The Alley

Downtown Vancouver is alive with people, shops and nightlife.

Downtown LA is the same except without the people, the shops and the nightlife. It's pretty dirty and pretty barren. Not the kind of place that you would want to live in but a great place to visit.

One of my favorite places in this area is called the Alley, an open air market where you can buy everything from Prado purses to iPood Nandos. You don't usually get receipts, mostly because the business won't be around tomorrow.


At the start of the Alley was a Mariachi band. I knew that if anything went bad they would drop their instruments and dole out their own brand of street justice.


There are food vendors on every corner. Some sell freshly cut fruits topped with a spicy chilly syrup. I've always wanted to try it but I've never got around to it. Maybe it's because they handle the fruit and the money with the same gloved hand. Yea, I think that's it.

Others vendors don't pretend to be selling anything healthy. They set up portable grills and fry up onions, peppers and hot dogs wrapped in bacon. The smell is fantastic.

So I walked over to Phillipe's for lunch. The story is that in 1918, Philippe Mathieu, a French immigrant, was preparing a sandwich for a policeman and accidentally dropped the sliced french roll into the drippings of a roasting pan. The "French Dip" was born.


The restaurant has wood shavings on the floor and is staffed by ladies in 50s diner outfits. It's always busy.


The plates are paper and get soaked through with the jus quickly. I recommend the home made lemonade, a side of beets and the tapioca pudding.


I think I would choose it as my last meal.