DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I've been downtown for six months now, and I've explored a lot of downtown, but one area that I haven't much ventured into is the east side: Central City East, Little Tokyo, etc. Today I took a very small step in remedying that.

First I needed to pick up some DLANC business cards from our office on 1st street, so I grabbed my skateboard and headed north. They were set up for some sort of a shoot around the new Caltrans building. I saw one vehicle and a couple set pieces that really gave off a Bladerunner vibe. Sort of dirty retro-futuristic.

From there my goal was to head over to Groundwork and buy some coffee beans. That turned out to be something that required a little more in the way of directions than my quick look at the map before leaving. I was talking to my mom on the phone, so I ended up getting her to pull up mapquest and get me where I needed to be.

I got a mix of several different types of beans, which was really a bit of a cop out from having to make a decision. The first ground beans are in the coffee maker right now; they smell good, I'm sure they'll taste good as well.

On the way back I was really struck by how much I need to explore all the little shops over that way. If I go more than two miles to buy Christmas gifts there's something wrong with me.