Eric Richardson [Flickr]

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — One thing I thought was interesting while walking around with the power out today was taking a look at which buildings had the generators to keep things relatively normal, and which did not.

For instance, I heard my building's generator kick in within 15 seconds after the power went out. It didn't provide power to the units, but it did bring up sufficient hallway lighting and power one working elevator (I suspect the others were powered but just programmed to return to a floor and stop). Apparently not all the buildings you would suspect were so prepared. An article in the LA Times details a dark setup at the Wilshire Grand Hotel.

At the nearby Wilshire Grand Hotel and Centre, employees manned every floor with glow sticks. All of the hotel's 900 rooms were booked because of a Microsoft convention, said General Manager John Stoddard. Customers worked in the lobby on battery-powered laptops. Bellboys guided customers to their rooms in the dark. Staff members manually controlled two elevators that were powered by generators.

Odd that they wouldn't have at least hall lighting. I'm guessing the elevators had to have some manual override on to operate, hence the need for staff to man them.