A whole new way to see LA
Offbeat tour guide Charles Phoenix shows the fun and forgotten sides of town
By Carl Kozlowski 03/30/2006
It’s easy to look at LA from behind the wheel of your car while trapped in traffic and think of it as one giant parking lot, devoid of personality. But then you’re obviously not seeing Los Angeles through the eyes of Charles Phoenix.
A lifelong Southern California resident who grew up with Disneyland always beckoning him as a magical yet accessible destination, Phoenix started his adult life working as an interior designer. But he always harbored a deep fascination with the kitschiest corners of the city. Through an unusual string of events over the past eight years, he’s managed to make his unique vision a viable career by launching his own tour of LaLa Land that’s quickly becoming a word-of-mouth favorite for those looking for a fresh view of their surroundings.
In fact, Charles Phoenix’s “Disneyland Tour of Downtown Los Angeles” has become so popular it’s now expanding from an occasional jaunt held every few months to a regular extravaganza held every other Sunday afternoon — including this Sunday as well as April 9 and April 23 from noon to 6 p.m.
Gathering his followers at the front of downtown’s Union Station while dressed in colorful thrift-shop combos that ensure attendees can’t possibly lose sight of him, Phoenix takes up to 48 visitors at a time on a six-hour walking and bus-riding tour that practically guarantees they will never see their city the same way again.
“The similarities between everyone’s favorite theme park and the heart and soul of the city are staggering,” says Phoenix in an excitable tone that rarely wavers into calmness. “Breaking the city down happened very easily for me. I decided that there were so many places I wanted to go downtown that are underappreciated by the new generation, like Olvera Street, Clifton’s Cafeteria and the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. They are authentic Los Angeles, still around, and in many ways unchanged from how they were for decades and decades.”
The key to the tour is Phoenix’s vision of downtown as a wonderland of diverse settings that parallel the distinct sections of Disneyland. Along the way, he seemingly manages to bend space and time by highlighting 30 locations and entertaining his followers with a lavish puppet show, a dessert party, a dash up the massive staircases surrounding Walt Disney Concert Hall to the state park on the roof (you read right) and a stroll through amazing Victorian mansions that are nearly forgotten by the masses. Along the way, he relates the amazing historical tales behind each location. At $65, the price may seem hefty, but if you have the money, there is almost no better way to spend it.
“Chinatown reminds me of Adventureland, Clifton’s Cafeteria is Frontierland, and the Country Bear Jamboree, Bob Baker’s marionette’s, are like Fantasyland or Small World,” explained Phoenix. “We don’t have one Disneyland in California, we have two — and the second is all in downtown LA.”
Phoenix was born in Upland in 1962, the son of a used-car dealer and a mom who was a “happy homemaker who made everything from scratch.” He grew up in Ontario, but counts his formal education as having come “from Disneyland, thrift shops and the Fashion Institute of Design.” After starting out as a buyer and seller of classic cars, he entered the interior design field and seemed to settle into a colorful yet fairly normal existence.
That is, until one day eight years ago when Phoenix visited a garage sale and came across a large batch of old family photos and slides of people celebrating Christmas. Even though the people in the shots were complete strangers, he felt there was an inherent connectedness and humor to the images. He put together a show of the slides for his friends, complete with commentary for each image.
After a couple of such shows proved wildly popular with friends and acquaintances, Phoenix decided to take a chance by promoting and selling tickets to a public showcase of his favorite slides. The resulting debut was held at the Distant Lands travel bookstore in Old Pasadena, and even at $10 a ticket, a crowd of 250 people showed up.
He has since increased the ticket price to $25, but that hasn’t stopped a demand so great that he sells out up to two weeks of performances at the prestigious Egyptian Theater in Hollywood each year around Christmas and the Fourth of July. And besides the shows and tour, the Silver Lake-based Phoenix has published a collection he now estimates at “millions of slides” in six handsomely kitschy coffee-table books featuring photos of mid-20th century culture from California to Florida and Hawaii.
“I started by chance, because I found an old collection of slides in a thrift store, and they were marked ‘Road Trip Across US 1957.’ I held them up and looked at them; found old cars, classic landmarks, roadside attractions; bought it and watched them at home — and they were incredible. I invited friends over to watch, and they were mesmerized into the same stuff I am,” recalls Phoenix. “The LA Times Magazine was at the first show I did, and they built a story around some of my slides, which helped me pack Distant Lands. I love it because it’s a fun way to look at history and share my knowledge. This is my life now.”
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