Tourist things you can skip in Southern California

T and I ventured out to Olvera Street and Union Station last week because we had heard good things. 

Olvera Street is "the birthplace of Los Angeles."  This is probably true.  It is also described as "a colorful village featuring 27 historic buildings with a traditional Mexican style plaza."  This is so not true.  There are probably historic buildings, but you can't see any of them because of the souvenir shops crowded in front of them.  The plaza was abandoned except for vagrants.

People had told us to buy taquitos from a street cart, but we didn't because they looked SO unsanitary.

Olvera Street is like New York's Chinatown except Olvera Street is only one block and the stuff being sold isn't as good.  It is kitschy and full of interesting (ie: gross) smells just like New York's Chinatown, though.  We even (unknowingly) went on the Day of the Dead and the only thing that appeared to be different was that some people had their faces painted. 

Union Station is just across the way from Olvera Street. 

 The architecture inside and out is pretty cool, but they had the part I wanted to explore permanently blocked off.  The gardens and outdoor fountain were pretty nice, but not exceptional.  It is pretty much just a regular train (subway / bus) station.   Union Station is nice, but I wouldn't make it a destination - unless there was a fantastic cocktail party in that blocked off section!

The regular section:

The blocked off section:

We left the car, saw everything in both places, picked up the original french dipped sandwich at Philippe's (also over rated), and got back in the car all in 50 minutes.  And we didn't park close.  I'm glad we went to all three places, and I'm glad we don't have to go back.