Things to see...
Mt Wilson:
Observatory (210 & Angeles Crest Hwy)
Pasadena:
Old Town Pasadena (Colorado & Fair Oaks)
+Norton Simon Museum (411 W. Colorado Ave - 12pm-5pm - closed on tuesdays and wednesdays): Rodin's The Burghers of Calais (1885), Voulkos' Black Butte-Divide (1959), etc
CalTech campus (Millikan Library, Parsons–Gates Hall of 1917, Beckman Institute, Atheneum Club)
Elmer Grey's Pasadena Playhouse (37 S. El Molino Ave)
Green Hotel (1898) Raymond & Green St
City Hall (100 N. Garfield)
Plaza Las Fuentes (Los Robles Ave & Union)
Pacific Asia Museum (1924) at 46 N. Los Robles Ave & Union
Easton House (1905 by Louis Easton) at 530 S. Marengo Ave
Henry Greene's Gamble House (1908) (4 Westmoreland Place, in the parking lot of a church)
Wright's Millard House (1921) at 645 Prospect Crescent, Pasadena
Sumner Greene House (368 Arroyo Terrace)
Cheesewright House (1910) at 686 W. California Blvd
Donald McMurray's home (850 S. Arroyo Blvd)
Baatchelder House (626 S. Arroyo Blvd)
Frank Lloyd Wright's Millard House (645 Prospect)
Greene & Greene's Blacker House (1177 Hillcrest)
Charles and Henry Greene's Duncan-Irwin House (240 N. Grand)
South of Pasadena:
+Heritage Square (3800 Homer Ave, Highland Park, just off the Avenue 43 exit of 110 - open only during weekends): Perry Mansion (1876), Hale House (1887), Octagon House (1893), Shaw House (1883), etc
El Alisal/ Lummis Home, now Historical Society of Southern California (200 East Avenue 43, at the intersection of East Avenue 43 and highway 110)
Arcadia:
Arboretum (301 N. Baldwin Ave)
San Marino:
Huntington Botanical Gardens, Library and Museum
San Gabriel:
Mission
Glendale:
Brand House/ El Miradero (1601 West Mountain Street)
Lloyd Wright's Derby House (1926) at 2535 Chevy Chase Dr
Museum of Neon Art
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Hollywood:
First National Building on Hollywood & Highland
Mural at Hollywood Boulevard and Wilcox Avenue
Hollywood Sign (near 101, driving up Beachwood Dr)(the regular trail, Hollyridge trail, was closed in March 2017 due to a legal action by the Sunset Ranch Hollywood Stables that want to monopolize business to the sign - please boycott this despicable business and demand that they be expelled from California)
Grauman's Chinese Theatre (6925 Hollywood Blvd)
Kodak Theater (6801 Hollywood Boulevard)
Walk of Fame (Hollywood Blvd, bet Gower & Sycamore)
Mural (Hudson Ave & Hollywood Blvd)
Hollywood Bowl
Sunset Strip: (from Doheny to Crescent): Roxy's (9009 Sunset), Whiskey A Go Go (8901 Sunset), Gazzarri's (9030 Sunset)
Chateau Marmont (8221 Sunset Blvd)
De Mille's home, now Angelina Jolie's home (2000 De Mille Drive)
Marlboro sign on Sunset Blvd
Crossroads of the World (1936, Robert Derrah) (6671 Sunset Boulevard)
Sunset Plaza
Troubador (Sta Monica & Doheny)
Melrose (7700 block, bet Fairfax & Poinsetta)
Pacific Design Center ("Blue Whale"), 8687 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood (Cesar Pelli)
View from Mulholland Drive (8591 Mulholland Dr)
Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House (1921) in Barnsdall Park (Hollywood Blvd & Berendo, west of Vermont)
Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House (1924) in 2607 Glendower St
