Paisley Petunia

Downtown!

Downtown Art Walk

LA’s re-emerging downtown is popping up artists “lofts,” high rise condos, and new bars faster than I can count. I might have mentioned before that I have this mental list of “Things I would really like to do sometime in LA.” Well, folks, I am happy to admit that last week I knocked a good one off the list…only to see it pop up on my “Things to do more often in LA” list right after.

The Downtown Artwalk is a free event held on the 2nd Thursday evening of each month providing Angelenos and visitors with a chance to stroll Historic Core’s Gallery Row neighborhood, mingle with neighbors, enjoy some art and generally have a fun night out and about. The Art Walk just celebrated its 5th anniversary of promoting art, creativity and cultural diversity and transforming the downtown community by filling the streets and local businesses. They provide a map & walking tour of participating galleries:

Click on image for larger view

We started at my friend’s really nicely restored historic apartment building. As we arrived on the roof to enjoy the view, I pulled out my camera and was greeted with a No Battery signal. Waaah. Bummer for me. Please bear with my iPhone photos:

Gilded Gold Elevator Doors

To be honest, we didn’t see so much art at this Art Walk. We were with a good (big) group of friends and really just enjoying the company and scenery. We moseyed on over to the intersection of and Spring Street and decided to try the Nom Nom Truck – one of LA’s fusion taco truck sensations, twittering its locations for all to follow. This one specializes in Vietnamese cuisine, notably the Bánh mì sandwich. We ordered the lemongrass chicken and chowed down as we were starving. Our verdict? 2 thumbs up for the Nom Nom Truck!

Ordering from the Nom Nom Truck

The one gallery that we did check out was on the corner of 4th and Spring Street. It had a constant flow of people entering, milling about, looking at walls and walls of fun art and then re-entering the sea of people on the sidewalk. The Downtown Art Walk is really quite the scene and such a fun vibe. From there we set off to find the Coolhaus truck, an architecture themed make your own ice cream sandwich truck. You’re probably wondering if this is actually the Downtown Food Truck tour at this point. See all the food trucks seem to congregate at the Art Walk, much like First Fridays on Abbot Kinney. Its really the best compliment to roaming the streets of downtown, checking out galleries and running into old friends on the street.

How to Order Illustrations: Pick Cookie, Pick Ice Cream Flavor = Coolhaus

So back to the dessert, I’ll admit I am a harsh critic when it comes to sweets…but I really did not like Coolhaus. The cookies were stale/hard and nothing exciting. At Diddy Riese, you get warm, soft, right out of the oven cookies and its $2.50 cheaper! Their ice cream was decent, but lacking in flavor diversity. I was kinda bummed after this. Hence no picture.

From there we walked some more and then ducked into a bar. The owner of the bar parks his own converted pick up truck with attached bbq right in front and all patrons get free hot dogs! Free hot dogs, hot diggity. Now that’s my kind of place.

All in all, I can’t wait to go back next month (November 12th, mark your calendars) and this time I will definitely be checking out more of the featured galleries. For more information, visit: http://downtownartwalk.com