Parking was hard to get that Sunday morning so we ended up parking our car in the private garage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.  As soon as we came out this is what we saw.  I used to watch the Oscar shows as a child growing up in Manila and they always used to hold the program here.  I still remember all the stretched black limos that surrounded the building.  That was a sight back then even if I only saw them on TV.

The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in LA's Music Center District

The fountain named Peace on Earth in front of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

The Mark Taper Forum right next to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

The Ahmanson Theater which made up the third building in the LA Music Center

The Walt Disney Hall by Frank Gehry, now one of LA's icons

The Walt Disney Hall designed by the famous Frank Gehry.  This is the venue for symphonies by the Los Angeles Philharmonic located on 151 South Grand Avenue.

Here is another view of the building up close.

The Lillian Disney Memorial Fountain

This is Marc's only picture from our recent vacation to Los Angeles.  Honestly, he hates having his picture taken and it is always a battle taking even just one of his pictures on any trip.

A close up of the Walt Disney Hall

with a partial view of the side of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on the right

Walking distance from the Walt Disney Hall is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels.

The late Pope John Paul II celebrated mass here and all his vestments are on exhibit inside the cathedral.

These are the church bells right above the main entrance to the grounds of the cathedral.

I didn't realize it was gated.  Very heavily gated.  Hence, when the cathedral is not in use or doesn't have any services the public cannot go in.

This is the statue of Jesus Christ right above the main doors to the cathedral.  The doors mind you are beautifully and intricately carved and made of bronze.  They are similar to the gilded doors of Grace Cathedral in Nob Hill, San Francisco.

A close up of the statue of Jesus Christ right above the cathedral entrance

These are the cathedral doors I was talking about.   I tried moving one but couldn't.

They were extremely heavy.  They seemed more like gigantic bank vaults.

This altar reminded me of churches in Spain.

You see it at the end of a long hallway upon entering the cathedral.

I love this painting inside the cathedral.  It's entitled "The Neophyte" refering to the young man who has just joined the clergy.

Mass being celebrated at the time of our visit

There is also a garden on the grounds of the cathedral with statues of animals making it look like a zoo.

Actually, I like it.

A last shot before leaving the confines of the very modern Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels

The Los Angeles City Hall

The Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters

Every city in the US really has its own police department.  However, given that LA is LA, a major city in the USA, it is often on TV news for high profile crimes.  I think it became a daily staple back in the mid 90s due to the OJ Simpson murder case.

I just didn't realize how humonguous its building was.

Doesn't it look impressive?

The LA Times Building

A few blocks away from LA's Civic Center is Little Tokyo.  Just like the Japantown we have at home in SFO, it is mostly a mall replete with restaurants and stores selling all things and everything Japanese.  We had lunch here and the food was good.

Here are some images of the beautiful piece of Japan in Los Angeles.

This row of buildings remind me so much of the tenements in New York.

Well, downtown LA is really the old LA.  Many of the buildings here were 1920s and 1930s vintage.

The Japanese American National Museum is the most significant attraction in Little Tokyo.  Due to time constraints, we didn't get to visit it.  Next time we are in LA we will.

After wandering in Little Tokyo, our next destination was the La Brea Tar Pit as well as the Page Museum.  This is the area of Los Angeles where prehistoric animals were trapped in a pit of sand, oil, and water.  The pit was so thick and sticky any animal that had the bad luck of setting foot on it never had the chance to escape.  Their bones were later discovered here thousands of years later as construction in Los Angeles began.

The smell of oil from this tar pit is quite intense.

The Page Museum was right next to the La Brea Tar Pit.  This museum basically displays all the fossils or bones of animals buried in La Brea and excavated in the last century.

The Page Museum

Being a school teacher, I entered the premises for free.  All California teachers actually can visit any time and not have to pay.  I bet this is a popular field trip destination among classes in LA during the regular school year.  This is after all a good place to be when teaching anything related to Life Science, animals, and extinction.

The fossil exhibits inside the museum

The bones of a sloth

The remains of a bison

Playing with one of the exhibits.  The exhibit had visitors manipulate bars dipped in tar.

It was hard to get them out of the tar pit.  This interactive display made museum visitors realize how difficult it was to get out of tar pits due its thickness and density.

No wonder many animals sank and died here 10,000 to 40,000 years ago.

American Camels

Giant Condors

A wolf

These are all bones of wolves

The front view of a mammoth

It looks like an elephant doesn't it?

The skeleton of a mammoth

There is a Koi pond inside the museum.  As usual there are carps and there were some real live turtles too.

Here I am comparing my stature with the height of a prehistoric animal

The very popular LACMA

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

This museum was teeming with people.  It was past 6 pm when we went there but the crowds were as thick as molasses.

The lamp posts in front of LACMA comprise the museum's most popular outdoor exhibit.

Santa Monica, our last stop for the day

It has been over 15 years since I last visited Santa Monica.  I remember having been on the pier and having walked the Third Street Promenade.  During a quick visit to Barnes and Noble, we saw Johnny Depp with a friend in line to pay at the register.  Although a big Hollywood star, people there just left him alone and there were none of the paparazzi stalking stars and celebrities I often read about on the tabloids and entertainment TV news.

Santa Monica's Ocean Drive.  Hotels and condo buildings on one side and the promenade overlooking the beach on the other.

This five columns on the promenade are dedicated to the army, the marines, the navy, the air force, and the coast guard.

The Santa Monica beach

Here I am on the promenade already getting cold hence the jacket.  The Santa Monica Pier is in the far background.  This area is so touristy.  At any rate, I enjoyed it.  The Third Street promenade reminded me of the Ramblas in Barcelona.  Frankly, I couldn't understand all the hype about the place.  It was just a long street bordered by chain stores on each side.  There were stores galore selling clothes, art, books and the like besides restaurants for hungry tourists.

Here's the SMURF in the middle of the mall called Santa Monica Place. We decided to have dinner here on our last night in Los Angeles as it was getting late and we had a long drive to our hotel in Woodland Hills.

Here's another view of the mall full of tourists as well as an obscure view of the Third Street Promenade in the very, very far upper right.

I had two full wonderful days to sightsee in Los Angeles.  For the very first time, I appreciated LA as a destination and I can now imagine why my second sister, Ging, loved living here.  It is indeed a happening place.  There are lots to see and everything is so truly California.  Thank you LA.  Hope to see you again soon.