Frank Lloyd Wright's Sowden House (1926) at 5121 Franklin
Capitol Building (1954, Welton Becket), the first circular office building (1750 N. Vine)
Pantages Theater at 6233 Hollywood Blvd (1929), designed by Marcus Priteen with art deco interior by Anthony Heinsbergen
+John Lautner's Chemosphere (1960), 7776 Torreyson Dr & Mulholland Dr
+John Lautner's Garcia House (7436 Mulholland Dr)
+John Lautner's Sheats-Goldstein House (10106 Angelo View Dr, Beverly Hills)
John Lautner's Walstrom House (10500 Selkirk Ln)
Craig Ellwood's "Case Study #16" (1953) 1811 Bel Air Road
Pierre Koenig's Bailey House (9038 Wonderland Park Ave)
Soriano's Shulman House (1950) at 7875-7877 Woodrow Wilson Drive, Hollywood,
West Hollywood to Echo Park
Griffith Observatory
Schindler House, the first house built in the Modern style (835 N. Kings Rd)
Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House (1962 Glencoe St)
Richard Neutra's Lovell House (4616 Dundee Dr near North Vermont) near Griffith Park north of Los Feliz
Echo Park: +Victorian homes of Carroll Avenue:
- Paramour Estate (1923 Micheltorena St - not visible from the street)
- John Lautner's Reiner-Burchiill Residence "Silvertop" (2138 Micheltorena St - not visible from the street)
- Charmed House/ Innes House (1329 Carroll Ave)
- Sessions House at 1344 Carroll Ave, designed by architect Joseph Cather Newsom in 1889)
- Douglas & Kensington
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Angelus Temple, first megachurch of the USA (1100 Glendale Blvd)
Sherman Oaks:
John Lautner's "Foster House” (4235 Las Cruces Drive)
North Hollywood:
Tujunga Wash Mural/ Great Wall of Los Angeles, 800-meter mural on the west wall of the Tujunga Flood Control Channel in North Hollywood (1984) (Coldwater Canyon Avenue between Oxnard Street and Burbank Boulevard)
Valencia:
Six Flags Magic Mountains (on 5 & 126): Colossus, Revolution, Edge, Batman,
Carlsbad:
Legoland
Burbank:
Universal Studios (off 101)
Disney Studios building (Alameda Ave)
Bob's Big Boy restaurant at 4211 Riverside Drive (birthplace of "Googie" style)
San Fernando Valley:
Laurel Canyon
San Fernando Mission
Financial Downtown/ Bunker Hill:
110 freeway south of freeway 10
Bunker Hill (Grand Ave and 3rd)
Charles Luckman's AON Center at 707 Wilshire Boulevard (1973)
Wilshire Grand Center at 900 Wilshire Boulevard (2017), LA's tallest building
Bank of America Plaza with +Calder's "Four Arches" at 333 South Hope & 3rd St
Alexander Liberman's "Ulysses" (1988) at 400 S Hope St
One California Plaza at Bunker Hill
Wells Fargo towers (333 S. Grand Avenue), designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (1983)
Library Tower/ US Bank Tower/ First Interstate (1989), tallest building (633 West Fifth Street & South Hope Street)
+Central Library of 1926 on Hope St & 5th St (with Julian Gernsey's ceiling of the second-floor rotunda, with Lee Lawrie's friezes on the Flower Street facade and Lee Lawrie's sculptures on top landing of North Staircase), now attached to Riordan Library
+Richard Riordan Library's Tom Bradley Wing (contains public art such as Ann Preston's "Illuminations" and a photo collection) 630 W. 5th St.
