11 Reasons DTLA Is LA's Hottest 'Hood

Downtown LA has consistently been ranked as LA’s hottest neighbourhood for a couple of years now. Even GQ called it “America’s Next Great City” and LA’s “Final Frontier”. So the hype is real. But each month it continues to out do itself, with no sign of slowing down. Here are 9 reasons why DTLA deserves all the hype:

• The Gays Are Moving In

• You know a neighbourhood is truly on the up-and-up once the gays move in. They swoop in after artists have established just enough cool, clean up the place, add designer elements, hipster amenities and jack up the rents in the process (ie. San Francisco’s Mission, New York’s Brooklyn). But no worries. DTLA actually has a gay scene now! And that’s what is most important. Mustache @ The Lash. Redline. Precinct. Mattachine Society. New Jalisco Inn. Check them out on your next DTLA bar-crawl.

• It’s Maintained a Degree of Diversity

• So the gays have moved in. So too have the hipsters who love them. And subsequently rents have risen and many original residents (largely people of colour and working class) have been priced out of the neighbourhood. We’ve heard the story time and time again. Yet this time DTLA has done a decent job at maintaining some diversity. Walk the streets and you’ll still see Latinos, African-Americans and Asians along with residents young and old, rich and poor. This diversity is helping to shape a neighbourhood of creative, open-minded, friendly and indeed happy people. All things to be excited about.

• Food. Food. Food.

• Nearly every day there is an opening downtown. Streets like Spring, Main, and Broadway are venerable restaurant rows. Little Tokyo has long been a hub of Japanese cuisine with its rotating sushi bars and ramen hot spots. Of course I can’t NOT mention the Arts District which is home to some of LA’s top, most booked restaurants. Even South Park is getting in on the action with places like Barcito, The Stocking Frame, The Briks and Tom’s Urban.

• The Broad

• The long awaited opening of the contemporary art museum, The Broad (pronounced Bro•de) has truly helped put DTLA on the map when it comes to art and architecture. I mean the place sold out tickets five months in advance. And rightfully so. It’s free to visit and absolutely beautiful and it’s collection is easily accessible even to the easily intimidated.

• A Juxtaposition of Old and New

• This may not last forever, but it’s something I truly enjoy about DTLA. You can visit a hot new restaurant in the halls of an old bank. Or grab a drink in an old theatre. In fact, Broadway is lined with beautiful old theatres that are being refurbished and reinstated as grand palaces to theatre and cinema or even restaurants, clubs and shops. You can visit LA’s oldest high-rise, the Bradbury Building, and DTLA’s newest park, Grand Park, all within a few minutes walk. A walk through the Jewelry District reveals ornately designed buildings in various states of disrepair and misuse just a few blocks away from beautifully repurposed lofts and warehouses.

• Breweries

• Having not always been a beer drinker this something that took me awhile to actually appreciate but as my tastes have matured, so too has the DTLA brew scene. No less than seven breweries call DTLA home and this number is already planned to rise. Angel City, the OG brewery, is an Art Deco beer palace while newcomer Iron Triangle is a brewing behemoth – set to match the output of Golden Road by 2016. With all the transit options in DTLA and its walkability, I see beer tours on the not so distant horizon.

• Location

• This may not exactly be a trait that makes it cool but it’s definitely a positive perk. DTLA is centrally located within LA. Easy access to the valley (not that you’d ever wanna go there), the Eastside, South LA, Hollywood, WeHo and even the Westside as it is a hub for the region’s freeway system. It’s also one of the city’s most walkable neighbourhoods thanks to it’s neat grid layout and abundance of food traffic, bars, restaurants and shops.

• Music Scene

• LA may not have always been an art destination or a hub of creativity quite like New York or London, but it has always had a thriving arts scene. This scene has matured and grown over the years, nurtured by the beating, pulsing heart of DTLA. The DIY scene is hot with new venues popping up seemingly overnight inside people’s own loft spaces, abandoned warehouses, super-cool rooftops, divey bars, hipster nightclubs and even empty parking lots. Every night there is some new band pushing some new boundary, not giving a fuck – which makes for some genuine creativity and a good time.

• It Has an Exciting Future

• Several megaprojects are planned or already under construction for DTLA, in addition to dozens of smaller projects and repurposed buildings. Metropolis is a gargantuan mixed user taking shape in the South Park district while the Wilshire Grand is a 1.7 million square foot mixed user in the Financial District soon to be come the tallest building west of the Mississippi. Metro has grand plans for the city’s iconic Union Station and the Arts District is growing, changing and evolving on a daily basis welcoming new galleries, cool bars, fantastic restaurants and cute cafes. No where else in LA is change coming at such a brisk pace – you can feel the energy and excitement in DTLA. It’s palpable and makes it LA’s coolest neighbourhood.

So forget the old argument that once something is anointed “hip”, it ceases being hip. Is part of cool being a half-secret, something only some people know about, or appreciate, like Nirvana before Smells Like Teen Spirit or Modest Mouse before The O.C.? No. It’s not. So get out and explore hip and cool DTLA!