Walk past the DJ (probably spinning Panamanian jazz or Latin punk) and take a seat at the bar. Check out the drink menu. Everything is a twist on a twist: the Cat Juggler, made with jerk-spiced bitters; a rum variation of the Sazerac with “almost rotten’’ mango-infused absinthe; and an almost classic Dark ’n’ Stormy with fresh ginger and Peychaud’s Bitters.
Order something. The bartenders are geeky with meta knowledge of everything, especially everything to do with rum. Take your drink into the glass-roofed greenhouse to smoke a cigar and sip your rum.
Caña is just one of many new, high-concept eating and drinking places in what was a blighted downtown. Los Angeles is a city of neighborhoods. Each has its own particular feeling, but one blends into another. Heading east from the ocean, gritty and beachy Venice becomes beachy and suburban Santa Monica, which becomes suburban and hilly Brentwood, which becomes hilly and kooky Hollywood, which becomes hilly and hipster Silverlake …
But downtown is different. In the movies it is often a stand-in for Manhattan. With its dense grid of modern skyscrapers and historic brick and mortar, it is easy to see why. But compared with Manhattan, downtown Los Angles is a ghost town. It was not always this way.
By the 1920s more than 1,100 miles of train track connected downtown to the rest of Los Angeles. It was the business and shopping center of the growing city, strategically located with the mountains to the north and east, and the ocean to the west.
But then came World War II and suburbanization. Urban centers declined around the country. Downtown LA was basically emptied. Freeways and cars replaced trains. Historic buildings were torn down to make room for parking lots.
