Bob and I went downtown last night to take some pictures. He just got a Canon Rebel XT and wanted to take it for a test drive. I love downtown L.A. because after 9:00pm it practically becomes a ghost town, as all the commuters retreat to the sprawl. Downtown ceased to function as the center of Los Angeles in the 50s, as the suburbs pushed toward the west, and eventually, the San Fernando Valley. As the upper class deserted, a low income immigrant population took over and converted the forgotten vestiges of wealth into swap meets, independently run shops and churches.

These days, gentrification is bringing affluence back into the area. A new Famima is opening next week, and overpriced lofts are pushing the homeless to the east side of downtown. But the new developments are leaving the lower and middle income families that have been living there for decades without many options. For developers, it makes more sense to sell trendy, well-designed living spaces to yuppies at inflated prices than trying to accommodate everyone with mixed-income housing. “Live Above Los Angeles!” says one banner enticing travelers on the 110 Freeway. Sky Lofts promises to “fulfill downtown Los Angeles’ destiny as a new urban metropolis” and demonstrates its meaning with a photograph of a sharply dressed businessman entering a luxury town car below the washed-out skyline.

Whatever the destiny of downtown, I love it as it is, with its post-apocalyptic emptiness at night. Here are a few pictures to help remember it that way.