By Jonathan Riggs

...at least that’s the thinking behind the gay-led movement to reclaim—and reinvent—downtown Los Angeles.

Like so many of its residents, downtown Los Angeles is getting a facelift. More and more people are seeing downtown as a great opportunity—especially gay men and women.

For Justin Riley and Alberto Ortega, moving there was a chance to live the life they’d always wanted to.

“We could not be happier,” Riley says. “This is even more than what we were expecting when we decided to move down here. And each day, it’s so exciting to be part of this new downtown community.”

“I fell in love with the architecture...”

Recent L.A. transplant Brian Pope knows that convincing people to visit him in downtown is a challenge.

“Guests have to almost be sort of bribed to come here,” he laughs. “But people are getting better about it without being quite so terrified.”

Pope himself is no stranger to braving big changes—he moved here from San Francisco to continue his ongoing professional adventures in visual media.

“I’m reinventing myself,” he says. “I tend to change careers every few years—start from scratch, learn something new and hopefully do well with it.”

Although it was his adventurous spirit that led him to explore our fair city, it was the unique appeal of downtown that convinced him to stay.

“I fell in love with the architecture,” he says. “I saw downtown and thought this would be a great opportunity.”

He decided to rent two penthouses to live and work, and it wasn’t long before he knew that he made the right choice—and a surprisingly popular one. There are five major apartment buildings in his area, he says proudly, full of people who are eager to come together to contribute to the next chapter of downtown L.A. as it’s being written instead of hiding out in their own “little islands” throughout the metropolis.

“I’ve always figured that L.A. will eventually stop growing outwards and start growing up more by forcing people of different cultures and backgrounds to live on top of each other,” he says. “When they do, that’s when a real urban culture takes off.”

Even though he and his gay friends still feel like West Hollywood is the best place to enjoy themselves (and there’s that aforementioned slight reluctance from first time guests), they’re always won over by what his neighborhood has to offer.

“Once they get here,” he says, “people love it.”

“...the only place in L.A. proper that still has room to grow...”

Perspective away from L.A. helped Chris Bale appreciate all the changes to the City of Angels that most of us take for granted.

“When you live somewhere, you don’t really see all the ways things are improving,” he says, “but L.A. is an awesome, vibrant city that is growing and will continue to do so.”

A former resident of the city, Bale moved to Phoenix and opened Retail Laboratory, a men’s and women’s clothing boutique. To expand on its success, he’s returning to L.A. to open another boutique, this time downtown.

“It seems to me to be the only place in L.A. proper that still has room to grow,” he says.

It was on a business trip here that Bale made the decision to come back, when he walked by the Chapman building and had an overwhelming feeling that it was where he needed to be. The price helped, too—it was the only place he could afford property in the frightening Southern California real estate market.

While mocking L.A.’s lack of cultural character is practically a national pastime, Bale thinks there’s a better way to look at it.

“What makes L.A. awesome is that it’s a completely different place than NYC. In 25 years, NYC is basically going to look the same,” he says, “but downtown L.A. won’t. It has the potential and room and energy to explode and change.”

A big part of that energy comes from the new blood flooding into a more affordable downtown, where many of Bale’s neighbors are young singles and couples buying their first place. Another big part is the growing influx—and influence—of gays.

“We [gays] go anywhere we see potential before other people will,” he says. “We know a good thing when we see it.”

“We like making things happen. We like being the first.”

Aaron Carter and Thomas Carlyle’s decision to move from Phoenix to downtown L.A. dovetails with Bale’s. Carlyle owns painting company Blee Studio, and Carter is his vice president of marketing. Carter accompanied Bale on a buying trip here, which planted the seed for him and his boyfriend to move here themselves.

“We like to go into places that are being revitalized and coming into their own, and downtown L.A. has those same prospects,” Carter says. “We like making things happen. We like being the first.”

The couple knows about big city living—they’ve lived in multiple cities across the United States, including New York—and they did their research before committing to downtown. Lots of factors contributed—the skyline, the theater district, downtown’s cameo during the climactic Transformers battle scene—and so Carter and Carlyle took a walking tour through downtown to talk to the people who live and work there. What they found is that many people shared their desire to help write downtown’s story.

“Downtown L.A. is prime for building its own community identity. What the fabric of that identity is has yet to be discovered,” Carter says. “I think it’s going to be young, creative, well-traveled and excited about what’s to come.”

