It's the endless blue sky that does it! For the nearly 10 days that I was in Southern California, I had seen not one cloud in the sky. I don't know if the weather gets any better than this anywhere in the world! And as long as you don't look at the details of this sprawling city, and go along with the allusion that LA and Hollywood feed you, you will love LA.
This time we stayed downtown, for we came here for the annual American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) & The Center conference, which is always loads of fun. After all ASAE stands for Always Standing Always Eating … soooo true! Yeah, yeah, the workshops are also very educational, but it's the parties that I always remember!
Now, downtown LA definitely has a reputation. One associated with crime and abandoned streets. It looks great in nocturnal aerial shots in films, but down on the streets, it is reputed to be one hellish place. I recall several incidents I've had over the years in this neighborhood that made me freak out. Scenes that seemed to be straight out of a movie. But in all honesty, downtown is changing! In the last several years the area is slowly being gentrified, residential complexes have been built that have brought an influx of people into the downtown core. The are is becoming livable again, with new entertainment and sport complexes opening up and many new buildings being renovated. It's not quite there yet, but it's not a ghost town that it used to be before.
LA LIVE is one of these new projects. This is the name given to the revitalized downtown area, which only a few years ago used to be an old parking lot. The LIVE project spanning several blocks is the cornerstone of the downtown LA sports, residential and entertainment district - Staples Centre, Nokia Theatre, Grammy Museum, restaurants, hotels and more.
And this is where several of the evening events were held for ASAE.
It wouldn't be LA if there wasn't some star power present. We had Ryan Seacrest announce the performance of Melissa Etheridge one evening. Not a huge fan of hers, but she was awesome on stage for her acoustic performance … with her guitar and nothing else. And what a great sense of humor. And on closing night we got to see why girls just wanna have fun … yes, Cyndi Lauper performed for us. Gosh, she must be in her mid-50's, but she's as edgy as I remember her from the early 80's and still looking good. The crazy red hair is still there. She sang all of her hits like True Colours and Girls just want to have fun … and surprisingly many blues songs. Now, had no idea that Cyndi does the blues, but it seems her last albums have been from this genre, and she pulls it off remarkably well. The only part she was not good at was the talking in between songs. Hmm, had no idea what the mumbling was all about. At one point she was telling the 8,000 strong crowd to bring their conferences and meetings to LA, to bring new business to the downtown area … and immediately after that she told us to not forget to bring our own gondolas. Cyndi, what the heck??!!
To end, have to mention a new statistic I learnt during the conference. Shocking actually! It seems that media addiction is the new problem in the US, surpassing both alcohol and drug addiction. Teenagers here spend 7+ hours a day on social media (social networking, Internet, email, TV, phone and the likes). Kids are living more and more in virtual worlds, with very little physical interaction and movement. I was at Starbucks one morning, writing my blog and doing some work, and for the the whole 2 hours I was there I was observing this young girl sitting next to me. She was on Facebook for the whole time, typing away. I felt like turning to her and recommending that she invite her friends for coffee and chat with them face-to-face. I'm very interested to see what will happen to this generation in a few years, as they grow up. Will they have the social skills needed to be integrated well into society? Will they even need them?
WHAT TO DO:
> Dorothy Chandler Pavilion: went for a gala dinner in this classic theatre, which was opened in 1964. It's old style luxury, with opulent chandeliers and distinctive 60's architecture. It's actually very tastefully done and withstands the test of time. It is renowned for the Oscars, for this is where the Academy Awards were held from 1969-87 and then a few more times in the 90's with the last Oscar's being held here in 1999. Today it's home to the LA Opera.
> Westfield Century City Shopping Mall: even though it was supposed to take only 20 min by cab from downtown, it took us more like 45 minutes to get there. That's LA traffic for you! Great outdoor shopping mall with a fantastic food court. If you need to fill-up on your American brands, this is a great mall to go to!
RESTAURANTS:
> The Farm of Beverly Hills: I assume this is a chain, since the one I went to was downtown and not in BH. Casual diner with delish huevos rancheros, which I haven't had in a looong time.
www.thefarmofbeverlyhills.com
HOTELS:
> JW Marriott (downtown): this hotel is brand new and is located in the centre of the new LA Live area, adjacent to Staples Centre. I tend to associate the JW Marriott brand as top-end refined luxury (at least that's what it is in Asia), however, this hotel has more of a business hotel feel, the rooms being quite modern and hip. Not sure why they decided to do that! There are two redeeming factors to this property: the lobby area is very large with an open design, thus inviting people to hang out on its colorful plush seats. It's lively day and night and has a great buzz. And the open-air pool and bar area called Ion are very LA-esque. Spinning music all day long while lounging on the 4th floor of the hotel and watching oh-so-beautiful people walk by was very LA-LA!
> Ritz Carlton (downtown): adjoins the JW Marriott. Similarly, the hotel has too much of a new feel and not enough of a luxury statement. Redeeming factor? Bar on 24th floor. Great view of downtown LA.
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