The heart of the city beats in downtown Los Angeles.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 is Southern California's hub for shopping, dining transportation and entertainment. A bustling urban center with a labor force of 250,000, this revitalized area is quickly gaining an international reputation as a center for commerce and culture. Today's downtown skyline is an eyecatching array of high-rise office buildings. The First Interstate World Center, standing 73 floors tall, is the tallest buidling west of Chicago. The expanded Los Angeles Convention Center The Los Angeles Convention Center (abbreviated LACC) is a convention center in downtown Los Angeles. The LACC hosts annual events such as the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, and was best known to video games fans as host to E3 until its cessation in 2006. , new luxury hotels and office buildings add exciting new dimensions to the ever-changing L.A. cityscape. City Hall is one of the city's most recognizable buildings, thanks in part to the popular "Superman" television series which utilized the 28-story building as the set of the "Daily Planet" newspaper. Downtown Los Angeles also serves as the hub of the city's freeway and mass transit system. The first leg of the underground Metro Rail Red Line subway recently opened ot link the downtown area from MacArthur Park to Union Station. The Blue Line light rail system transports riders 22 miles south from downtown L.A. to Long Beach. Amtrak Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corp., authorized to operate virtually all intercity passenger railroad routes in the United States. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 in response to more than two decades of continuous operating deficits by privately run also operates eight trains a day to San Diego and two daily trips to Santa Barbara. Locally, DASH, a convenient bus servicing downtown L.A., get riders to their destinations in air-conditioned comfort for a mere 25 cents. In downtown financial district, top hotels, shopping centers and fine restaurants cater to office workers and visitors alike. Modern high-rises on nearby Bunker Hill serve as home to thousands of people who live, work and play in the heart of the city. Victorian-style, turn-of-the-century homes on Carroll Avenue in Angeleno Heights offer a walk back in time. Olvera Street, L.A.'s oldest, is situated at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Park. Reminiscent of a Mexican marketplace, the park features ethnic foods, crafts and gift items in a festive atmosphere. Union Station, one of the last surviving palatial train stations in the nation, is an architectural wonder of the Spanish Colonial revival. No passport is required to visit L.A.'s collection of "mini-nations", including Chinatown, Little Tokyo and koreatown, where restaurants, shops and cultural presentations abound. The area's newest cultural institution is the Japanese American National Museum The Japanese American National Museum opened its doors in 1992. The museum is located in the Little Tokyo area near downtown Los Angeles, California. It is devoted to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. , which chronicles the U.S. immigration of Asian residents. Other nearby galleries include the Southwest Museum and the outstanding Museum of Contemporary Art. The Music Center of Los Angeles County offers a variety of entertainment; the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center (which is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States). The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. , the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre. This is homw for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Master Chorale The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a famous professional chorus in Los Angeles, California. Grant Gershon has been its music director since 2001, succeeding Paul Salamunovich. and the Los Angeles Music Center The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the nation. Located in downtown Los Angeles, the Music Center is home to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theater, Mark Taper Opera. Specialized shopping districts are abundant in Downtown L.A. and offer great bargains for the serious shopper. The jewelry and garment districts offer items at wholesale prices to the public The wholesale flower district allows public purchase of fresh-cut flowers and plants. Just south of Downtown, across Interstate 10, is the Shrine Auditorium, built in 1926 to resemble a giant mosque. The University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission and Exposition Park are nearby. The park's main facility is the 92,516 seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum For board track racing circuit, see . Present use The Coliseum is now primarily the home of the USC Trojan football team. During the recent stretch of its success in football, most of USC's regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre . Built in 1921, the Coliseum plays host to the Los Angeles Raiders, the USC Trojans, concerts and others sporting events. It was also the headquarters for the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984. An elaborate rose garden surrounded by three museums-the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County opened in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA in 1913 as the Museum of History, Science, and Art. The moving force behind it was a museum association founded in 1910. , the California Afro-American Museum and the California Museum of Science and Industry Museum of Science and Industry can refer to:
Next door is the Los Angeles Sports Arena, home of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers and the USC Trojans basketball teams. Just southwest of this is horse racing's Hollywood Park and the Great Western Forum, home of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Kings. Immediately north of downtown in Dodger Stadium, one of Major League Baseball's showcase venues. |
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