Queen of the Angels: a striking cathedral, hot restaurants, and a stylish hotel bring glamour and inspiration to Downtown L.A - Travel

Sunset, Dec, 2002 by Matthew Jaffe

It's a new morning in downtown Los Angeles. After nearly $300 million in renovations, the granite-and-terra-cotta city hall glistens under the Southern California sun. Still under construction, the shimmering folds of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall billow like the sails of a clipper ship on a breeze. Recovering from a night at the Rooftop bar, the young and the fashionable jump-start their days with late-morning espressos at the Downtown L.A. Standard hotel. And thousands of pilgrims, tourists, and the just plain curious find themselves drawn to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels as it opens its doors.

For decades, downtown Los Angeles has been a district that drifted on the periphery of the Southern California imagination. Now the area seems increasingly poised to reclaim its symbolic and cultural role as the city's heart. The restaurant and visual arts scenes are more vibrant than they have been in a long time.

A window into the spirit

Not since the Getty Center has a new Los Angeles building attracted the attention drawn by the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Designed by Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo, the cathedral looms commandingly over U.S. 101. Moneo, acknowledging that cathedrals have traditionally been built along rivers, found the Los Angeles equivalent in the flow of the Hollywood Freeway

The cathedral appears imposing and unyielding at first. But off to the building's southeast side, the figure of a woman seems to hover 30 feet above the ground over a pair of 25-ton bronze doors. Robert Graham sculpted his Virgin Mary with an amalgam of different racial features, testifying to the diversity of Angelenos whom the cathedral is meant to serve.

Once inside the south ambulatory, light from an unseen set of windows above creates dashes of illumination along the Spanish Jana limestone floor. It is a big, open space, spare yet warmed by the rich cherry pews and the frescolike tapestries of Ojai, California, artist John Nava. The architecture doesn't dictate the terms of the spiritual experience. Instead, the structure gives visitors room to project themselves into the vastness.

Stalking style and history

Most of downtown is not as fully realized as the emerging arts acropolis along Grand. But with a growing population--many moving into converted lofts in historic buildings--the area's ongoing evolution is apparent. Improbably, it has even become cool.

At the Downtown L.A. Standard hotel, the big draw is the bar and pool scene at the Rooftop--but the rooms are stylish and range in size and price. Even if you're not staying at the hotel, its 24-hour lemon-colored retro coffee shop called the Restaurant serves up a great burger and a fine breakfast.

One good way to explore is to do what we did and take one of the new guided walks offered by Red Line Tours. Suitably, the company has its small office in a true downtown landmark--the 1893 Bradbury Building, famed for its light-washed lobby and ornate ironwork.

Outfitted with headsets that enabled us to hear his narration over traffic noise, we followed guide Philip Ferentinos. We strolled down Broadway--alive with shoppers and the thumping bass oompah of norteno music--before reaching the modern face of downtown, Bunker Hill.

Once an area of Victorian buildings that many likened to San Francisco, Bunker Hill's homes were razed by redevelopment that began in the 1950s. A loss, but Ferentinos ably guided us to places of surprising beauty set within the shadows of the glass-and-steel towers that now stand there.

Public art abounds: there's a massive Frank Stella mural, not to mention a Calder stabile as well as a Robert Rauschenberg mural. At the Music Center, another sculpture by Graham, an open bronze door, frames city hall like a formal portrait.

We stopped for a look at the $274 million Walt Disney Concert Hall, which will open next fall as the new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Even while under construction, the performance center--like the cathedral--has become a symbol of downtown's renewed spirit.

The hall's stainless steel panels curve against the cloudless blue horizon. Across the street, a couple studies the structure. The man's arms move like a conductor's as he traces the concert hall's lines in the air, sketching, too, the outline of downtown L.A.'s future.

RELATED ARTICLE: Touring downtown Los Angeles

Here's our guide to the area's newest attractions. For more information contact the Downtown Visitor Information Center (closed Sat-Sun; 685 S. Figueroa St.; www.visitlanow. com or 800/228-2452). The Downtown Center Business Improvement District provides a helpful guide and area map (www.downtownia.com or 213/624-2146).

Attractions

Except for city hall, these venues are conveniently clustered along Grand Avenue.

(A) Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Self-guided tour brochures ($2) are available at the cathedral store. Free guided tours are offered at 1 Mon-Fri. There is also a cafe with plaza seating. 6:30 A.M.-7 P.M. Mon-Fri, 9-5 Sat, 7-5 Sun. 555 W. Temple St.; www.olacathedral. org or (213) 680-5200.