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Stop for lunch at Farmers Market ( ) next door, which opened in 1934 and serves everything from pizza slices and sandwiches to spicy Singapore noodles and empanadas. Carry on south down Fairfax until you get to The Grove ( ), an outdoor shopping mall with cobbled walkways, synchronised fountains and piped Frank Sinatra music. This is officially the grungier part of Melrose, home to trendy tattoo parlours, cool streetwear stores and the Melrose Trading Post flea market, where you can pick up vintage threads and second-hand furniture every Sunday. Within 10 minutes you’ll reach the crossroads with Fairfax Avenue, where the area known locally as Fairfax Village begins. Stop for a CBD-laced coffee at Alfred’s, before carrying on along Melrose, pausing to take a selfie at Paul Smith’s much-Instagrammed pink wall. Start off at the Pacific Design Center, a striking architectural marvel in blue, green and red that’s home to the local design community, and head east on Melrose Avenue, taking a slight detour to stroll down the tree-lined shopping haven that is Melrose Place, home to Oscar de la Renta, Balmain and Isabel Marant. Within a two-hour walking loop you can take in some smart shopping boutiques, bustling markets and top restaurants, as well as LA’s finest art museum. West Hollywoodīuzzy West Hollywood prides itself on having virtually everything on its doorstep, whether you are in the mood for vegan probiotic smoothies or swanky rooftop bars.
Unwalkable cities how to#
Here’s how to conquer the unwalkable city. True, I wouldn’t recommend trekking from Beverly Hills to Santa Monica, and certain neighbourhoods simply weren’t built for walking – including Bel Air, with its winding, pavement-free streets – but there are still plenty of pockets that can be navigated on foot.Īnd that much-derided public transport system? It’s not actually as horrendous as it first appears. But to say Los Angeles is a city that you can’t walk around isn’t strictly accurate. Native Angelenos spend hours a day in their automobiles, sitting in gridlocked traffic and reconstructing a less cheerfully technicolour version of the opening scene from the film La La Land.
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A behemoth that measures 44 miles across, it is a sprawling urban metropolis made up of several different cities within a city, with no discernible centre and a virtually non-existent public transport system. LA has long been touted as an unwalkable city. The first piece of advice anyone gives when you’re planning a trip to Los Angeles is “hire a car – and make sure it’s a big one”. Los Angeles expert Luciana Bellini reveals how to explore on foot in a metropolis said to be ‘unwalkable’