A Little Weekend Local Get-away

Our Saturdays are all about exploration. Specially in the new normal under the current pandemic, we will have to get out to nature as much as we can to take good care of our wellness physically and mentally. Since locked-down in March, we haven’t been to DTLA. We decided to have a morning hiking in Historic State Park and go to visit new Proper Hotel in DTLA. Here is our little weekend journey.

State Historic Park

Saturday’s visit to SHP is our first time . We were really amazed by this 34-acres park , where rail-yards thrilled long time ago. Often referred to as “Central Park of Los Angeles,” the park occupies acreage just north of Chinatown between the L.A. River and the Elysian Hills, where pobladores who journeyed from Mexico and later arrivals from Europe, Asia and the United States drew their water. It was where, beginning in 1876, a generation of migrants from points east ended their rail sojourns to California, disembarking at the Southern Pacific Railroad’s River Station. With the dawn of the 20th century, it was where the town became an industrial city as the depot, restaurants and hotels gave way to rail yards and switching stations. It became known as the Cornfields, although there was scant evidence that corn ever grew there. You can click here to read more.

The public arts in the park are just mind-blowing. One of the public art inside the park includes this “Origins,” in above picture, a sculptural piece by Debra Scaccothat was inspired by the nearby L.A. River. “When I conceived the piece, it was particularly with this patch of land in mind because it really is about the changing courses of the river and the changing courses of this site, the original Zanja Madre,” says Scacco. “There’s a particular relevance to it and I’m delighted that it’s going to live here.” The material he used here is mirrored steel to reflect water rippling.

The general park view is quite open and they built several floating steel-structured bridges for you to take views in different angles. Walking through the park is pleasant and interesting. There are many things to explore. The park will be such a convenient get-away for people who live in the city.

Here are some plants and flowers we encountered:

Coffeberry: Once known as “Rhamnus Californica,” but now classified as “Frangula Californica,” the Coffeeberry is a flowering buckthorn plant that produces greenish petals and a juicy fruit that will appear green black or red. Though you could, theoretically, turn the berries into a tasty jam, it’s advisable that you not pick any of the fruit from the plants you see in the park.

San Diego County Viguiera: The “Bahiopsis Laciniata,” or Sand Diego County Sunflower, is a desert plant known to inhabit mountains and other dry ecosystems. This hearty shrub can reach over three feet in height, with beautiful yellow flowers almost an inch in length. The plant also produces a small fruit known as an achene.

You can click hereto learn more about the plants in the park

From this gorgeous modern bridge, we were able to see the skyline of DTLA.

Unfortunately, Proper Hotel in DTLA has not opened yet, so we decided to take a stop in nearby China Town.

China Town

Located in Downtown L.A. near the city’s civic and cultural center, Chinatown is one of L.A.’s most popular tourist destinations. Chinatown celebrated its grand opening in June 1938 as “New Chinatown” – L.A.’s first Chinatown was razed to make way for Union Station. The first such neighborhood in the U.S. that was owned by Chinese residents, Chinatown is experiencing a modern day renaissance with the hottest new restaurants to art galleries , …etc.

It is always interesting to come here to see some traditional Chinese buildings and enjoy some Cantonese street food.

Well, before the Covid-19, it was really hard to find parking here. But we were easily able to find street parking this time and really took our time to stroll around.

This poultry shop is quite interesting and still keeps business busy. We got a fresh brown chicken here for cooking Chinese Jensen chicken soup, some chicken breast and chicken legs for our Sunday BBQ. They were fresh just from the shop’s backyard chicken coop. If you are also into the thing from-farm-to-table, here the information about this poultry shop:

Shanglee Poultry

711 N. Spring St

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Our next stop is a Cantonese pastries shop. They serve all different kings of Bao and Dim-sum. Concerned with high sugar contents, we decided to got 10 ShaoMai–kind of little pork or beef dumplings. They were just super delicious.

What do you think these little cute Buddha cookies? Well, we strongly recommend this pastry shop and here is the info:

Long’ Family Pastries. Inc

715 N. Spring St

Los Angeles CA 90012

Just around the corner, we found two of LA’s most popular seafood and Dim Sum restaurants—CBS and ABC. Their dining rooms keep close and only take to-go now. But those food are super yummy! You can check out their menus by clicking here and here