When you arrive to Los Angeles in your rental car make your first destination Bunker Hill. Located in the downtown area, Bunker Hill is a peak located near 3rd Street, directly east of the Harbor Freeway – an easy drive in your Los Angeles rental car! Today, the hill stands out from the rest of the L.A. basin due to the redevelopment that has occurred introducing many new skyscrapers to the area. The area has a rich history and has endured many changes throughout the years, and has now become synonymous with downtown Los Angeles.
Wealthy developer, Prudent Beaudry, bought the majority of Bunker Hill’s land. He could see the land offered excellent views of the Los Angeles Basin and the then-stunning Los Angeles River. Beaudry began building the peak with lavish Victorian houses, which became famous for the upper-class. Up until the end of World War I, Bunker Hill was kept as a wealthy area with low crime but during the 1920s and 1930s, this changed as criminals, and vandals began to fill the area. Anyone who could afford to leave proceeded to do so, fleeing towards Santa Monica and east towards Pasadena and launching the sprawling expansion of the greater Los Angeles area that continues to the present day. The Victorian houses fell into disrepair and the crime rate soared, making the area a slum.
The dismal state of Bunker Hill sparked a redevelopment of the area in 1955 whereby the top of Bunker Hill was cleared and flattended and then rebuilt with with some of the tallest skyscrapers in the region. By accomplishing this development, the city endured a modern and sophisticated image, which is the same feeling you will get today when travelling through the area in your Los Angeles rental car. Most of the skyscrapers you will see during your Los Angeles rental car drive were built in the 1980s and continued strong right up until the 1990s which saw the development of the US Bank Tower, which became the tallest building in California – it definitely won’t be hard to miss as you drive by in your Los Angeles rental car! While the redevelopment project has slowed down since the 1990s, growth in the area is planned to continue until 2015.
Leave your Los Angeles rental car behind and take a climb up Bunker Hill. Once you have made it up, you can sit in a wildly rocking stagecoach at the Wells Fargo Museum for a few minutes as you pause to take in the breathtaking view of the city!
Continue on and walk up the steps to California Plaza - this is a great place to stop for lunch. The space features an impressive fountain/waterfall that can be quickly converted into a stage for lunchtime or evening events and performances. If you are visiting during the summer, you can grab a quick bite to eat while enjoying a lunchtime concert on the Plaza.
If continue just north of the Plaza, you can visit the Museum of Contemporary Art which is the only museum in Los Angeles that is dedicated to the collecting and exhibition of art from the 1940s to the present. If you still haven't grabbed a bite to eat, Patinette Cafe at MOCA offers tasty soups, salads and other unique items.
These are just sampling of the things that await you on Bunker Hill!