It’s an ongoing process, and Carter admits there are developments he’d like to see in downtown: new stores and services and increased avenues for pedestrians. He and Carlyle are looking forward to helping sculpt its future—something he says is true of many gay men and women.

“If you look across the U.S., any major city that’s a true cultural heartbeat will have a huge gay population,” he says. “We’re leaving our mark.”

Making the decision to move downtown isn’t one that should be taken lightly, and Riley and Ortega did a lot of research beforehand on multiple factors: parking, pet-friendliness, commuting. There are still obstacles to be faced, but there are ample rewards as well.

So while living downtown is a work in progress, for the gay men and women pioneers who are braving it themselves, it can be more than a challenge—it can be an adventure.

“In general, gay men and women are pretty creative,” Riley says. “They have a blank canvas with downtown.”

A Day in the Life

Want to experience the ultimate downtown day? Here’s a jam-packed schedule with the must-sees and local favorites to give you the lay of the land.

8 A.M.: Morning coffee at the vintage-meets-industrial Lost Souls Cafe.

9:30 A.M.: Breakfast at the bright and bustling Adra’s Cafe for one of their countless egg combinations.

11 A.M.: Art gawking at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), with its collection of more than 500 pieces including the debut solo show of sculptor Matthew Monahan.

1:30 P.M.: Step up to the counter, and back in time, at Philippe the Original—the iconic downtown restaurant that has been serving up the best French dip sandwiches since 1908.

2:30 P.M.: International shopping—via the 25 cent downtown shuttles—for Mexican home décor along Olvera Street, art in Little Toyko and browsing for brick-a-brack in Chinatown.

4:30 P.M.: Kick up your feet and enjoy some afternoon sun in Grand Hope Park; a rare find tucked away amongst the tall buildings of downtown.

6 P.M.: Exotic cocktails at the Polynesian-themed Point Moorea, the fun and original tiki bar in the Wilshire Grand.

7:30 P.M.: Mid-priced Mediterranean cuisine at the swanky J Restaurant & Lounge (try to score patio seating).

9 P.M.: Catch a blockbuster with a cool indie vibe within the confines of a downtown historic theater, including the Laemmle’s Grand hidden below the Marriot hotel.

11 P.M.: Night cap at The Edison, L.A.’s original private power plant-turned boiler room-turned ultra chic bar. Dress code is strictly enforced, so throw on your best. —Jeff Katz

Ask the Experts

Travel guides can only get you so far, so we asked a few Angelenos who work and play downtown for their personal recommendations on what to see and do.

“I absolutely love Seven Grand!” says Kate Regan, media rep for the MOCA and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. “It is a great place to hang out and it is known for its incredible whisky. Bar 107 is kitschy and good, too. They have a good DJ on Thursdays and Saturdays and live music on other nights.” Seven Grand, 515 W. Seventh St. (213) 817-5321. www.sevengrand.la. Bar 107, 107 W. Fourth St. (213) 625-7382.

Theater-goers with the Center Theatre Group put R-23 high on their list of downtown eateries. Why? Well, besides the huge menu of authentic Japanese seafood cuisine, R-23 also doubles as an art gallery (including Frank Gehry-designed cardboard chairs), making for a sensory-satisfying lunch or dinner. R-23, 923 E. Second St. (213) 687-7278. www.r23.com.

“Shabu Shabu House is great when you feel like having some meat, but don’t want a big burger,” says Gary Murphy from the L.A. Opera, who frequents the eatery during lunchtime cravings. “You sit at the bar and you have a bowl of rice, thin slices of beef, veggies, two sauces and boiling water and you compose your own lunch. It’s a Japanese culinary experience.” Shabu Shabu House, 127 Japanese Village Plaza Mall. (213) 680-3890.

“The MacArthur Park concert is of particular interest,” says Linda Chiavaroli of the L.A. Arts Comission. “MacArthur Park just built a new outdoor space, Levitt Pavilion ... It’s part of the renaissance that is starting to take place in the MacArthur Park area and the cultural events that they are trying to bring in there. They have a history of being A-1 presenters and [the musical groups] are excellent musicians.” Catch the upcoming concert in the park on Aug. 24 featuring the Mariachi Divas. —Jeff Katz