Sunday, April 17, 2011

Chinatown

Abraham and I plan to travel a lot this summer. First up on our list is San Francisco! While doing my research on the city's main attractions, I came across San Francisco's famous Chinatown. I remembered LA has one too and realized there's a lot of places in LA I haven't visited. So I thought, why not explore my own city first?

Main Plaza
Gifts

Built in 1938, Chinatown was once busy and full of people. Now, it's more like a ghost town. Abe and I pretty much had the whole place to ourselves, all the restaurants were closed or appeared to have gone out of business.

Hop Louie
Golden Dragon Entrance
Via Cafe

I love Chinese culture. The beautiful architecture, traditions, and (of course the food!) is what lures me into visiting places like these. I thought it was such a shame this place was empty. It's actually been featured in many movies such as Rush Hour, Freaky Friday, The Sweetest Thing and The Number 23. I plan to return, I want to see the Dragon Parade that's held in January for the Chinese New Year. (Below I provided a link, in case you're ever in the area.)

Dragon art
Main entrance
Lucky Cats stand

Chinatown Los Angeles

On a different subject, today I bought Adele's new album "21". I heard her for the first time on the radio the other day and was quite impressed by her unique style and vocals.

What are your thoughts on her new album? ♥

34 comments:

Jazzy E (Hivenn) said...

Beautiful colours. I'm not an adele fanatic but she is rather amazing.

Unknown said...

What a beautiful set of photos, good details :)

Fransisca Angela said...

Beautiful place and also pictures. the lanterns are so lovely.
in Indonesia we also have almost the same place like China Town. too bad it is not managed well.
the same problem like China Town eh?
Have a great day :)

Jane said...

LA's Chinatown looks really big and nice, it's a shame there were no people there! I love this set of pictures.

I listened to an Adele song for the first time the other day and her voice is really unique!

Miss A said...

Amazing, amazing, amazing pictures! I have been to the Chinatown in San Francisco, but I think I like the LA one more :D Too bad there were not many people there though.
I really like Adele's 'Someone Like You' :) Her voice is fantastic!

tasha faye said...

what beautiful photographs. i love chinatown. <3 i wish it was booming with people! and oh, how i love Adele. she never fails being the best and most wonderful. (: xx

IONA said...

love the colours and loveeeee your photos!
Agree about Adele, she has a truly beautiful voice, love 'someone like you' especially!! xxx

Felicia said...

Gorgeous photos! I've never been to LA's Chinatown. Need to go there soon.

I love Adele's voice. It's so powerful and filled with emotion.

Gabby said...

I pass by this place at least once a week.. ive never actually stopped to check it out. it looks beautiful!

Michael Valčić said...

I love all of the red in these images! Great shots!

Li + Belle said...

these are great shots. Wonderful. The colors are great.
Especially the 4 picture is amazing. Have you edited the photo special?

Julie Iliana said...

asflkwnerwe!@ I think I might have said this before but man, you take amazing pictures! I love the vibrant colors of this place and how you've captured the beauty of it! you make me wanna go over and visit :)

PS- I don't think I ever answered your question! (if my boyfriend likes my blog being about our relationship?) he doesn't mind, hehe, he likes it!

X

Laura Nelson said...

such beautiful photos! I would love to visit LA someday :) I have been hearing a lot about Adele, Im going to have to go check her out :)

Brenda said...

Jazzy E., Nicky, Fransisca, Jane, Miss A, Tasha, Iona, Felicia, Michael, Julie, Laura: Thank you for your kind words!

Gabby: Really? You should stop by next time you get a chance =)

Li + Belle: What I did was use the "normalize" button on my editing system (to make them a little brighter) and I used the "vintage effect" on the shot of the dragons :)

LCR said...

such a good idea to 'travel' your own city first, and the discoveries can be endless there too:) Lovely photos.

Anonymous said...

Adele's new Album is on my "To Buy"-List. I love her songs! Her first Album always reminds me of travelling to London with my best friend <3
Nice photographs by the way - but I didn't expect anything else ;)

Miss A said...

Hi again! I just wanted to say that, of course, you can mention my blog in your next post! You don't even have to ask :) Thank you so much for wanting to help me out! Aww, you're really sweet! :D

galatea. said...

love those chinese laterns! they look heavenly, amazing shots dear x

Gentri said...

Thanks so much for joining my blog!! :) It made my day! I'm so surprised that this China Town is so empty! It's really beautiful! I LOOOVE Adele's new album. So great. :)

Ser Vlad said...

Amazing pics. You've got "it". Absolutely! Wonderful decision for this summer. I wish you could come to Italy maybe! ;) LA and SF are two of mine dreams destinations. ;)

A Lost Feather said...

mmm chinatown in ny has some ammmmaazing food.. soup dumplings are my favorite- although iiii think they are pretty hard to eat (well, hard to eat gracefully)

yikes.. i hear ya on the hiking alone concern. scary close call with the rattlesnake! once my sister and i were on a hike really early in the season so it was very quiet and she got really out of breath and started to panic that she couldn't breathe. luckily i was able to calm her down, but there was no one around if it had gotten worse. yeah.. i definitely prefer a hiking buddy- especially on long quiet trails!

naomi said...

first photo is so pretty. beautiful colors.

0 said...

Thank you Brenda for your lovely comment!

Love your photos about China town.
KISS <3

paddle to shore said...

oh yes! Chinatown in San Francisco is a must! We went last year, and we had such a fantastic time; you're going to love it! These are beautiful pictures of Chinatown LA, we still haven't been. Maybe something for us to check out this weekend.

Kim
xox

LO' said...

Thanks for your comment ♥

Her new album is great !
And lovely pictures !

xxx
Laura

Anonymous said...

these photographs are awesome! i love the lanterns. nyc's chinatown looks nothing like this :( it's just dirty. wah.

xx
calla
www.SHINYUPSIDEDOWNCROSSES.BLOGSPOT.com

Brenda said...

LCR, Mary, galatea, Gentri, naomi, Anna, Lo, Calla: Thank you! =)

Ser Vlad: If I could go to Italy, I'd be there in a second! If you ever come to LA, I could show you around :-)

A Lost Feather: Sounds like we went through a similar experience. At least now we know to always take a hiking buddy!

Kimberly: Really? I can't wait! :) I would recommend stopping by Chinatown. Also, there's the restaurant Philippe's at the edge of Chinatown. They're famous for their French Dipped Sandwiches

Kathryn said...

I really like the vibrant colors and details of these pictures. Beautiful :)

Anonymous said...

la chinatown is so much more better than sydney's china town!!!!
it actually looks like u r in china!
=)

great photo sets dear especially the first one of california dreaming! def going into one of my fav photo files!

x

www.devious-studios.blogspot.com

k said...

wowww the pictures are so beautiful...i want to go there!

Unknown said...

Love these photos *_*

Cassidy said...

I adore Chinese culture! I haven't been to San Fransisco but I've been to L.A.'s Chinatown and I love it so much.

Ola said...

Pity that it's so empty now, I have never been to such a place...Great photos!

la stanza in fondo agli occhi said...

Hi! I like coming here to take a look, your photos are beautiful! You're doing a good job!