Downtown LA

Neighborhoods: DTLA, Little Tokyo, Arts District, Chinatown, Koreatown

Fedora’s Foodie Favorites: Bestia, Redbird, Grand Central Market, Kazunori, Howlin’ Rays, Philippe the Original, Lao Tao, Hae Jang Chon Korean BBQ, Han Bat Sul Lung Tang, Manuela, Bavel, Wurstküche, Cafe Gratitude, Kapoor’s Akbar Indian

It’s called Downtown, but we all know LA doesn’t really have a central downtown. A city composed of almost 90 distinct neighborhoods, LA’s Downtown is a unique place of its own. Booming with food, commerce, creativity, high-rises, fashion, sports, and more, this is a place where you can hit Equinox in the morning, grab a fresh bouquet at the LA Flower Market, pick up fabric for your next DIY project in the Garment District, stop by your office at the U.S. Bank Tower, eat a slammin’ lunch at Grand Central Market, enjoy happy hour at Cole’s… You get the point. There is SO much to do here. That said, Downtown is also where you’ll see a glaring divide between the haves and the have-nots. The transient population is apparent and it’s not the cleanest of areas for kids or pooches. Don’t forget the traffic. Surrounded by freeways, this city center can be unpredictably congested even during the hours you don’t normally expect.

We hope we haven’t scared you away from Downtown. We say this with love because despite all this, Downtown is simply awesome. It’s packed with so much history, undergone through so many evolutions, and somehow still manages to be cool. It’s gritty, it’s real, and it’s LA. It’s a feeling that’s hard to explain until you’re there and can feel the power of the city drawing you in. So we’ll say one last thing: Downtown is great for the creative types and those who are explorers at heart who don’t mind a little grit. Probably not the best place if you’re looking to own a plot of land, raise a family, or start your victory (or vegetable) garden.

Lumped into the Downtown region we also have the neighboring areas of Chinatown and Koreatown. After years of integration in the city, these areas are a harmonious mix of ethnic identity and the American way of life. Food, by default, is ripping in these neighborhoods, so let’s talk housing. Chinatown has mostly single-family homes with some condos sprinkled in (but we’re increasingly seeing more apartments in development) and given its proximity to Downtown and Northeast LA, housing prices here have really skyrocketed. On the other hand, Koreatown has a good mix of apartments, condos, and single-family homes, so prices are attainable depending on what you’re looking for. In either area, you’re looking at dense urban pockets with great accessibility to multiple hotspots in the city.

Median Home Prices:

Image source: Owen Lystrup