Santa Monica Los Angeles

(Travel Period : 8th July - 14th July 2009)

Pictures taken in LA are all copyrighted by Danbo & WCChen

Santa Monica Beach - situated beneath the palisades and downtown Santa Monica. Perched over the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, "The Pier" feels more like a carnival than a place to shop. This southwest-facing beach is home to Pacific Park amusement park and is near the Third Street Promenade.

The beautiful Santa Monica Pier offers a variety of entertainment like biking, surfing, skating, volleyball, swimming and etc. Also dining and shopping experiences, including the thrill rides of Pacific Park - with a roller coaster, ferris wheel, merry-go-round and arcade.
As we stroll the planks of the Pier, there are lively street performers-- from musicians to artists. The guy who performed that evening, I would certainly marry his angelic voice! ... even without looking at his face =p Jeezzz . . . His voice . . . Gawttt *drool*
So far, the best sunset along the California coast. The color of the sky in these pictures are all different if you notice'em - with different cameras and also different time and of course I love those with sunset as background.

My California tour ended here, Santa Monica was our last day. My regrets for not visiting Malibu Beach, San Francisco and Grand Canyon. I will definitely-definitely visit these 3 places if I had a chance to fly to the states again. The sooner the better =p
Last but not least, we really had the best companionship here in Los Angeles throughout our 2 months trip around states and we really do miss them - had a REAL nice trip with these 3 cuckoos!

Next post up Las Vegas, Nevada. You will definitely wanna see this coming post XD Stay tuned!

Downtown Los Angeles

(Travel Period : 8th July - 14th July 2009)

Pictures taken in LA are all copyrighted by Danbo & WCChen

Union Station - is considered to be "The last of America's great rail stations." Located in Downtown Los Angeles on 800 N. Alameda Street. Union Station is the "heart" of Metrolink's operations, acting as the major hub for the system and providing connections between six of Metrolink's seven lines. The exterior is a successful merging of Spanish Mission, Moorish, and Streamline Modern Styles. This station is often used as a movie location.

Chinatown Los Angeles - It was originally located less than a mile from its current location where Union Station is located. Chinatown was designed by Hollywood film set designers and a "Chinese" movie prop was subsequently donated by the legendary film director to give Chinatown an exotic atmosphere. That is why L.A. Chinatown differ from Chinatown in any other cities - because of its "design-on-purpose", it generally does not have the activity of Chinatowns in San Francisco or New York City, BUT it still attracts visitors from throughout the Los Angeles area. However, there are many businesses in Chinatown that generally cater mainly to the local community rather than the tourism economy. And the movie Rush Hour by Jackie Chan was filmed here XD
Walt Disney Concert Hall - also located at Downtown Los Angeles, most of the building's exterior was designed with stainless steel given a matte finish, the rooms and amphitheater were designed with highly polished mirror-like panels. The reflective qualities of the surface were amplified by the concave sections of the room walls. This unique and special design makes the concert hall now has become one of the tourist spot, however reading from the news it says that some residents of the neighboring condominiums suffered glare caused by sunlight that was reflected off these surfaces and concentrated in a manner similar to a parabolic mirror. The resulting heat made some rooms of nearby condominiums unbearably warm, caused the air-conditioning costs of these residents to skyrocket and created hot spots on adjacent sidewalks. Thus to prevent these, the building's surfaces were dulled by lightly sanding the panels to eliminate unwanted glare. But to me, it looks the same - a nice and unique building and I still see the "glare" LOL
Beverly Hills - is surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, albeit the small Northeast corner shares the boundary along Doheny Drive with West Hollywood another city known for the Sunset Strip that includes Beverly Hills on the famous Sunset Boulevard. In spite of the city's name, most residents live in the "flats" of Beverly Hills, a relatively flat land that includes all of Beverly Hills south of Sunset Blvd. The homes in the hills north of Sunset Boulevard have a much higher value than average homes in the rest of Beverly Hills, and the most expensive homes in Beverly Hills are all in the hills (obviously =p).
Rodeo Drive or better known as Via de Rodeo is a shopping district famous for designer labels and haute couture fashion. The name generally refers to a three-block long stretch of boutiques and shops but the street stretches further north and south. Oh yeah, it is pronounced as "Ro-DAY-oh".Personally I really love this place. But you definitely prefer dressing yourself up even you have no intention maxing your credit card haha! Lastly, here the Spanish Steps at Rodeo Drive. And I really love the pictures taken here.

You can see the difference between a full-frame camera and a normal DSLR with or without a tripod, I am loving the pictures and again I did not edit a shit. Credit to the photographers XD If you love the pictures, view'em in this blog again and again but do not copy them because its copyrighted, people! Keke =p

Next post up Santa Monica Los Angeles.

HIATUS