.grandcentralsquare.com The oldest outdoor market in Los Angeles, featuring items ranging from Chinese, Mexican and Italian food to nuts, candy and fresh meats by the pound. >MOCA MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art MOCA Multimedia over Coax MoCA Museum of Chinese in the Americas MOCA Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance MOCA Montezuma Castle National Monument (US National Park Service) , 250 S. Grand Ave., (213) 626-6222, www.moca.org Contemporary art's most renowned home in L.A. features 24,500 square feet of gallery space. (Note: The MOCA store alone is worth the trip.) >Second St. Cigars and Gallery, 124 W. Second St., (213) 452-4427 More of a cigar shop than a gallery, this small smoking space has a humidor hu·mi·dor n. A container designed for storing cigars or other tobacco products at a constant level of humidity. [From humid (on the model of cuspidor).] filled to the brim brim (brim) the upper edge of a basin. pelvic brim the upper edge of the superior strait of the pelvis. brim n. with hand-rolled and hand-wrapped cigars. >California Millinery, 721 S. Spring St., (213) 622-8746, www.californiamillinery.net Most people today probably don't know what a millinery is. Nonetheless, there's something charming about this store, devoted to the making of women's hats and stuffed to the ceilings with bare white, unfinished bonnets waiting to be decorated. >Angel's Flight, on the corner of Third and Hill streets Originally known as the Los Angeles Incline Railway, Angel's Flight was built in 1901 to connect the original downtown shopping district below with the upscale residential district of Bunker Hill Bunker Hill “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes”; American Revolutionary battle (1775). [Am. Hist.: Worth, 22] See : Battle . At the time, it was called "The World's Shortest Railway" and took riders up and down the hill for only a nickel. It closed in 1969 due to neighborhood-wide redevelopment. In 1996 it opened with a new design, but closed again in 2001 after an accident killed one person and injured seven. It is expected to reopen soon but no definite date has been announced. Want to do it on your own? Check out "Downtown Art Walk," when all Gallery Row galleries open their doors to the public, from noon to 9 p.m. the second Thursday of every month. For information, go to www.downtownartwalk.com. GALLERY ROW TOUR >What: Quick Culture tours can include up to eight people. >Cost: $200 regardless of the number of people on the tour. >Information: (310) 800-6710 or www.quickculture.com. CAPTION(S): 10 photos, 4 boxes, map Photo: (1 -- 4 -- cover -- color) ART IN THE CITY REVITALIZED re·vi·tal·ize tr.v. re·vi·tal·ized, re·vi·tal·iz·ing, re·vi·tal·iz·es To impart new life or vigor to: plans to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods; tried to revitalize a flagging economy. GALLERY ROW GIVES DOWNTOWN L.A. UPTOWN FLAIR (5 -- 10 -- color) no caption (people standing around) Box: (1) Want to know more about Gallery Row? Head downtown and check out these spots (see text) (2) GALLERIES (3) EATERIES (4) OTHER SPOTS Map: PLACES TO GO AND THINGS TO SEE IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES PAUL PENZELLA/LA.COM |
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