Arts District

The Arts District sits on the east edge of downtown, between Alameda Street and the Los Angeles River, and it's mostly early 20th century warehouses and factories. Artists started moving into the empty buildings in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and street artists have since turned the walls into canvases. Treat it as a walk rather than a single stop. The murals are outside, and they're the point.

What's Worth Seeing

The neighborhood's own group calls its murals an outdoor collection. Weekend Sherpa has a 2.5-mile walking route along Traction Avenue, Mateo Street, 7th Street and 3rd Street. It isn't new and murals get replaced, so use it as a route and not as a checklist. Joel Bloom Square, the triangle at Third, Traction and Rose, is named for the man remembered as the district's unofficial mayor.

Hauser and Wirth is a free gallery in the old Globe Mills flour mill at 901 E 3rd St. When it was restored, a street art historian identified the graffiti murals covering the buildings, and many were kept and restored. There's also a public garden and an open courtyard. Manuela, the restaurant in the same complex, grows produce in its garden and keeps chickens for eggs.

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, at 1717 E 7th St, is always free. The Southern California Institute of Architecture has been in the old Santa Fe Freight Depot since 2001, and the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

How to Get There

Metro's Little Tokyo/Arts District station, on the A and E lines, is on 1st Street between Central Avenue and Alameda Street, at the north edge of the neighborhood.

To drive, ICA LA's directions use the 5 and 101 at Seventh Street, or the 10 at Santa Fe Avenue. Weekend Sherpa's walk starts with street parking near Arts District Brewing on Traction Avenue. Street and lot parking is limited around 7th Street, and ICA LA's free lot is only for its own visitors, so read the signs.

Nearby

• Little Tokyo is just west across Alameda Street. Its Japanese American National Museum is closed for renovation and plans to reopen January 23, 2027.
• The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, a former police car warehouse renovated by Frank Gehry, is at 152 N Central Ave. It closes between shows, so check before you go.
• The Sixth Street Viaduct connects the Arts District to Boyle Heights across the Los Angeles River. The new bridge opened in 2022.