Lighting Up Downtown

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I have no plans to see Fast and the Furious 3, but I've really enjoyed seeing their Downtown shoot.

I took the shot at right on my walk home last night. They had a bank of lights way up on a crane casting this yellow light on the buildings at the corner of 7th and Hope. The picture from my cellphone doesn't do it any kind of justice, but the effect was very cool.

I'm also a big fan of the dense blanket of christmas lights they've placed on the trees in that stretch of Wilshire. At a DLANC meeting recently someone asked if we could just keep them. As with the faux-neon on the 4th Street overpass, sometimes these shoots give you an interesting perspective on what light treatment Downtown could use.

And speaking of shooting, I'd recommend taking a trip down Broadway to check out the new neon on the front of the Palace. I did a double-take on that one last night.