Eric Richardson [Flickr]

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Last July I wrote about one busy night Downtown where Grand Performances, MOCA and Dance Downtown were all having well-attended events. I had that same sort of an experience on Saturday as I walked from my apartment to the Artseen event at Union Station.

I had completely forgotten that Autumn Lights was that same night at the Caltrans Building, but seeing it there I was pleased I had chosen to walk. Whereas last year had seemed to be about getting the kinks out, this year's event looked smooth and together. Video installations were all over Broad Plaza and scattered in between were a good number of cool light-themed sculptures. I took a few photos which you can see here.

Just down the street M.J. Higgins Gallery was having an opening for its new show, Works on Paper, and seemed to draw a great crowd as well. The two certainly contributed to Main street having more sidewalk life than I've seen often.

These sort of nights present snapshots of what life can be like Downtown once a few more of the dots get connected. We're not there yet -- the sidewalk on Main between 5th and 6th was busy with people who weren't there for the art -- but the life is certainly coming back to Downtown.