A Busy Downtown Night

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I got home from work tonight, took a shower, threw on some walking shoes (well, shoes at least), and headed out to see what I could see. There was quite a lot out there.

First thing I walked past was Pershing Square. Say what you will about the “park” itself, but one thing has always fascinated me about the people there. On the grass on the north side of the park there are always people lying around. A fair number are your local transients, but then a fair number are couples. That whole juxtaposition strikes me as odd.

Second I took the escalator up from 4th and Olive and walked through the crowd gathering for Grand Performances. I didn’t stay for the show, but there were a lot of people there.

Next I walked by MOCA, which had a big crowd. I know the Basquiat show opens this weekend; I’m not sure if this was part of that.

Finally I ended up over at the Music Center for Dance Downtown. If you know me you know I’m not especially the dancing type, so it wasn’t like I went for that. Again I was impressed at the crowd; the dance floor was packed. I ran into Liz from Everyday Goddess who I had met on Monday at the blogging.la get-together. She cajoled me onto the dance floor for a couple songs, but swing and I apparently get on just about as well as I would have imagined.

The best visual of the night? Definitely the sunset behind the DWP building and fountains, and then the orange lights on the fountains after dark.