Mini City Walk: Thrid Street Promenade

Last night Tyler and I were itching to get out of the house and hit the town on a Friday night.  So Tyler suggested the Third Street Promenade, a Mag Mile of Los Angeles if you will, in Santa Monica.  We strolled through the streets, window shopping and watching street performers and musicians.  We bought Tyler a new addition to his collection of Riddler action figures at Puzzle Zoo, where we hit the jackpot of choices of the action figure.  Now I know where to go for holidays or surprises for him.  We ate some dinner at Wolfgang Puck, and spoiled our appetite for the thing we went there for: gilato.  Neither of us have ever tried it, and on a 104º day, we wanted to.  Oh well, next time when we hit the TSP for the card in our City Walks Tour.

Taft: Tyler's Thinking Spot!

I wanted to save this for it's very own entry so it didn't get mixed in with the rest. Tyler had a "thinking spot" as a child. Yep, that's right. My husband is adorable. We were walking around the exterior of his first house (see blog below) when he let out a huge gasp. It wasn't even on our radar. I'm so glad we got out of the car because these photos are priceless! Thanks for taking his photo there so many years ago, Deb!!

Different City Walk: Taft

Finally, after over a year here we were able to go 90 miles north to Taft, Calif. Tyler was born and raised here for about 7 years before making what would be the first of many moves over the course of his life. Now he's full-circle back in Cali and we celebrated with a trip back to his origins.

First things first, we drove to Tyler's very first house. He got his head stuck in the railing as a boy!





We visited the grave of Tyler's uncle...




And were pleased to see the old art deco theater up and running again. Apparently the inside is quite spectacular as well, but we weren't willing to see Prom Night to find out.



Tyler in front of his first grade school: Parkview Elementary.



And this is one of my favorites: This is the field that Matt, Tyler and some neighbor kids set on fire when they were little!


The next two photos are of Tyler's first church: the new one...



And the first building. Below is Tyler painting the inside as a kid!



Taft is an oil town. Tyler's dad worked for Texaco, which is why they lived there. While we were there we got a one-on-one tour from a nice lady of the Oil Museum. The makers of "There Will Be Blood" visited the museum and got the original blueprints to make their own wooden structure (like the one I am pictured with).

City Walk 02: Chinatown

We did our second walk today around Chinatown. It's very close to Union Station so we were already familiar with the area. It was a chilly afternoon, which made for a leisurely walk around the square enjoying the shops, architecture, and dessert! We started at the East Gate and made our way through, stopping into shops like 3) Munky King and 2) Realm. We observed 1) the men playing chinese chess outside the Bakery where we got some chocolate cake and tiramisu. I bought a necklace from a stall outside and a nice lady volunteered to take our photo together! But we most enjoyed taking photos together. A great addition to our LA Book.

City Walk 01: Olevera Street & Historic Center

Our first city walk starts at the heart of the whole city: 1) Union Station. Tyler and I particularly enjoyed the architecture and interior design of the station, an example of art deco 30s era (built in 1939).


Then on to the 2) first firehouse built (in 1884) in the city across the street. Also there, the oldest building in the city, 7) Avila Adobe, built in 1818 and the oldest church, 5) La Placita, built in 1822. These were on Olevera St. which is lined with Mexican stalls with everything from wrestler masks to paintings of Marilyn Monroe.



Then we enjoyed a mariachi band play while a few danced (the man in the wheelchair had some moves!

Introducing City Walks!

Tyler has been saying for a year that we should start going to different areas of the city and taking photos for a day. Obviously in a city of 400 square miles, that idea (while a good one) is a little daunting. They I stumbled upon City Walks: 50 Adventures on Foot. So we are about to embark on a walk every week or so and will add it to the blog. The end result will be a book of the city!