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February 14, 2008
Win Tickets to Kanye West at NOKIA Theatre LA Live!
Kanye West tickets for the April 21st concert sold out extremely quickly this morning during pre-sale (uh oh!). But we're happy to announce that they just decided to have a second Kanye West concert at NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE taking place the next day on Tuesday, April 22.
Lucky for you, we have one pair of tickets to give away here on LAist. To enter the contest, you must submit a comment on this post telling us your favorite Downtown Area Los Angeles tip by 11:59:59 P.M., Monday, February 18, 2008. You must also be available to respond to an e-mail from from LAist by 3:00:00 P.M., Tuesday, February 19, 2008 if you're randomly selected to win the pair of tickets.
A Downtown LA tip could be your favorite restaurant, best cut through traffic tip, where to find bicycle racks, where free secret hidden wifi is, your favorite seat inside NOKIA Theatre L.A. Live, etc. Have fun with it, but tell us something about Downtown where Kanye will be playing. If you've never been downtown, we're sure you can find something cool via Google.
Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m., you can purchase them here at Ticketmaster.
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There are unmetered parking spots close to the Cathedral and Music Center -- on Grand, just north of Cesar Chavez. 5 minute walk or $5 parking fee? (I'd rather walk)
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When I go to the Staples center, I park at the lots near 12th & Grand. I find them to be the most economical for their location. (I also scored an Eames Chair for $40 from the parking attendant)
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If a sketchy dude asks for a dollar so he'll "watch your car for you", throw him a buck. He won't watch it for you, but at least he won't piss on it
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I would give away some great skateboard hills on the weekends in downtown but I don't want to see Kanye that bad!
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City Hall is taller than it is narrow, but to refer to it as a phallic symbol is uncalled for.
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Steak and Eggs don't get better than the ones served thick and piping hot at The Pantry. Bring cash.
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the best pho in LA is in Chinatown at Pho 87 on Broadway.
dirty koi pond? check.
crappy peeling wallpaper? check.
"B" grade? check
kanye tickets?! check??
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definitely the speakeasy on main between 2nd and 3rd
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Fisherman's Outlet on Central for good (and cheap) seafood. For good measure, $5 parking around the Transamerica/AT&T building - a few blocks away from the staple center.
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Since KP's Deli closed, those with a craving for Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches can go to the hot truck parked on the corner of N Spring St and Alpine in Chinatown for really cheap jawns. They have THE best chicken sandwich. My friends and I call it the Stinky Van because of the abundance of pickled vegetables they use.
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Forget MOCA. REDCAT - best gallery in LA, best theater in LA. In Little Tokyo, skip the crowded joints, the tiny place next to the new mochi shop has a delicious $10 bento box that will feed you and your honey. For Staples Center parking, I always get lucky on Hope.
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the best Ramen.... go to Daikokuya on 1st. Watch tv on the little 10 incher while you drink asahi and slurp noodles.
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Downtown Los Angeles a.k.a. Downtown City, Anywhere U.S.A. in the film industry.
New restaurant alert! Steve Arroyo, Los Angeles restauranteur who co-owns Cobras and Matadors (Hollywood/Los Feliz), Malo (Silverlake), and 750 ml (SoPas), is putting the finishing touches on his new eatery on the corner of Industrial and Mateo St., to be entitled "Church and State." The new restaurant is on the bottom floor of the Biscuit Company Lofts, across from Royal Claytons, and will sport 70-seats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The soft opening is slated for March 15th!
In other Downtown news, the european styled St.Vincent Court, an alley between 7th and 9th in the Jewelry District, is surely the hidden gem of the neighborhood. Already known for the best Persian and Armenian foods, the alley is becoming a dining destination with the opening of four new restaurants sometime mid-summer 2008. Downtown is becoming a hot location for restauranteurs, as lofts keep springing up to house young money-makers looking to live the big city lifestyle. The streets have changed dramatically in a short five years, and its future remains unwritten.
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make sure not to miss out on detour fest. it's sponsored by la weekly every year usually the 1st week of october. They shut down spring street and temple street where city hall is. Great food, good people watching, and GREAT music from indie bands such as autolux, moving units, and bigger groups such as JUSTICE and bloc party. Tickets are only 25.00 and a tip, get off at union station walk out to olvera street and find temple and spring, saves you parking money and is convenient.
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410 Boyd is a great restaurant/bar on Boyd Street in downtown LA. it's a bit hidden away and not in the best area, but if you're a rib eye lover and want to hang somewhere not chill and not crowded, then this is the place.
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there's this one taco stand-- it's on one end of the third street tunnel or somewhere close to it. we went there after the redwood last weekend, so i'm not positive of the exact location, but it's tight.
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Downtown L.A. is served by 129 bus routes, including 53 local routes, 17 limited stops routes, 3 rapid routes, 50 express routes, at 6 DASH routes. In addition, 4 out of the 5 Metro Rail lines (Red, Purple, Gold, and Blue) serve Downtown, with another (the Expo Line) coming soon. Union Station is also served by 6 Metrolink lines, connecting the far-flung exurbs of the region to Los Angeles. Oh ya, Amtrak also serves Downtown, with the Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, and Texas Eagle... connection the rest of California and much of the United States to Downtown.
So how does all this come together to make for a great tip about Downtown Los Angeles?
Here's my tip:
LEAVE YOUR CAR AT HOME.
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Best Sunday morning Dim Sum is at the Empress China on Hill St in a shopping complex on the second floor very close to the 110 freeway exit/entrance. Across the way is a great toy store to hit.
