The Arts District: galleries, breweries, restaurants and studios in the converted warehouses on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles, between Alameda Street and the LA River. Verified listings with the date each was last checked.
DTLA Business Guide editorial neighborhood boundary. This is our own definition, not an official government boundary. How we draw these.
The Arts District is the old industrial quarter on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles, between Alameda Street and the Los Angeles River. It is now a walkable stretch of galleries, breweries, restaurants and design studios housed in converted warehouses, and it is one of the few parts of Downtown genuinely built around wandering on foot.
For most of the twentieth century this was warehouses, rail sidings and light manufacturing. Artists moved into the cheap industrial space from the 1970s, the name followed, and over the last fifteen years the ground floors filled with contemporary galleries, breweries, coffee roasters and restaurants while the upper floors became lofts. The industrial bones are still visible: brick facades, loading docks, wide low buildings and the occasional working business among the newer arrivals.
It rewards walking more than any other part of Downtown. The blocks are short, the interesting frontages are at street level, and a single afternoon can reasonably cover a gallery, lunch, a coffee and a brewery without moving a car.
The lines here are ours, not an official government boundary. We start from the City of Los Angeles Arts District BID, which is precise but stops north of 7th Street and leaves out businesses everyone considers part of the district. We extend it south along the 7th Street corridor, between Alameda Street and the river, to match how the neighborhood is actually used. The full reasoning, sources and version history are on our neighborhood methodology page, and if you think a line is wrong you can tell us.
The Arts District is not a garage neighborhood. Parking is mostly metered street parking and a scattering of surface lots, some of them run by individual businesses and some by app-based operators. On weekday daytimes street parking is usually findable. On Friday and Saturday evenings, when the restaurants and breweries are busy, it gets tight, and a surface lot or a booked space is the calmer option.
We do not publish specific lot prices, because they change and are set per operator. Check the app or the posted board before you commit.
The Arts District has no Metro rail station of its own, which is the single most common surprise for first-time visitors. The practical options:
Check Metro's own service information for current times and any line changes before relying on the train, especially at weekends.
Every business below has been verified against its own website, and each listing shows the date we last checked it. A business marked as being near another neighborhood sits close to a boundary; our reasoning is on its own page.
A pizzeria on East Seventh selling by the slice and the whole pie, with a small dining room and a counter for takeaway. Closed Mondays, open late at weekends. The company runs a second location outside Downtown with different hours, so check which one you are calling.
A gallery complex in a converted Arts District flour mill, showing contemporary exhibitions across several buildings around a planted courtyard. Entry to both the gallery and the garden is free and no booking is needed. The entrance is on East 3rd Street rather than on Hewitt, which catches people out. Exhibitions change through the year,…
A non-collecting contemporary art institution on East Seventh Street, east of the Arts District proper, in a converted industrial building. Admission is always free and no booking is required. It runs a changing exhibition programme alongside residencies and public learning events. Closed at the start of the week, so a Monday or Tuesday visit is…
A mixed-use complex on the site of the old Southern California Institution of Design and produce terminal, holding independent retail, restaurants, creative offices and a regular events programme across a set of converted industrial buildings. It functions less like a mall than a small district with its own opening hours, and the tenant list turns…
A brewery and taproom on Traction Avenue with a large open room, outdoor seating and a long bar. Guests under 21 are admitted until 7 PM, after which it is adults only. Hours shift around private events, so it is worth confirming before a late arrival.