Sixth Street Viaduct — Miguel Bayon Jacobson

LA-based cinematographer, photographer, and DJ

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Sixth Street Viaduct

The time during, and the subsequent hour following, a sunset offers me a feeling of such peace and introspection. Growing up in the Bay Area and frequently visiting San Francisco, I found myself drawn to explore the city at a specific time of day: the golden hour transitioning into blue, and then into purple hour. Because of this habit, I subconsciously paired feelings of independence, curiosity, and tranquility with the soft sunset lighting at this time.

Fast forward to college in Los Angeles–and being thrown into a new city all alone–this was a scary time for me. I frequented the Arts District since my freshman year in 2022, especially at the same time of day, and enjoyed the same feelings I felt when exploring San Francisco; a truly cyclical realization. While the physical location and architecture might be different between the two cities, the qualities of the light and emotions remained the same. I felt more comforted in this new place I now call home.

Continuing to journey to the Arts District during my senior year, I gradually became more fascinated with the architectural aspects of this barren, industrial landscape riddled with signs of life. To me, the Arts District functions as a hidden gem in the grander Los Angeles area. It finds itself physically nestled between many cultural hubs, such as Downtown and East Los Angeles, yet lacks any “on-the-nose signs” of artistry (contradictory to its name) without actively having to dig deeper. Going on four years of visiting this location, I ended up not needing directions to drive there. Instead, I relied on the Sixth Street Viaduct to guide me through the streets, simply viewing it from a distance and taking any road to get me closer. It is also important for me to mention the thrift stores tucked away beneath the bridge itself and in the immediate surrounding neighborhood that I discovered with some friends during my freshman year. This added a deeper meaning to the concrete bridge for me, as if it were a homing beacon of sorts, or a pin on a map I could go to.

With the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics taking place in Los Angeles, the Sixth Street Bridge and the Arts District as a whole, along with many other pockets of Los Angeles, have become sites of revitalization as well as controversy.

For all the aforementioned reasons, and others that cannot be expressed through words (but hopefully felt through my photographs), I felt compelled to document this landmark I both cherish and am constantly perplexed by. In my humble opinion, the Arts District earns its name not through the art galleries scattered throughout the neighborhood, but through its architectural characteristics that feel like real-life paintings when looking at them, face to face. Here is a culmination of five late-evening photography trips to the Arts District, capturing the Sixth Street Viaduct between the hours of 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM.