What was once only a dream not too long ago is now reshaping downtown Los Angeles–culturally, physically, musically, economically, and communally.

On May 15^th, 2002, the LA City Council established the City Center Redevelopment Project Area, and with each new building completed, it’s becoming a major destination point for entertainment, sports, industry, hotel, office, music, television, recording arts and sciences, and commerce for greater Los Angeles.

The 879 acre City Center Project incorporates three major sub-areas within the downtown Los Angeles area:  the Historic Downtown, South Park, and the City Markets. 

The City Center is just one part of a multi-faceted master plan to revitalize, redevelop, and reclaim the vibrancy of Los Angeles’ urban landscape and life.

In fact, the downtown Los Angeles grand plan not only includes the City Center, but also Bunker Hill, Central Business District, Central Industrial, Chinatown, Council District 9 Corridors, and Little Tokyo areas, for a total of 5474 acres.

5,474 acres? That’s a lot of real estate!

Part of the City Center Project, the Staples Center Arena plays host to about 250 events per year, with at least 4,000,000 attendees.

It’s currently the home of two NBA teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers, and the National Hockey League team, the Los Angeles Kings.

Next to the Staples Center is the Los Angeles Convention Center, one of the largest convention centers in the United States with over 720,000 sq ft of exhibition space, 147,000 sq ft of meeting space, and a 299 seat theater.

I determined just how large it was after walking around for awhile.

Across the street from both the Staples Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center is the newest addition to these few city blocks:

LA Live

The Nokia Theatre, an indoor venue, was the first part of LA Live to be completed.

Below is the Nokia Plaza, a 40,000-square-foot open-air plaza, which serves as the main core for L.A. Live, which recently hosted LA’s Earth Hour.

An additional part of the total complex which was recently completed is the ESPN studios, which officially opened on April 6^th, 2009.

Around the corner is the Grammy Museum–which specializes in Grammy history.

The Grammy Walk of Fame is located on the sidewalks surrounding the building.

Under construction is the 54–story, 1,001 room Ritz-Carlton two-hotel hybrid, directly north of the Staples Center.

Being an advocate of Mass Transit, I took the Metro Rapid 728 bus both ways today.

It was smooth sailing.

My visit still has more to tell, but I thoroughly enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Staples Center and LA Live, and can’t wait to go back to watch an upcoming concert and Lakers Game.

Until then, I’ll be smiling knowing how many more years of fun I’ll be having while Travelin’ Local, and bringing my slice of paradise in Southern California to the wider world.