My brilliant friend Melissa is visiting Los Angles and she had this wonderful idea that we would take a free tour of the Disney Concert Hall, which I had no idea existed! (The free tours part…I knew the Concert Hall was there.)

We had a docent who was very knowledgable about the history of all the buildings. We went through the Mark Taper Forum, Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Ahmanson Theatre. I did not realize there were special founder’s rooms in these buildings (and boy were they nice!).

One incredible thing I learned was that you can take public stairs on the outside of Disney Concert Hall up to the top and just walk around the top of the building. There’s even a small public park up there! It’s serene and I think a somewhat well-kept secret, and it’s totally gonna be my new hang out place for whenever I want to read or write outside of my awesome apartment.

Afterward, while aimlessly walking around Los Angeles, Melissa and I stumbled upon this thing called “Angel’s Flight” (which a tourist in our earlier tour group had actually mentioned). It doesn’t do much besides take you up and down a big hill for a quarter, but it was old-timey and cute. (And it’s the shortest railway in the world.)

I’m also amazed at the number of fountains I saw in downtown LA. It seemed like everywhere I looked I saw the words “Water Court.” I wonder how much water is used daily in downtown LA on fountains alone.

Melissa had found this great idea for a day off a list of 100 free things to do in LA. She definitely inspired me to take a look at that list for some future adventures right here in the city in which I live!

Tagged: Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles, Disney Concert Hall, Angel's Flight, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion