Catch a train at UNION STATION, the last grand station in America
If Union Station isn’t the most dramatic public building in Los Angeles, it’s surely a finalist. It’s the last of the grand American train stations, a marriage of Mission Revival and Streamline Moderne styles that has been a landmark since its 1939 opening. It’s also a point of convergence for Amtrak, local lightrail service and buses. Oh, and it hosted the Oscars in 2021.
Take a good look at the high ceiling, the grand arches and the 286 built-in mahogany chairs (for ticket-bearing travelers) in the waiting area. Whether you’re going to step aboard or not, you can get lunch, dinner or a drink at the cavernous Homebound Brewhaus (where a Fred Harvey restaurant stood in the old days) or you can hope your timing is right for Traxx Restaurant (11 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays only). The Traxx bar, across the hall, is open until midnight daily.
BONUS TIP: Across Alameda Street stands Olvera Street, a mostly Mexican marketplace created in the 1930s to boost tourism on one of the city’s oldest streets. Results: mixed.
Walkways are lined with souvenir vendors, eateries and a handful of shops, including the popular Olverita’s Village. Long before, the city of Los Angeles was founded here in 1781, when 44 newcomers of Native American, African and European heritage arrived by foot from what is now Mexico, joining the indigenous Chumash and Tongva tribes here already. Olvera Street is part of the El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument, which includes LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes and the Chinese American Museum.