Downtown LA is ready for its close-up

It's 5 p.m. and already there's a crowd gathered around the alley entrance to the Edison, a 1920s-styled speak-easy on the edge of what was once Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.

An elegant, reservations-are-a-must lounge by night, the Edison nods to budget-conscious Angelenos on Thursday afternoons with a 35-cent happy-hour drink special in the refurbished, century-old power plant.

A hostess points the way to a flight of stairs leading to a basement boiler room furnished with sofas and antique tables scattered among hulking generators.

Silent movies flicker on two large screens as waiters dart about taking orders in the dim light. Tonight's special (one per customer) is the "Diablo," a tequila, lime juice and ginger-beer concoction that pairs well with the $5 Kobe beef slider and sweet-potato fries.

A few blocks away, gourmet food trucks, selling mac-and-cheese sandwiches and miniature whoopie pies, fill parking lots along Main Street for the monthly Art Walk.

Inside the newly expanded Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, a Hollywood winery pours chardonnay as people gather around a pile of chocolate-chip cookies stacked in the corner, wondering whether they're art or edible.

Welcome to downtown L.A., a once-deserted city center that's coming to life again after years of neglect. Credit the revival to a boom in city living, lively new arts and entertainment venues and events such as the Art Walk for drawing locals and visitors back to what was an elegant residential quarter and premier shopping and theater district in the early 1900s.

WHAT YOU'LL SEE

Grabbing attention are modern additions such as architect Frank Gehry's silvery Walt Disney Concert Hall, home to the L.A. Philharmonic and its popular young conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. But more awaits.

Open plazas, fountains and reflecting pools create a traffic-free pedestrian zone leading to the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, a landmark of swirling, stainless steel opened in 2003. Weekends are for relaxing over breakfast at new coffee bars and diners in the historic center.

"Lower downtown," as it's called, is reconnected once again to Bunker Hill by a one-minute, 25-cent ride on the orange and black Angels Flight, a funicular railway built in 1901 to carry residents to and from the shops and theaters, just two blocks away.

Angels Knoll, a park next door to Angels Flight, made famous in the 2009 film "(500) Days of Summer," is weeded in the summertime by a flock of goats brought in by the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. In various stages of restoration are Beaux Arts and Art Deco-style former bank buildings, theaters and hotels, abandoned when people left downtown for the suburbs after World War II.

WHAT TO DO

Get your bearings on a walking tour with the Los Angeles Conservancy. The group offers Saturday morning guided walks covering historic downtown, the Broadway theater district, the modern skyline, Union Station and other destinations. Advance reservations required ($10, 213-623-2489, laconservancy.org/tours).

Even if you can't afford a ticket to see Dudamel lead the L.A. Philharmonic, don't miss taking a free audio or guided tour of Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, who did the EMP Museum in Seattle (laphil.com/visit/tours).

Explore the shops, art galleries, restaurants and cafes in Gallery Row along Main and Spring Streets. Sidewalks are jammed during the Downtown Art Walk, noon to 9 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month. The area is quieter other times. Most of what's of interest is along Main and Spring between Second and Ninth streets and the blocks in between (downtownartwalk.com).

Use the Dash buses to explore museums in different neighborhoods. Recommended is the Grammy Museum at the L.A. LIVE complex ($12.95, grammymuseum.org) and the two downtown branches of the Museum of Contemporary Art, free on Thursday evenings ($10, moca.org). Through Aug. 8, the MoCA's Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo has "Art in the Streets," an exhibit on the history of graffiti and street art.

IF YOU GO

GETTING AROUND

Los Angeles is huge, but there's no need for a car downtown. It's possible to walk most everywhere, or get around on the Metro subway, light rail or 35-cent Dash minibuses (ladottransit.com) that stop at major downtown locations.

The FlyAway bus connects LAX with Union Station in downtown Los Angeles ($7, lawa.org).

WHERE TO STAY

Lots of downtown options, depending on your budget. Hotel choices range from the high-rise Ritz Carlton and Marriott near Staples Center to the restored Millennium Biltmore, adorned with painted ceilings, murals and classic photos from Academy Awards ceremonies in the 1930s and 1940s (from $199, millenniumhotels.com). Nearby, the Standard Hotel attracts a fashionable crowd to its rooftop bar carpeted with AstroTurf (from $176, standardhotels.com).

Working with a $100-a-night budget, I spotted a listing for "Urban Bed & Breakfast" on Airbnb.com, a global Internet network of accommodations offered by locals. The rental was a sunny guest room with private bathroom from L.A. native Guillermo Ortiz, in the apartments atop the Million Dollar Theatre.

WHERE TO EAT

Behind closed doors off a deserted lobby inside the faded Alexandria Hotel on Spring Street, Gorbals restaurant is a surprise. "Top Chef" winner (and Great Neck native) Ilan Hall, draws on his Scottish-Israeli roots to create tapas-style treats such as latkes with smoked applesauce (thegorbalsla.com).

Less chic is Clifton's Cafeteria on South Broadway. Clifton's opened in 1931, looking much like it does today -- a Disneyesque fantasy forest (cliftonscafeteria.com).

The Nickel Diner is decorated with old signs advertising 10-cent soup and 15-cent baked beans. It's known for its bacon-laced maple doughnuts (524 S. Main St., nickeldiner.com).

You'll find a speak-easy atmosphere with happy-hour drink and food specials 5-7 p.m. Wednesday-Friday at The Edison. There's live music -- and a dress code (108 W. Second St., edisondowntown.com).