After hanging out at my friend’s place on 7th st., I met up with another old High School friend who’s living downtown too. He stays over on 7th and Spring St, which is only a few blocks away from my other buddy’s place…and also happens to be right in the Art Walk.
I’d never heard of the Downtown Art Walk when I used to live in LA, and my friends say it’s a recent thing. That area never was a mellow place to hang out on the streets after dark…at least not since I’ve been alive. It’s also only a few blocks from the good old Skid Row part of downtown: home to one of the largest populations of homeless in the United States.
But now that the area’s getting fancy, you’ll see quite a few people of all ages showing up to cruise the streets for this event. Basically, there are just a bunch of galleries in that area of downtown which open up their doors on the second Thursday of every month. Here’s a rough outline of the borders of the walk which I highlighted in blue below:
So we met up with a few more friends and walked around for a bit. I’m not really an art buff, but there were some interesting displays. Some galleries were selling beer and wine inside so you could get your drink on.
Most of the galleries looked like that. Bright lights, people hanging around chatting. It was alright for something free to do, and probably would’ve been more fun for me if I was big on art. One thing that tripped me out though was seeing so many people on the street at night down there. Also, as we walked around, I saw nice little restaurants, cafes, and bars, and the place felt as safe as strolling down any street in Tokyo. The place is completely different from how I remember it.
Anyway, around 9pm the galleries started closing up, but there were still plenty of people hanging around on the street. There was a band playing on one corner, some dude playing some drums on another. But of course, the cops walked by and shut that down real quick. Can’t let anyone have fun without the proper permits. You know how it goes.
By now we were already up by 2nd St, so we headed back south to 7th…
On the way, we stumbled upon a gallery which was still open, and unlike any of the others. The space was pretty big, had a nice crowd, good lighting, and a guy whipping up some good beats for the crowd. If I remember correctly, the spot was on 4th and Spring St., so definitely check it out if you’re ever down there for the Art Walk.
You can check this website for for more information on the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk.