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My number 1 downtown tip is to steer clear of the danger dogs! My friends always think they smell so good as we exit Staples but they always pay for that the next day! The churro guys that occasionally hover as well have often times driven patrons to emitt screams of "this crap is stale!" so i wouldn't recommend those either....
Everything immediately around Staples and LA live tends to be rather unimpressive or over-priced if not a combination of the two so walk a few blocks for anything worth while.
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ilexeye I was about to say St. Vincent's court but you are too fast. Good to know about that new restaurant.
My suggestion would be the angel city drive in - a twice a month event showing all kinds of movies against a wall - it's kind of like a drive thru in the middle of downtown: http://www.myspace.com/angelcitydrivein
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Kanye is a pleasant gentleman.
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tip=the restaurant/lounges are avoided at all cost. the old establishments>trendy hotspots
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the everything place next to starbucks on central and 2nd. it's a lunch spot, it's an afternoon boba tea place, it's a post-work bar, and a sports bar. it's everything. either that or it has an identity crisis.
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the thousand cranes restaurant in the new otani hotel has a delicious sunday brunch buffet featuring raw oysters, sushi aplenty, japenese noodles, shabu shabu, tempura, champagne, japanese and western desserts and so much more.
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Great cheap desserts at Cliftons! A winner is the Strawberry creame cake or the Pumpkin cream ... mmmm ... cant go wrong with inhouse made desserts by the slice of whole!
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A tip:
Drive by and see the construction going on around 7th and Central. It's the home of Inner-City Arts...a non-profit that serves local LAUSD children! I must also say that I work there and am very proud of the amazing work that children are doing inside this downtown campus (including ceramics, animation, drama, music, dance, and visual arts). Our new expansion will double our current space--and includes a brand new black box theatre--which will open up even more opportunities for downtown communities to come visit us. There is amazing art and art education happening downtown!
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Hit up the late-night happy hour at McCormick & Schmick's in the US Bank Tower building - two dollar cheeseburgers with great steak fries!
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le slash took mine! so i guess if you ever need to get downtown from south central, take olive north instead, it won't backed up and you can get to all of the same places.
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Trying to get to that new hot show at MoCA Grand Ave or MoCA Little Tokyo? Buy your tickets at the least crowded one and walk over. Show all the cool hipster types in line your e-ticket sticker while you walk right past them through the the front door.
Now, give me those tickets!
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Pitfire Grill on 108 W. 2nd Street has some amazing Pizza's and Salads. I usually like to make my own combination pie, but there are some really creative recipe's on the menu.
Now, let me go see the louis vuiton don
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$7 parking for Staples Center, Nokia Live, and Kanye on the corner of James M Wood and Georgia St. Just cut through a lot and the LA Live construction site and you're there.
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Bonus tip: Weiland's Brewery has the best happy hour in LA, extensive $4 appetizers and $2 beers after 10pm
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when you go buy a bacon wrapped hotdog from a downtown street vendor, ALWAYS ask for the price before. If you just order and ask "how much?" after, or you will get suckered into paying more!
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petite cafe is a little hut up the stairs on 5th street across from the central library. They have DELICIOUS soups and an awesome veggie sandwich.
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It's all about Crash Mansion
http://www.crashmansionla.com/
Get on the right lists and you can rsvp for cheap cover and free drinks!
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the taco spot across from La Cita. Yum.
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God DAMMIT zapata94! If you win the tickets with MY speakeasy tip, you're taking me to the show. :-)
Anyway, the gay bar across from speakeasy is not a gay bar at all, but rather a bar with a rainbow flag on the outside and a bunch of homeless inside drinking Schlitz.
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For the price, Zenku sushi in little tokyo has some of the best sushi in LA. Plus, who can argue with $1.50 Kirin drafts......delicious.....then after your done eating, you can work of the food trying on cheap but great sunglasses at popkiller.
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if you don't want to pay ridiculous prices for cool sunglasses (which everybody needs in LA!) then go to the fashion district for some great fakes on the street, or if you are brave then check out the textile district for all types of cool knockoff designer merchandise!
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Outside the Staples Center during/after ANY event...
THE BACON WRAPPED HOT DOGS!!!
THE BEST!
they dont got these things in chicago OR new york!
i think i saw people selling "kabobs" outside a couple of bars in NY..
i dont want no damn KABOB! I WANT SOME BACON WRAPPED HOT DOGS!
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Forget the Nokia...to see a good live show, hit The Orpheum. Stopping by the Broadway Bar next door before and after the show is also your best move.
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I gotta say Little Tokyo is a nice place to get back to my roots. It's not the same as before but I still go often to visit the Nishi Honganji Temple to give respects to my grandpops and his family. My car mechanic's shop is there called NT Auto. and i love getting Japanese style takoyaki and eating at daikokuya for their salmon egg bowl, or shiso wrapped spicy tuna..orr the roasted pig. so GOOD.
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If your like me, and you really have a great appreciation for art, then downtown LA, is an amazing spectacle. Upon coming into the city, you will immediately notice the uproar of art spread throughout both ends of the freeway overpasses. They are amazing pieces done by both commisioned artist and graffiti artist. But my favorite piece of art within downtown LA is the not only art, but a clever illusion to the eye. It is located in the downtown Subway Terminal building on the Hill street side of the building. The mural is of false windows, realistically textured to add the appearance of glare and reflection. It also features scafolds, ridges and arches, which add a dimensional feel to the 11 and 12 floor of the buildings flat wall. The most amazing pa