Where is Sante Fe?

I left my apartment around 3:30 hoping to catch an early dinner at a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant up 8th street.  I had tried yesterday around 5 PM and it had already closed.  So rather than read the sign on the door I thought I'd try a little earlier. Eventually this method will work as there are only so many hours in the day.  On most of these adventures I don't have a plan on where I'm going, just a general direction.  There was a brush fire outside LA today, and this feels wrong, but I was hoping the smoke would make for a photographic sunset.  Hey, you have to have a cruel streak to be a good person photographer.

I stopped at the Central Market and grabbed a horrible {one item} Chinese buffet diner.  I just didn't want to be hungry while I walked around.  I found myself heading towards the bridge on First street hoping for something glorious as the sun was setting over the LA River.  It's quite a hike from my apartment, about 9 blocks.  As I was at the foot of the bridge a guy on a bicycle came up behind me and said something.  It startled me. After I came out from behind the bus bench he asked if I knew where Sante Fe street was. My proud local LA ego deflated when I realized I had no idea.  I've only been here about 3 months but I covered a lot of ground in that time.  How is it I can't point him in the direction of any street in DTLA.  He said he was looking for the Art District and I told him I thought that was back towards downtown, but I'm not 100% sure. He was pulling a cart with his bike and had a guitar in the trailer.

Now I know where Gallery Row is and that's where the Art Walk galleries are, but was that the Art District??  I apologized for not being hip enough to point him in the right direction and started out to get my award winning National Geographic photograph. As I started up the bridge I walked over a street just under the bridge and before the river.  There was a very small sign on a lamppost that read "Art District"  DAM IT!  I turned around to yell at my new friend but he was vapor.  DAM IT!  I just knew that street under my feet was Sante Fe.

The light over the LA River was bland, the smoke had all blown east.  On my way back I thought I'd head into the newly discovered neighborhood.  THIS IS WHAT I LOVE ABOUT LA.  It's full of discoveries.  The Art District was not full of galleries but very cool looking architecture and design firms and interesting (non-chain) eateries.  I had no idea this neighborhood even existed.  And best of all it has some of the best, high quality graffiti sprayed all over the place.  If it's not commissioned by the local businesses it's at the very least encouraged.  Glorious.  There was even a place called the "Pie Hole" that sells... wait for it... PIES!  Any area that has a piece of "Beware Hipsters" stenciled graffiti is a place I want to be.  Roughly the Art District is between 1st and 4th and Sante Fe and Alameda.

This all makes me wonder.... what else is out there that I need to accidentally find....

above was painted on the wall of an awesome looking sushi bistro.