Downtown Live

All this "new downtown" buzz seems to amplify with each new upstart. Most recently, it was the state-of-the-art Nokia Theatre, which has been drawing big-ticket entertainment to the hood since its Eagles/Dixie Chicks grand opening a few months ago. When the adjacent LA Live nightlife mall finally opens its doors in October, downtown will be home to about a dozen new bars, restaurants and music venues...not to mention a bowling alley and a movie theater. And in the meantime, there's no telling how many new establishments will spring up and breathe fresh life into other parts of the neighborhood.

But if it's live entertainment you seek, you needn't hold your breath for all that jazz. The neighborhood had a pulse before Staples, Nokia and the Disney Concert Hall, and there's plenty of quality, affordable recreation to be found in downtown's many tucked-away nooks. From live music to stand-up to open mics to gong-show karaoke, it's all here—and for the most part, it's all pretty underrepresented on the web. Not entirely, though:

Downtown LA Scene
A sub-site of the LA Downtown News, which is appropriately the rag most atuned to downtown's live entertainment offerings. This is a neighborhood "things to do" site, featuring everything from restaurant reviews to event listings. Calendars are divided by category, including "Events," "Sports" and "Rock, Pop, Jazz" to name a few. Here you'll be able to find out about any conceivable thing happening Downtown on a given day. Event descriptions are generally brief, one-sentence snapshots. Good range of coverage, but shallow on content and not very navigable.

Metromix Los Angeles
Metromix is sort of like Citysearch with a more localized, hands-on touch. And while it is by no means a downtown-specific site, their offices are in the neighborhood (LA Times affiliate), and they have done some features on downtown bars and restaurants. As for entertainment coverage, Metromix does a good job of covering area goings-on, but aptly focuses most of its feature content on the higher-profile gigs and happenings in the LA area, most of which are not taking place downtown. Open mic night at downtown's Lost Souls Cafe, for example, wouldn't merit their attention. Same goes for LA Weekly, the LA Times and Citysearch.

Downtown Los Angeles Directory
Bills itself as "a simple directory to explore downtown Los Angeles." And simple, it is. This is basically just a categorized aggregator of external links to the websites of downtown restaurants, music venues, galleries, etc. No event listings and no original content such as reviews or features.

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