City National Plaza with Herbert Bayer's sculpture-fountain "Double Ascension" at 515 South Flower Street
Broad Museum (221 S Grand Ave), designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Gensler
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
Angels Flight
Music Center (on Hope)
Linder Plaza (1977) (888 W. 6th St)
+Bonaventure Hotel (1970) (Figueroa Street & 5th Street)
Citigroup Center (444 Flowers St) with Michael Heizer's "North, East, South, West" in the lobby
Deloitte/ Gas Company Tower (555 West 5th bet Grand and Olive)
Cesar Pelli's 777 Tower (1991) (777 South Figueroa St)
Jose' Rafael Moneo's Cathedral (Grand & Temple)
Gehry's Disney Auditorium (Grand)
Andrew Leicester's Zanja Madre water garden (801 Figeuroa St)
Gensler's JW Marriott (900 West Olympic Boulevard)
Fine Arts Building (1927) at 811 West 7th Street between Flower and Figueroa
Herald Examiner Building (1914, now Arizona State University) at 1111 South Broadway
Mayan Theater (1040 S. Hill St)
Coca-Cola Bottling Building (the facade is at Central and 14th st), designed by Robert Derrah
Spring St and Broadway (historical downtown)
John Parkinson's Rosslyn Hotel (1914) at 100 W. Fifth St and its annex (1923) across the street
+Bradbury Building (304 S. Broadway & 3rd)
Million Dollar Theater, built by Sid Grauman in 1917 with exterior reliefs by Jo Mora (307 S Broadway)
John Parkinson's Homer Laughlin Building, at 317 South Broadway (also contains the Grand Central Market, the city's largest and oldest public market)
John Parkinson's Braly Block/ Continental Building (1902) (408 S. Spring St & 4th), LA's first skyscraper
Crocker Bank/Spring Arts Tower (1904) (453 S. Spring St)
Hellman Building Northeast corner of 4th and Spring 1902
El Dorado Hotel 416 S. Spring Street 1913
Title Insurance Building 433 S. Spring Street – 1928
Rowan Building 460 S Spring Street – Built in 1910
Security Building 510 S. Spring Street – Built in 1906
Los Angeles Theater Center 514 S. Spring Street – Built in 1916
Spring Arcade Building 541 S. Spring Street – Built in 1924
Lloyd's Bank 548 S. Spring Street – Built in 1913
John Parkinson's Hotel Alexandria (1906) at 501 South Spring Street
Nickelodeon theaters on Broadway & 6th (Cameo, Arcade, etc)
Pacific Electric Building (1907) (610 S. Main Street, 6th & Main)
Biltmore Hotel (506 S Grand Ave)
Pershing Square (5th-6th & South Olive) with +Sculpture by Ricardo Legorreta (1992)
Hotel Hayward (1905) (601 S. Spring St)
Los Angeles Stock Exchange (1929) (618 S. Spring Street)
Mortgage Guaranty Building 626 S. Spring Street – Built in 1913
Barclays Bank 639 S. Spring Street – Built in 1919
Bank of America Building 650 S. Spring Street – Built in 1924
Financial Center Building 704 S. Spring Street – Built in 1923
Van Nuys Building (1911) (210 W. 7th Street)
Tower Theater (800 S. Broadway)
National City Bank (1924) at 810 South Spring St
Wurlitzer Building (1923) at 814 S.Broadway
Columbia (849 S. Brodway)
Skid Row, Little Tokyo:
Skid Row: 4th & Los Angeles (homeless quarters)
Little Tokyo Sq (First St, bet Main & Alameda)
Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (formerly The Temporary Contemporary) at 152 N Central Ave with Nancy Rubins’ sculpture "Chas’ Stainless Steel, Mark Thompson’s "Airplane Parts, About 1,000 Pounds of Stainless Steel Wire, and Gagosian’s Beverly Hills Space"
4th St bridge (east of railway tracks)
Civic Center:
City Hall (Temple & Main), built in 1926-28 by Austin, Parkinson, Martin and Whittlesey, a 27-story building which was only building to break the 13-story height limit maintained by the city until 1957, 200 N. Spring St.
Hall of Records, designed in 1961 by Richard Neutra. 227 N. Broadway.
City Buildings (Temple & San Pedro)
Criminal Courts at (210 W Temple (1925), designed in 1925 by the Allied Architects
Los Angeles Times building (202 W. First Street & Spring), designed in 1935 by Gordon Kaufmann, with addition of 1974 by William Pereira
Federal Courthouse, designed in 1940 by G. Stanley 00d, 312 N. Spring St.
