A guide to walking, wining and dining around Downtown LA’s Arts District

Member applications are now live for Soho Warehouse, our new club for East LA’s creative community. Our third West Coast House is located on South Santa Fe Avenue in Downtown LA, and includes a rooftop pool, 48 bedrooms and club spaces for eating, drinking and meeting. There’s also a two-story Soho Active gym on the ground floor.

The former industrial warehouse building is nestled at the edge of the Arts District, a neighborhood Downtown LA-based member and writer Olivia Lopez lovingly refers to as 'the Berlin of Los Angeles.' 

‘I live in Gallery Row in the Historic Core of Downtown LA, where I've lived for the past five years,’ Lopez says, who just published her first book, Lust for Los Angeles. ‘Lust for Los Angeles is a love letter and cultural guide I wrote about navigating the city. I’d published a few guides and lists for friends who found difficulty dissecting the city and learned that there was this missing narrative about LA beyond the clichés of surfing and Hollywood.’

Here, Lopez shares some highlights from that narrative, focused on the neighborhood surrounding Soho Warehouse.

‘I call the Arts District the Berlin of Los Angeles,’ Lopez says. ‘From an unassuming eye, the Arts District seems like an industrial sprawl with not much happening, but for those in the know, it's a neighborhood packed with incredible concept stores, restaurants and galleries all hidden in plain view.’

Just north of Soho Warehouse is where you’ll find most of the action. Kick-off your walking tour a coffee from Maru Coffee across the street. ‘I come for the coffee and ambiance, inspired by minimalist, Japanese interiors,’ Lopez says.

Continue walking up towards Santa Fe, and you’ll find a cluster of some of the neighborhood’s best restaurants. ‘Bestia is still my favorite Italian restaurant in the city. It’s credited to kick-starting the buzz in the Arts District,’ she says. 

If you make a left on 7th Street, you’ll find the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, which moved downtown from Bergamot Station in 2015. ‘It’s one of my favorite contemporary art galleries in the neighborhood,’ she says. 
For lunch, consider heading a little further east. Pick up a meal, sweet treat or groceries from one of the vendors at Grand Central Market, or stop by Orsa & Winston to try their fusion of Asian and Italian flavors in a minimalist space.
Alternately, opt for more art with a meal at Manuela. ‘I love Hauser & Wirth, where you can easily plan your afternoon at the museum,’ She says. ‘They have a beautiful restaurant, a garden, a media center and an impeccably curated book shop.’

 

Right next to Hauser & Wirth, you’ll find another Arts District staple. ‘Alchemy Works was one of the first concept stores in the Arts District and was the first stomping ground in gathering the creative community in the area,’ she says. ‘I visited the shop so frequently over the past few years that naturally I got to know Lindsay and Raan, the owners of the shop. We hosted Lust for Los Angeles' LA book launch here and loved seeing the book live among the objects and items that make the store so unique – ranging from design objects sourced from all over the world next to local designers.’

‘On your way back to Soho Warehouse, it’s worth stopping at Dover Street Market,’ she says. Originally founded in London by Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, Dover Street Market has since opened retail spaces in Ginza (Tokyo), New York, Singapore, Beijing and most recently, this 15,000sq ft space in Los Angeles. 

Soho Warehouse will be part of your Every House membership, and you can be the first to stay in a bedroom by clicking here to book. If you know of anyone interested in Soho Warehouse membership, feel free to refer them to sohowarehouse.com/membership.