In my last post, I mentioned that my friend, Caroline, was visiting for a week and how we did lots of exploring! We spent one afternoon in Downtown LA (DTLA), and I touched briefly on the new places we checked out, but today I want to go into a little further detail about them!
One of my favorite things to do when I have friends or family visit is to take them to places even I haven’t been to before! It’s so much fun when everyone you’re with is experiencing something for the first time!
The two new spots Caroline and I explored Downtown were TheBloc and SkySpace LA (with a pit stop in DTLA’s Public Library).
The Bloc:
The Bloc was designed to be a connecting point. Located in the 7th Street Corridor, the new area links the financial, fashion, jewelry, and theater districts. Although still in the stages of development, The Bloc features a wide-open green space in the midst of small cafes and stylish boutiques, a giant Macy’s, and a huge Sheraton Hotel. It’s deemed the “anti-mall” because of its open air marketplace, cool art installations (my favorite), and regularly-scheduled live music and DJs. Just the other night, they were hosting a “silent rave” where everyone tunes their iPods into the same station, pops on their headphones, and has this giant silent dance party in the heart of Historic Downtown.
If you’re not interested in shopping, The Bloc provides tons of outdoor seating where you can sit and get work done, grab a bite to eat (Food Truck Fridays are a thing), or just sit and have a friendly conversation.
When Carol and I went, most of the stores were still under construction, but I’m excited to head back later this summer to check out the progress! If you’re interested in checking out more photos or upcoming events, you can visit their website –> here!
OUE Skyspace LA:
Skyspace LA is located in the iconic US Bank Tower, just a few blocks away from The Bloc. And it’s the only place in LA where you can get 360-degree views of LA from 1,000 feet up. It’s pretty rad.
When you go to purchase your tickets (which, in my opinion are a little pricey, but that’s LA for ya), you get an entrance-time on the half hour. But your time spent up top is unlimited! You’ll have to go through security, and then you’ll be led up and up and up by an elevator until you reach the 69th floor! It’s here where you’ll discover SkySpace’s interactive event space. It’s super dark on this floor, but there’s relaxing music and beautiful timelapse videos the size of an entire wall. Just take some time to enjoy the space.
From here, you’ll head up one more floor, and the bright white contrast may shock you! These floors are floor to ceiling glass walls and circular shaped, so that you get 360-degree views of the beautiful city that is LA. It’s pretty breathtaking, I’m not gonna lie. You can walk around both floors to get these views, and there are two outside observation decks with fun white couches that you can sit on for as long as you’d like. There’s also a small café in this area for refreshments.
On the 70th floor is located the Skyslide, which is a clear (enclosed) slide that takes you from the 70th floor to the 69th floor. It may sound scary, but trust me, it’s less intense than you’re picturing 😉 Albeit, it makes for a great photo-op, and you can tell everyone that you did it!
Carol and I went midday on a Friday and had no trouble getting in…they even let us go up before our scheduled time. And we bought our tickets right then and there. The crew was telling us that they get pretty busy around sunset (which I imagine would be gorgeous), and especially on weekends… so if you’d like to visit their website and purchase tickets ahead of time, I’ve linked it –> here!
And there you have it! Our afternoon spent in DTLA! Of course there are lots of other great gems in the heart of Downtown, like the Arts District, breweries, parks, and tons of great restaurants, but I’ll save those for another day … and I’ll keep exploring! 😉
|| And a big thank you!! to Caroline, for being my exploring buddy for an entire week…and for also being the most patient guest to date as we got our new puppy the same week that she was visiting! We send our love! ||
In the meantime, I’m currently working on a post about our MiniMoon spent in Santa Barbara, so stay tuned!
xoxo
LAUREN LIVES 