Pueblo and Chinatown:
Ramon Cortines School of Visual Arts, designed by Coop Himmelblau in 2008 (450 N Grand Ave, behind the cathedral)
Pueblo (Main St & Sunset Blvd):
- Masonic Temple, built in 1858, 416 N. Main St.
- Sepulveda House, built by Eliosa Martinez de Sepulveda as a combined hotel and boarding house, circa 1887, 624 N. Main St.
- Avila Adobe, built by Don Francisco Avila, one time mayor of the pueblo, the city’s oldest adobe, at 10 Olvera St
- Pico House, built in 1869 by Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, three-story hotel, 424 N. Main St.
- Plaza Church (Church of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels), the oldest religious Structure in Los Angeles, originally a simple adobe built by Franciscan padres and local Indians between 1818-1822. The first structure to be built in the Pueblo was the jail, while it took the town 40 years to build the church.
- Merced Theatre, designed in 1870 by architect Ezra Kysor, 420 N. Main St.
- Garnier Block, built by Philippe Garnier in 1890 as commercial stores and apartments for the city’s Chinese businessmen.
- Siqueiros' mural "America Tropical" at 125 Paseo de La Plaza (Tu-Su 10 to 3)
Union Station (Alameda & Chavez), built in 1939 by the Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Santa Fe Railroads, designed by John and Donald Parkinson in Spanish-Mission architecture, the last grand old railroad passenger terminal to be built in the USA, 800 N. Alameda St.
Main Post Office, with 1930s murals by Boris Deutsch depicting the history of communication.
Chinatown (North Broadway, bet 11, 10 & 5)
Freeway interchange: 5 & 101, 105 & 110
South of Downtown:
St Vincent de Paul (Adams & Figueroa)
Doheny Mansion (1899) by Theodore Eisen and Sumner Hunt (Mt St Mary's campus, West Adams & Figueroa)
LACCT (Grand & 23rd) near St Vincent de Paul and Stimson House
Stimson House (2421 S Figueroa Street)
University of Southern California (USC): Widney Hall at 650 Childs Way (1880), Pereira's Joseph Medicine Crow Center (3518 Trousdale Pkwy), Pei's Hoffman Hall at 701 Exposition Boulevard (1967), Dauterive Hall, Fertitta Hall
Shrine Auditorium (Figueroa & Jefferson)
Frank Gehry’s California Aerospace Museum (700 State Dr, Exposition Blvd & S, Figueroa St)
Central
Wallace Neff's 105 N. Rossmore Avenue, Hancock Park
Wiltern-Pellisier Building (3790 Wilshire)
Wilshire Boulevard Temple (3663 Wilshire Blvd) & Audrey Irmas Pavilion
St Basil's Church at 3611 Wilshire (1968, designed by Bozidar Von Serda) with Franco Asseto's Stations of the Cross
Koreatown
Wilshire Vermont Station (3191 Wilshire Boulevard)
Bullocks (1929) (3050 Wilshire)
John Parkinson's Susana Machado Bernard House and Barn (1901) at 845 S. Lake St
McArthur Park (Wilshire & Alvarado)`
Wright-Mooers House (818 South Bonnie Brae St)
Victorian homes of South Bonnie Brae St: 824, 1026, 1033, 1035, 1036, 1047, 1053
Clark Residence (306 S. Loma Drive)
+Frank Gehry's Loyola Law School at 919 S. Albany St/ Casassa Building (1441 West Olympic, near 110 exit)
Miracle Mile (Wilshire Blvd bet La Cienega & Vermont)
- Saban Building, formerly the May Co Building (6067 Wilshire Blvd)
- Facade of Petersen Automotive Museum (6060 Wilshire), designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox in 2015
