Bike Ride! - Alhambra

Downtown Main St. > Valley Blvd./Atlantic Blvd. (1hr each way)

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Rode Main St straight thru past Union Station, Phillipe's The Original & into Chinatown, on across that sorta gnarled section of the LA River beside the train tracks. Came upon "The Historic San Antonio Winery!" a few blocks later, a large & fancy (on the inside) complex offering free tours and lots of expensive wine. It will be added to me increasingly long list of "spots to return to when the wallet is fatter." A giant shady-looking beer brewery from what must've been the early 1900's was down a dirt alley a few streets over and has been added to my only one-item-long list of "spots to google the safety of before returning to."

Then things took a turn for the random... As this is West-ish East LA, the neighborhood was obviously turning a bit ghetto & industrial and amidst the freight trucks, freight trains and century-old graffitied factories was a strange sight. Groves of trees, grassy knolls, what looked like a real lake (not a hole dug in the ground & filled with sewage & called a lake ala McArthur Park), seagulls chirping, an old fashioned fair ground etc etc. This was, as I soon found out, a place called Lincoln Park... now my favorite park in all of LA. Granted it's competing with like, nothing, but alas it was still quite a romantic little spot.

Continuing the theme of randomness was a giant (about as big as Leavey) pagoda situated between a bunch of truck warehouses a few blocks farther. This was the "Los Angeles Center for Buddhism" or something like that, forgot the exact name, really wanted to go inside but opted out due my gym shorts & tattered t-shirt seeming inappropriate attire for a religious building. It wasn't that far past the LA River, I'll return here sometime too.

The warehouses and freight trucks disappeared, the street changed its name from Main to Valley, wound over a hill past some nifty pottery shops and through a bunch of old battered houses, and whalla I was now in residential East LA. It was badly run-down but not in a ghetto dangerous-looking way. Expecting to be biking another hour or so to reach Historic Alhambra I started peddling faster, but turns out the Metro Map was a bit off scale and Alhambra wasn't so far out after all. The little "500 Places to See Before they Disappear!" Fodors guide hyped this as a charming time capsule back to 1930's half-developed SoCal and under threat of demolition, sounded purtty neat. What I found was a delightful, very well kept middle(?)-class suburb no different than any of a dozen similar neighborhoods in San Diego (Coronado in particular) and elsewhere-LA. It was nice and all but a bit anticlimactic, though I'm no architecture buff so maybe some of the historical charm flew over my head.

Stopped at the local CVS to refuel with some chocolate milk (my last $2! omgz) and turned back the way I came. Nifty if minor discovery on the way back: passed a bustling Mexican restaurant across from the USC Health Sciences campus, was like "hmm this place looks really good", turned the corner to check it's name, lo and behold: "The Original Chanos." Every USC campus must have its own Chanos I guess, heehee.

Overall... the journey was definitely better than the destination here, but a pleasant journey it was.

Bike Ride! - East-of-Hollywood Sunset Blvd + Lil Tokyo

East Sunset Blvd: Echo Park & Silver Lake
via Figueroa > Bunker Hill > Cesar Chavez > Sunset
ETA from 23rd St = 3hr
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Details =

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Went straight up Fig/Flower where I was thwarted by a steep uphill in the Bunker Hill area of Downtown. Walked the bike up it, discovered an art museum or two I never knew existed once up there. Far northern Figueroa led to a bridge over the 110 where it ended and forced me onto a quiet side street or two lining a pretty residential hill overlooking the skyline. Biked in the general direction of USC, intending to return home when I stumbled onto the eastern terminus of Sunset Blvd. Decided to follow it as long as I could.

First passed through an old Hispanic neighborhood where Sunset was lined with neat looking Mexican restaurants and buildings that must've all been built in the 50's. Twenty or so minutes down Sunset the road reached a summit and started going downhill from there, adding the surrounding hills to the view. Passed Hoover, resisted using it to return home (the steep hill it led up helped), continued onward. Neighborhood transformed with the flip of a switch into trendier, hipster Silver Lake. Made a pit stop at an Army Surplus Store here, was disappointed by it, continued onward toward Vermont. Boarded the Red Line at Vermont/Sunset and took the subway home.
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Verdict = Breezy, surprisingly quiet, quirky neighborhoods, fun downhills and some good views; perfect length too. Probably my favorite ride yet.
Difficulty = Medium
Discoveries = LA City Ballet Museum, cool looking Mexican cafes of unverified quality, Army Store

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Downtown: Little Tokyo
via Figueroa > 8th St. > Broadway St. > 3rd St.
ETA from 23rd St = 20min

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Details = Turned off Fig at 8th St, passed through the gentrified, newly built loft area of South Park. Area declined rapidly into "normal ole run-down downtown" at Broadway. Broadway's central stretch was a deranged, trippy mess of bootleg clothing stores, shady music shops, offers of fake-IDs and the highest concentration of pedestrians I've seen anywhere in LA, all alongside decomposing theatres from the 1920's. Fled off the sidewalk & onto the street, only to be nearly rammed by a bus. Returned to sidewalk and proceeded cautiously through the people-minefield which subsided around 5th St. Continued north until turning on 3rd St. The Little Tokyo section of 3rd (or 4th?) was lined with a mildly hilarious row of smoke shops.
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Verdict = A short but pleasant trip that always ends in good food. Reliable but nothing epic.
Difficulty = Easy
Discoveries = "Little Tijuana", Smoke Shop Row

It's hard to see here, but they're dressed like 1950's maids. Weird Japanese fashion, sigh