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USA, MEXICO #3/6
1977
Los Angeles
USA and Mexico research trip
Los Angeles
Bonaventure Hotel
The Bonaventure Hotel was an unusual piece of architecture at the time, with four glass cylinders as its outline. I can’t believe I can stay at such a pop hotel! I immediately got a brochure.
Left: The Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, part of the Westin Hotel group.
Right: Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, also affiliated with the Westin Hotel.
Photo by author, 1977
Taken from a guest room at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, a Westin hotel.
Photo by author, 1977
Photo by author, 1977
Los Angeles is surprisingly lacking in public transportation for a big city.
If you don’t have a car, you can’t get anywhere.
As you can see in the photo below, the roadway has many lanes and is extremely wide. The buildings and roadways are well made, but the sidewalks are narrow in comparison, and there are few people walking on them.
It’s not a pedestrian-friendly city.
Photo by author, 1977
Taken from a room at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.
The retro building on the far right is the Los Angeles Public Library.
It is being buried by new high-rise buildings. In 1977.
Los Angeles public library Photo by author, 1977
Little Tokyo
A 15-minute walk from the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles was a Japan neighbourhood called little Tokyo. Los Angeles is a car-based society, which is not pedestrian friendly. It had to drive to nearby places. I found a Japanese-style restaurant facing the street and entered. The interior was dimly lit and not very comfortable. I don’t remember what kind of meal I ordered, but I do remember the lady who served me. She had married a US military employee in Japan shortly after the war, and as a so-called war bride, she accompanied her husband back to US and became a naturalized US citizen.
Little Tokyo Photo by author 1977
I found a restaurant with traditional Japanese architecture.
I wonder if it was one of those entertainment teppanyaki restaurants that were popular in America at the time?
Little Tokyo Photo by author 1977
Hollywood Santa Monica
A mansion on the uptown side near Hollywood. From Hollywood to Santa Monica Boulevard, large houses are lined up on spacious lots like this one. There are no walls or fences on the property boundaries. It seems like the area was safe at the time.
Photo by author, 1977
High-rise housing in the city
Photo by author, 1977
Pasadena, an Upscale residential area
Pasadena is also an upscale residential district adjacent to the northeast of Los Angeles. It is the central city of the San Gabriel valley and is surrounded by small mountains and is scenic.
Apartment 1
Photo by author, 1977
Apartment 2
Photo by author, 1977
Shopping Mall 1
Photo by author, 1977
Shopping Mall 2
Photo by author, 1977
Shopping Mall 3
Photo by author, 1977
Photo by author, 1977
A pleasant neighbourhood that spreads out at the foot of the mountains northeast of Los Angeles.
Photo by author, 1977
Photo by author, 1977
Los Angeles Chinatown
LA Chinatown on the north side of downtown Los Angeles, further north of Little Tokyo.
Photo by author, 1977
Photo by author, 1977