- L.A. County Museum of Art "LACMA" (5905 Wilshire) with Edward Kienholz's "The Back Seat Dodge '38" (1964) and +Rene' Magritte's "The Treachery of Images - This is Not a Pipe" (1929), +Chris Burden's "Urban Light" (2008) and Metropolis II (2010), Ai Weiwei's Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, Yoshitomo Nara's "Miss Forest", Michael Heizer's "Levitated Mass"
- Renzo Piano's Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA (2008)
- Miracle Mile: LaBrea Avenue to Fairfax Avenue (very little is left of the historical buildings): 5207 Security-First Natl Bank (1929), 5515 El Rey Theatre (1936), 5522 Wilshire Tower (1929), 5801 La Brea Tar Pits, 6067 May Company (1940) attached to LACMA, LACMA and Broad, and 6060 Petersen Automotive Museum across the street from LACMA
West Central:
+Watts Towers = Sabato Rodia Towers (1765 E. 107th St)
"Six Feet Under" (2302 25th St & Arlington)
Beverly Hills:
Sunset Blvd (between UCLA and Hollywood)
Santa Monica Blvd (between 405 and La Cienega)
Yayoi Kusama's "Hymn of Life - Tulips" (Santa Monica Boulevard and Rodeo Drive)
Beverly Wilshire Hotel (1928) on Rodeo Dr
Playboy Mansion (10236 Charing Cross Road)
Sterling Plaza (Wishire Blvd & Beverly Dr)
Capitol Tower
Bel Air
Wallace Neff's 10539 Bellagio Road in Bel Air (1931)
Doheny's Greystore home (905 Loma Vista Drive)
Harold Lloyd's Greenacres (1740 Green Acres Drive)
Charlie Chaplin's home ( 1085 Summit Drive)
Gloria Swanson's home (904 North Crescent Drive)
Pickfair (1143 Summit Drive - demolished in 1990)
Spadena House (516 Walden Drive)
Star homes designed by John Elgin Woolf:
- Cary Grant, 9966 Beverly Grove Drive, Los Angeles
- Errol Flynn, 7740 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles
- Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland, 8850 Evanview Drive, Los Angeles
- Barbara Stanwyck, 273 South Glen Boulevard, Los Angeles
- Ira and Leonore Gershwin, 1021 North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills
- Fanny Brice, 312 North Faring Road, Los Angeles
- Bob Hope, 10346 Moorpark Street, North Hollywood
- Agnes Moorehead, 1023 North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills
- Ronald Colman, 1003 Summit Drive, Beverly Hills
- Charles K. Feldman and Jean Howard, 2000 Coldwater Canyon, Los Angeles
- Lillian Gish, Trancas Beach, Malibu
- Mervyn LeRoy, 332 St. Cloud Road, Bel Air
- Paul Lynde, 103 Robin Drive, Los Angeles
- Ray Milland, 10664 Bellagio Road, Los Angeles
- Ricardo and Georgiana Montalbán, 9256 Robin Drive, Los Angeles
- Loretta Young, 8313 Fountain Avenue, Los Angeles
- Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, 9191 St. Ives Drive, Beverly Hills
Beverly Dr (bet Sunset & Sta Monica)
2 Rodeo Dr
Police Dept (Sta Monica & North Rexford Dr)
Restaurant Row (La Cienega)
Golden Triangle (Sta Monica, Wilshire, Rexford)
Rodeo Dr boutiques & art galleries (Galerie Michael, Dyansen Gallery)
Beverly Wilshire Hotel
Electric Fountain
Spadena House (1921) at 516 Walden Dr
Virginia Robinson Gardens (1008 Elden Way, $15 in 2025, by tour only)
Century City:
Avenue of the Star
Constellation
Century Plaza Hotel (1966)
Entertainment Center & Towers (by Minoru Yamasaki)
UCLA & Westwood:
UCLA: Royce Hall (1929), inverted fountain, Murphy's sculpture garden, Towell Library (405 Hilgard Ave)
Westwood Village (Wilshire to Westwood, right on Westwood)
Armand Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Blvd & Westwood, west of 405)
Wadsworth Chapel at National Veterans Park (20 Eisenhower Ave & San Vicente - built in 1900)
