A Walking Tour of Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California

I’ve lived in California for 29 years and I just visited downtown Los Angeles for the first time! Don’t wait as long as I did, and when you go, be sure to take a walking tour of the downtown historic area first. There is so much to see, history to learn, and fun things to do, too. Plus, if you’re looking for instagrammable sights, this is the tour for you! This tour was part of a recent Santa Monica/Los Angeles weekend getaway for my husband and I. Our tour guide was a volunteer from the HI Santa Monica hostel, where we were staying.

We actually started this tour from the 7th Street Center metro station, because we took the light rail train from Santa Monica to Los Angeles. It was wonderful to arrive “carless” in the city, and I suggest you do the same. I have no idea how much you’d have to pay for parking or how difficult it would be to find parking. Driving a car into Los Angeles isn’t really fun, anyway, because of traffic.

Bottega Louie, at 700 S Grand Avenue, was the first stop on our walking tour. Bottega Louie is a beautiful Italian Restaurant and Patisserie that specializes in pizzas, pastas, and small plates, as well as a weekend brunch and macarons to go. Why is this a good stop? It’s a BEAUTIFUL place to see! Bright and spacious and very popular - with rows and rows of sumptuous bakery treats and colorful macarons - and a little bit of the European vibe we enjoyed so much in France and Italy. It reminded me very much of Laduree in Paris. I bought a Birthday Cake-flavored macaron and it totally transported me back to Paris for a moment! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).