3: California Plaza, Downtown L.A.

3: California Plaza, Downtown L.A.
Designed by: Braille Institute
Piano type: Spinet
Playability: Excellent
Weather: 62°F, mostly sunny
How I got here: Walking

The next one was across the street, so close you could almost hear it (okay, not really). It too took a few seconds to locate, but it was there, near the California Plaza Watercourt where the Grand Performances summer concert series happens. The piano was under a blue canopy, done to protect it from the recent rainstorm, although nearly every piano has its own protective "raincoat" that rolls into brackets in the back when not in use.

A few of us in the Make Music L.A. contingent had split, but Sara, George, Cesar and I remained.

While Sara was playing her rendition of John Legend's "Ordinary People," a group of people dressed in Hawaiian shirts and Santa Claus hats and beards approached the area. What the...?

It turned out they were participants in today's Challenge Nation Urban Scavenger Hunt, and they asked us to take pictures of them next to the water fountain. Then they posed for a picture next to the piano. Another humorously-garbed team came soon after and asked us to take a similar picture. Just another Saturday in Downtown L.A.

When I got on this piano, I noticed that it was in a much, much better playable condition than the last one, and had a pretty nice-feeling action as well. The piano technician's business card was placed on the left side of the console (nice work!). The artwork was done by The Braille Institute, located in my neighborhood, which I thought was cool on many levels. They had nicknamed the piano "Polka" and had an online contest to people who posted pictures of the piano on their website.

I played an original song, "Brand New Thing":