Schindler's Tischler House (175 Greenfield Ave)
Inglewood:
Charles Lee's Academy Theatre (3141 W. Manchester Blvd. Inglewood)
Marina Del Rey:
Admiralty Way & village
Venice:
Gehry's Norton House (1984) in Venice
Venice square (Main St & Windward)
Ocean Front Walk (Winward)
Santa Monica:
Lawrence Scarpa's Bergamot Station Art Center (1994) at 2525 Michigan Ave [adjacent Metro Rail station 26th Street/Bergamot Station]
Gehry's Santa Monica Place (1980)
Horatio West Court Apartments (1919) 140 Hollister Ave by Irving Gill
Santa Monica Heritage Square: Jones House (designed by Sumner Hunt)
Third St Promenade, bet Wilshire & Colorado (specialty books)
Montana Ave ("croissant canyon"), bet 7th & 17th (ethnic restaurants)
18th St Arts Complex (artists in residence)
Main St (at the Venice border)
Santa Monica Civic Center (1801 Main St)
Mormon Temple (10777 Santa Monica Blvd)
Pacific Coast Hwy & California Incline (end of California Ave)
Palisades Park (bet Colorado & California)
Bicycle Path to Venice
Pier (end of Colorado Ave)
Chiat/Day Mojo (340 S.Main St)
Sunset Blvd
Gehry's residence (1002 22nd St & Washington)
Gehry's early home (526 Carmelina)
Frank Lloyd Wright's 1939 Sturgis House (449 Skyeway, near 405 & Sunset Blvd)
Cliff May's ranch houses (Riviera Ranch Rd and Old Oak Rd)
John Byers' homes at 2153, 2101, 2034 and 1923 La Mesa Drive
+Getty Center (1997), designed by Richard Meier
Malibu:
Pepperdine Campus (24255 W. Pacific Coast Hwy)
Onishi Offices (24955 Pacific Coast Highway)
Adamson House (1929)
St Matthews (1031 Bienvenida Ave, Pacific Palisades)
Getty Villa (note: parking in the neighborhood not allowed - must show up with bus ticket or by taxi)
Great Pacific Highway
San Pedro:
Palos Verdes Estates (Malaga Plaza)
Lloyd Wright junior's Wayfarers Chapel 1951 (5755 Palos Verdes: 110 south, exit Gaffey and turn left, turn right onto 1st St, turn left onto Western, turn right onto 25th and continue for 20 minutes past the slide area)
San Pedro Harbor
Phineas Banning House (401 E M St, Wilmington)
Bridges to Terminal Island
Point Fermin
Angels Gate Lighthouse & Breakwater
Ports O' Call Village
Cabrillo Aquarium
Maritime Museum
Catalina Island
Anaheim:
+Disneyland
+Philip Johnson's Crystal Cathedral (1980) community church (12141 Lewis & Chapman, Garden Grove, near Chapman exit of hwy 5), with a visitor center by Richard Meier and the oldest building by Richard Neutra
Knott's Berry Farm
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Hsi Lai Temple, Hacienda Heights (largest Buddhist temple in the USA, Hwy 60 exit Hacienda Blvd)
Beaches:
Hermosa Beach: Pier (12th St), volleyball courts
Manhattan Beach
Long Beach:
Shoreline Village
Queen Mary
Spruce Goose
Aquarium of the Pacific
Newport Beach and south:
Balboa Island
Lovell Beach House (1242 West Ocean Front)
Irvine Campus
Laguna Beach: DeWain Valentine's Water Wall in the Poseidon Court of the Surf & Sand Hotel (1555 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA 92651)
Laguna Niguel (near Laguna Beach): Chet Holifield Federal Building (24000 Avila Road)
Pictures of LA:
Part I
From the 2010s...
From the 2010s...
From the 2000s...
From the 2000s...
From the 2000s...
From the 1990s...
Maps
Click here
Information
A six days tour
A two days tour
A guide to attractions (by neighborhood)
Hiking
California Highway 1
South California
Yosemite
Mt Whitney
Death Valley
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