Top: July 17, 2005 walk around 8th Street, west of downtown LA.
Bottom: April 16, 2005 LA River
Images from Walkinginla.com
Reseda Web links to a gruesome, yet fascinating blog: WalkinginLa.com contains maps and photos of four years worth of delightful strolls around such areas of the city as Vernon, Paramount, Compton and Downey among many, many others.
It’s what LA really looks like before the digital effects.
Here in Van Nuys 
Thank you for the description Wad. I once had to do something for acting class where I described riding the Gold Line from Union Station to Pasadena and I had similiar impressions to yours.
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I did my own tour of an older part of Los Angeles today. It was through Mt. Washington and Eagle Rock. I went to visit Galco’s, the former supermarket that is now famous for carrying nothing but sodas, candies and beer and wine.
You can see some of this on the Gold Line, and you can also see the residences along Line 83, which parallels the Gold Line on the west and then continues along York Boulevard.
There are a lot of old houses, and the area is working-class Latino, with some apartments but mostly simple bungalow homes.
Many of the homes don’t look to be in great shape, but there is still a vibrancy to the neighborhoods. People walk around, in a hilly area no less, and children play in front yards. Many houses have citrus trees.
The best thing about the northeast is that there is still a pulse. Families walk the streets, play in parks, and patronize the stores along Figueroa Street. Most of all, the houses do not look alike. They may have crusty exteriors and “poverty fences,” but they are in sharp contrast to the carbon-copy homes found in master-planned subdivisions. They all have unique elements and adaptations to the hilly terrain. It’s worth a look.
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