Last week’s trip was to Los Angeles, a three day visit to allow me to attend the press days for the Los Angeles Auto Show. Earlier in the year I attended a similar show in Detroit and thought it would be good to follow up that trip with another one. After all, a significant portion of my work is derived from automotive clients including aftermarket parts companies, magazines, and other businesses. Attending these types of shows allows me to keep up with a fast changing industry while stoking the media fires.

Aged Hotel, Tiny Room

My stay was in downtown Los Angeles at an aged, European-style hotel. Built a century or so ago, the room was tiny, the interior of the hotel old, and the amenities not quite average. Still, it offered to me the convenience I needed at a price that I could afford — this trip came out of my own marketing funds, I simply did not have the budget to splurge!

I had only been in California once previously, having landed and stayed in nearby Long Beach, the city immediately to L.A.’s south. Nearly five years to the day later I was back in the area, meeting with automotive professionals as opposed to the airline executives I had met with in 2003.

Scraping the Sky in L.A.

Downtown Los Angeles is going through a renaissance with tall buildings being erected and a new theatre section, L.A. Live, opening in early December — billed as Times Square West, it is expected to bring additional cultural attractions to the area.

The tall buildings were a surprise, especially considering the amount of seismic activity in the area. I learned that the U.S. Bank Tower at 73 stories (pictured) is the tallest U.S. building west of the Mississippi and after Taipei 101, the second tallest building in quake prone regions of the world. I noticed that several skyscrapers were still under construction when I walked back and forth between the hotel and the convention center, most of the tallest buildings appeared to have been erected within the past two decades.

Naturally, I decided to do a little investigating of this building phenomenon in a bid to understand how and why such tall buildings are allowed in L.A. I learned that rigid earthquake building standards were enacted following the San Fernando Valley earthquake in 1971. Those codes require buildings to withstand a temblor, allowing top floors to shift without toppling. On the other hand, many of the mid-rises and smaller buildings of an earlier era would probably collapse on themselves, just the sort of building design as my hotel!

An International Recipe

I only saw a portion of downtown L.A. while there, having no time even to venture to Santa Monica or hit other local attractions. But, I managed to do a foot tour of the area in search of a special gift for my wife (unfortunately, not found) and got a better grasp of that section of the city. In many ways downtown L.A. reminds me of Manhattan with street vendors and bodegas mixed in with fine jewelry stores, Macy’s, and other shops. One moment I felt as if I was in Mexico City, the next I was in Tokyo — a real eclectic mix of cultures.

The weather, of course, was fabulous and underscored the reason why so many people call Southern California home. The nearby Sylmar fire was 85% contained and the haze over the city was virtually gone the two full days I was there, with the sky about the brightest blue this side of the Carolinas. Warm temperatures (low 80s) and lower humidity were a delight, but the sun setting at 4:45 p.m. was a bit of a surprise especially since I didn’t leave the convention center until after 5:00 p.m. the first day.

No Stars, Just Cars

Still, compared to New York, L.A. has all of the trappings of the Big Apple (minus a decent mass transportation system) with good weather to boot. No, I’m not going to relocate to the area as housing prices and congestion are two major drags. The next time that I return I hope to take advantage of some of the local sites, perhaps venturing to Hollywood to see what all of the celebrity ogling is all about.

To my knowledge, no famous faces turned up at the auto show unlike in Detroit when presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and John McCain made an appearance. That’s okay, because I got to drive the Honda FCX Clarity while there and take in a number of new cars and concepts which were simply dazzling.