Comments on: Urban archaeology dream destinations…

By: flowerofhighrank

flowerofhighrank — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:52:11 +0000

Please, please get a group together. I have ropes and headlamps.

By: robbbbb

robbbbb — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:49:40 +0000

I’d like to see the old subway terminal downtown. I actually explored the old subway tunnel a from Glendale/Beverly to where it was blocked by the Bonaventure’s foundation, a few years ago, and that was pretty cool; I’d like to see it from the other end of the tunnel now. :-)

By: krisfoolery

krisfoolery — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:04:32 +0000

This sounds like fun, I love exploring the town. Is there any tours out there, my friend did an architect tour of downtown, Then she gave us a tour of what she learned. Fascinating shit. I have another friend the does the cemetery tours and crime tours but I think I would enjoy just the weird untouched parts of the town.

By: evan

evan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:45:34 +0000

The UCLA tunnels (http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2004/12/ucla-steam-tunnels.php)

“- The artificial islands off of Long Beach, with fake condo towers and waterfalls.”

Those are operating oil wells, and after watching the Huell Howser episode on them, there really isn’t much to see on them. The episode is online, though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6WN0cnOBE (the other parts linked on the right at YouTube).

By: mrhooks

mrhooks — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:40:37 +0000

I’m a bit of an acrhitecture geek (just a bit), so it all sounds good to me. I kinda want to explore the train tracks too – my friend and I walked the 6th Street Bridge last weekend, and wished we could go down to where the tracks are. We ended up spending most of our time photographing Walt Disney Concert Hall (and standing outside Shabu-Shabu House waiting for seats :P ).

And I want Angels Flight to reopen, dammit.

This is less archaeological and more touristy, but:

http://www.lacity.org/angelswalk/index.htm

By: Julia Frey

Julia Frey — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:14:26 +0000

[hand waving from the back]

I’m in! I’m in! I want to see inside ALL those movie theaters on Broadway downtown.

I did the underground tour of Seattle many times and it is fascinating.

By: dp

dp — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:52:15 +0000

I’m currently reading “The Infrastructural City: Networked Ecologies In Los Angeles.” I’d love to see some of the places they describe:
- The inside of the camouflaged oil derrick on Pico and Doheny.
- The artificial islands off of Long Beach, with fake condo towers and waterfalls.
- The vast alluvial plain above Irwindale that gave us the river rock to make the aggregate that gave us our paved roads.
- The L.A. River. All of it. From beginning to end.
- The wildlife mitigation projects going on in the Owens River Valley. (not Los Angeles, but L.A.-centric)

And one last one not related to the book, but Huell Howser: I want to see the Old Busch Garden Estate remnants hidden in Pasadena.

By: frazgo

frazgo — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:23:01 +0000

I’m with ttgopp. I’ve managed to get into a few cool places over the years, just not enough.

By: djerniepearl

djerniepearl — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:45:34 +0000

I would LOVE to explore the Merrit Building on the North-West Corner of Broadway and 8th. I bet there are still old phones,desks and other furnishings in that Stately looking Bank Building.

By: Matt Mason

Matt Mason — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:25:27 +0000

I have this set of cards called “City Walks Los Angeles,” with 50 separate walking tours around the city, each with its own map and interesting info. I haven’t done any of the tours but have been meaning to suggest to the Metblogs folks, authors and readers alike, that we do some. That would seem to mesh perfectly with what you raise here. Describing the listed walks here would take too long. Maybe I can bring the cards to the next meetup (such as Classic Eats) and show them around, to see if one or more of the tours pique people’s interest.