An installation at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel
BOUNDARIES: E. First St., Santa Fe Ave., Industrial St., Alameda St.
DISTANCE: 2.75 miles
DIFFICULTY: Easy
PARKING: Metered parking, though competitive (even on weekdays), is available throughout the area, including near the starting point of this walk on East First and Alameda Streets. Taking the train is recommended.
NEAREST METRO STATION: Metro’s Gold Line serves this walk with the Little Tokyo/Arts District station at the corner of East First and Alameda Streets, which is the starting point of the walk.
Like much of Los Angeles, the Arts District has undergone many changes over the last century and a half. And it continues to evolve to this day. Set alongside the LA River, the area had its modern roots in agriculture, first with wine grapes in the mid-19th century, then with citrus. A network of railroads was built to serve that industry, but as Los Angeles grew, the existing transportation infrastructure was ripe for the manufacturing era, giving rise to industrial buildings throughout the busy working-class district. But as trucking became an important part of goods shipment, the narrow streets and lack of space for larger factories kept the city from competing with newer industrial strongholds. Empty warehouses, though, were perfect for artists in need of large spaces starting in the 1970s, and the area later became an epicenter for street art. Today, however, the district is again in transition, with trendy shops, high-end art, and award-winning restaurants lining the streets.
Walk Description
Begin at the southeast corner at East First and Alameda Streets, across from the Little Tokyo/Arts District Metro station, and head south on Alameda. Situated between two freeways and home to Union Station a few blocks away (see Walk 29), this thoroughfare on the edge of downtown’s core can be busy with traffic. This is also the future site of a small 1.9-mile underground rail infrastructure project that will have major implications for public transit. Once completed (slated for 2021 as of this writing), the Regional Connector Transit Project will allow for faster travel times across the county. Riders will be able to seamlessly travel between Pasadena and Long Beach or East LA and Santa Monica without ever having to leave their seats. Such a trip today involves three trains with two transfers.
After passing newer residential housing, hang a left on Traction Avenue. On the corner, at 216 S. Alameda St., sits 
Angel City Brewery, one of the larger brewery and public house spaces in the downtown area (it’s also dog-friendly). This is the first taste you get of adaptive reuse on this walk. Some of the steel once produced in the 1913 building ended up on the Brooklyn Bridge and in Slinky toys. The architects, Hudson & Munsell, also designed the original Natural History Museum of LA County (see next walk), a few miles southwest.
Continue on Traction. When you hit the confluence with East Third Street, look up for a sign reading JOEL BLOOM SQUARE: ARTS DISTRICT PIONEER AND ACTIVIST. Bloom was the neighborhood’s unofficial mayor who convinced the city to designate the area as the Arts District in the 1990s. Until his death, he operated Bloom’s General Store around the corner.
Turn left onto East Third Street. Here, you find yourself among the latest transition into a trendy shopping district. At 800 E. Third St. is 
Wurstküche, a popular beer-and-brats spot that often has a line out the door. Farther down are clothing boutiques; 
Salt & Straw’s delectable ice cream from Portland, at 829 E. Third St.; and the fun art and lifestyle store 
Poketo, at 820 E. Third St. On the west side of the building housing Poketo, look up. Standing watch over the street is Shepard Fairey’s Peace Goddess, painted in 2009. Fairey is best known as the artist behind the “Hope” poster from Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Continue along East Third Street until you come upon the 900 block, where on the north side sits a large building with a handful of entrances to 
Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, a complex that holds art galleries, murals, an art-book store, a restaurant, a public garden, and a courtyard. Enter through the large entryway in the middle, and explore. This is the sixth complex by Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, the first of which opened in Switzerland in 1992. Exit the way you entered.
Turn left, continuing your journey two short blocks east on East Third Street until you hit Santa Fe Avenue. Stop and take in the imposing building across the street. Look left. Look right. You’re in the middle of the quarter-mile-long, cruise ship–esque One Santa Fe, an apartment building with more than 400 units atop retail and businesses at the street level. “The design takes banality and stretches it like taffy in the direction of monumentality,” noted the architecture critic at the Los Angeles Times when it opened in 2014.
Turn right to head south on Santa Fe Avenue. A courtyard within One Santa Fe will soon be visible on the left. Restaurants, grocery stores, and other shopping fill the space. Behind it, but out of view, is a Metro rail maintenance and storage yard that could be home to a new train station serving the Arts District. To your right is SCI-Arc, short for Southern California Institute of Architecture. Like its neighbor across the street, the college is a quarter mile long but was built more than 100 years ago as a freight house for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.
Mural at the corner of Fifth and Colyton
Continue south along Santa Fe as it goes under the ramp to the Fourth Street Viaduct and bends right, becoming Mateo Street. Take Mateo as it again bends, this time to the left, and continue south. This sleepier, more anonymous section gives a sense of what the Arts District used to be more like throughout.
