driving to LA kind of sucks. between the traffic and crazy drivers, you’re wiped out by the time you get there. so is it possible to enjoy a weekend in this sprawling city without a car? we boarded an amtrak train (running late, of course) friday night in solana beach to find out. three hours later we were in our room at the omni downtown – they were doing a 2 nights for 1 pricing deal – after a relatively painless train/subway trip, followed by a short walk to the hotel.

the omni is next door to the recently-restored angel’s flight funicular, which first ran on bunker’s hill in 1901 when it was covered with victorians instead of skyscrapers:

across the street from the bottom of the railway is grand central market, with a variety of food vendors (ok, mostly taco stands), and produce/meat for sale. the pork and beef tacos we ordered from tumbras a tomas on sunday were massive and delicious – the picture doesn’t do justice to the sheer wall of pork stuffed in there:

around the corner from the market is the pershing square red line station. a quick transfer to the gold line got us to chinatown saturday morning for inexpensive dim sum at a packed golden dragon restaurant. from there we trekked up the hill to dodger stadium, avoiding the $15 parking fee and witnessing a beat-down by the cubs. built in 1962, the stadium is now the third oldest in the MLB and retains the feel of that era.

for this season at least, the free dodger shuttle to union station has been resurrected, and several buses were lined up outside the stadium, ready for the exodus:

since we were back at union station, we stopped by nearby olvera street, considered the birthplace of los angeles. while it’s mostly a tourist trap, it is home to some of the city’s oldest buildings.

later that afternoon i walked the mostly quiet streets downtown, although italian restaurant bottega louie was already full at 7 pm. pershing square park has some excellent skyscraper views, grassy areas and a sweet micheal jackson soda can mural:

say what you want about the gaslamp, but it has a vibrancy that was absent from LA’s downtown.

we did break our no-car rule when our friend picked us up to go out to west hollywood saturday night, but it was kind of fun to make use of the variety of public transportation options available otherwise. and seeing the sun make its beach appearance in weeks from the windows of the train home was a bright note to end the trip.