After crossing Palmetto Street, an open-air shopping center named At Mateo aspires to become the focal point of the neighborhood. Under construction as of this writing, the complex, designed to fit the Arts District industrial aesthetic, is slated to open in late 2016. Across the street are numerous spots for eating and drinking: the vegetarian 
Zinc Cafe and its Bar Mateo, complete with one of the best alfresco spaces in the city; the popular San Francisco import 
Blue Bottle Coffee; and 
The Spirit Guild, a rare-vodka-and-gin tasting room.
At Sixth Street, turn right. Behind you is the site of the historic Sixth Street Viaduct, a former architectural gem that graced movies and TV throughout decades of pop culture. Unfortunately, the concrete employed when it was built in the 1930s deteriorated, leading to irreparable cracks. A replacement is expected to be completed in 2019.
Another mural between Second and Third
Continue west on Sixth Street, where you’ll pass LA Boulders, one of the city’s popular climbing gyms. In the distance, the industrial roots of the neighborhood persist: a lengthy warehouse with long driveways for trucks to back into.
Turn left onto Mill Street and head to the aptly named Industrial Street.
Turn left on Industrial, where you’ll enter another chic area of the district. At 1820 Industrial is 
Daily Dose Cafe, home to a cozy outdoor dining space in a narrow, curving alley with lights strung above. At 1850 Industrial is 
Church & State, often hailed as one of the best French restaurants in town. The eatery is located within the historic Biscuit Company Lofts (originally built for Nabisco) and across from the Toy Factory Lofts, both constructed in the mid-1920s.
Turn left here at Mateo, heading north back to Sixth Street, and retrace your steps to Palmetto, where you’ll turn left.
Turn right at Hewitt Street. At 525 Hewitt St. is the LA Cleantech Incubator, a city-funded nonprofit to “accelerate development of cleantech start-ups.” Companies that call it home run the gamut, from apps to lower your energy bills to solar tracking to indoor farming.
Continue down Hewitt to Fifth Street and turn left. On the corner, at 451 S. Hewitt St. is a location of the popular and expanding Urth Caffé chain.
Continue west on Fifth for one block, and turn right on Colyton.
On the corner, at 453 Colyton St., is the Arts District Co-op, a large, open warehouse space with an eclectic mix of businesses selling crafts and handpicked items. Continue north to Fourth Street.
Turn right on Fourth Street. Immediately on your right is the 
A+D Museum, for architecture and design. This small museum has an especially focused mission: to exhibit progressive architecture and design in Los Angeles. To see the rotating exhibits, general admission is $7.
When Fourth Street hits Hewitt and Fourth Place, make a U-turn onto Fourth Place to head west. In a block, you’ll again run into Hewitt. Turn right.
To your right is the entrance of 
Art Share L.A. This nonprofit live/work space for up to 30 artists holds events and gallery viewing on its first floor. Stop in to check out the current gallery show and pick up a calendar of upcoming events. Continue northeast on Hewitt and turn left at Traction.
Now you’re in for a treat. At 714 Traction Ave. is 
The Pie Hole, one of the best spots in the city for pie. It’s worth saving the appetite you’ve built up for this family-run spot that features a rotating selection of creative sweet and savory pies, such as Earl Grey tea, strawberry lavender, mac and cheese, and curry.
Continue along Traction, this time behind Wurstküche, until you arrive at Alameda. Turn right and walk one block to where you started.
Downtown Arts District
Points of Interest
Angel City Brewery 216 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; 213-622-1261, angelcitybrewery.com
Wurstküche 800 E. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90013; 213-687-4444, wurstkuche.com
Salt & Straw 829 E. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90013; 213-988-7070, saltandstraw.com
Poketo 802 E. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90013; 213-537-0751, poketo.com
Hauser Wirth & Schimmel 901 E. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90013; 213-943-1620, hauserworthschimmel.com
Zinc Cafe/Bar Mateo 580 Mateo St., Los Angeles, CA 90013; 323-825-5381, zinccafe.com
Blue Bottle Coffee 582 Mateo St., Los Angeles, CA 90013; bluebottlecoffee.com/cafes/arts-district
The Spirit Guild 586 Mateo St., Los Angeles, CA 90013; 213-613-2326, thespiritguild.com
Daily Dose Cafe 1820 Industrial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021; 844-932-4593, dailydosela.com
Church & State 1850 Industrial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021; 213-405-1434, churchandstatebistro.com
A+D Museum 900 E. Fourth St., Los Angeles, CA 90013; 213-346-9734, aplusd.org
Art Share L.A. 801 E. Fourth Place, Los Angeles, CA 90013; 213-687-4278, artsharela.org
The Pie Hole 714 Traction Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90013; 213-537-0115, thepieholela.com
