#1 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Los Angeles City Hall
Los Angeles CA
~0.11 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Los Angeles City Hall
Los Angeles City Hall, completed 1928, is the tallest base isolated structure in the world[citation needed]. It is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California. It houses the mayor's office as well as the meeting chambers of the Los Angeles City Council. It is located in the Civic Center district of Downtown Los Angeles in the city block bordered by Main, Temple, 1st, and Spring streets.
The building was designed by John Parkinson, John C. Austin, and Albert C. Martin, Sr., and was completed in 1928. It has 32 floors and, at 454 feet (138 m) high, is the tallest base-isolated structure in the world, having undergone a seismic retrofit that will allow the building to sustain minimal damage and remain functional after a magnitude 8.2 earthquake. The concrete in its tower was made with sand from each of California's 58 counties and water from its 21 historical missions. The city hall's distinctive tower was based on the purported shape of the Mausoleum of Maussollos, and shows the influence of the Los Angeles Public Library, completed soon before the City Hall was started. An image of City Hall has been on Los Angeles Police Department badges since 1940.
Due in part to seismic concerns, prior to the late 1950s the City of Los Angeles did not permit any portion of any building other than a purely decorative tower to be more than 150 feet (46 m) high.[citation needed] Therefore, from its completion in 1928 until 1964, the City Hall was the tallest building in Los Angeles, and shared the skyline with only a few structures having decorative towers, including the Richfield Tower and the Eastern Columbia Building.
The building was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1976.
|
#2 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Triforium
Los Angeles CA
~0.19 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Triforium
The Triforium is the name of a six story 60 ton public sculpture in the Los Angeles Mall Civic Center complex, located at the intersection of Temple and Main Streets in Downtown Los Angeles. The Mall's architect Robert Stockwell commissioned artist Joseph Young to create the sculpture and it was installed in 1975. Young's original plans called for the piece to be a Kinetic sculpture, which would use motion sensors and a computer controlled system to detect and translate the motions of passersby into patterns of light and sound displayed by the prisms and carillon. Young predicted that his artwork would eventually become known as "the Rosetta Stone of art and technology" and bragged that it was the world's first "polyphonoptic" tower. He also said that the Triforium was a tribute to the unfinished, kaleidoscopic nature of Los Angeles. In the original concept, Young intended for the sculpture to project laser beams into space, which would have made it the world's first astronomical beacon. Budgetary restrictions, however, curtailed this design element. The initial cost of the sculpture was $925,000 and it was dedicated on December 12, 1975 although an electrical snafu delayed the musical portion's debut.
The Triforium incorporates three two-legged concrete pillars, each supporting a bank of multicolored glass prisms (1,494 in all), as well as a Gerhard Finkenbeiner electronic 79 note glass bell carillon with two octaves of English bells, and two octaves of Flemish bells, which were synchronized to lighting effects contained within the glass prisms. Meant to play "everything from Beethoven to the Bee Gees", the carillon was operated manually, or by computer. The primitive computer originally installed in the structure to synchronize the lights and music was plagued with problems.
Unveiled with much fanfare at the opening of the Los Angeles Mall, the Triforium subsequently fell into disrepair and became the object of ridicule. Legend has it that a judge in the federal courthouse across the street claimed that the noise from the sculpture's sound system interfered with his trials and asked city officials to shut it down. Over the years, the sculpture suffered from a leaking reflection pool located at its base and pigeons often roosted in the structure. Reputed to be "too expensive to fix, but too expensive to tear down", the sculpture still stands. In 2002 Joseph Young reflected on the state of disrepair that the sculpture had fallen into. "At times it was very lonely." he said. "When you do something that affects public tastes, you have to be armed to face the extremes of behavior."
Finally, after decades of inoperation, the lighting effects were restored and reactivated on December 13, 2006 following a $7,500 refurbishing. [1] The sound synchronization computer was still due to be replaced when the lights and sound were turned back on. The sound currently heard from the Triforium speakers now originates from an external playback source and not the Finkenbeiner Triforium Carillon, which is now privately owned.
A December 14, 2006 Los Angeles Times article mentioned several nicknames that the sculpture has acquired over its lifetime:
The Psychedelic Nickelodeon
Trifoolery
Three Wishbones in Search of a Turkey
Kitsch-22 of Kinetic Sculpture
Joe's L.A. Space Launch
|
#3 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Children's Museum
Los Angeles CA
~0.19 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Los Angeles Children's Museum
This museum's 20 hands-on exhibits make learning fun. Children between 2 and 12 years old enjoy role-playing as the driver of a bus in the City Streets exhibit. In the Cave of the Dinosaurs, visitors can experience primitive life in their own cave. Art activities and other events take place on a regular basis.
The museum is currently closed.
|
#4 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Japanese American Museum
Los Angeles CA
~0.30 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Japanese American Museum
The Japanese American National Museum opened its doors in 1992. The museum is located in the Little Tokyo area near downtown Los Angeles, California. It is devoted to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. The museum is home to a moving image archive, which contains over 100,000 feet of 16 mm and 8 mm home movies of Japanese Americans from the 1920s to the 1950s. The museum also contains artifacts, textiles, art, photographs, and oral histories of Japanese Americans.
The museum contains over 130 years of Japanese American history, dating back to the first Issei generation. In 1997, the Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center was established by Robert A. Nakamura and Karen L. Ishizuka, to develop new ways to document, preserve and make known the experiene of Americans of Japanese Ancestry. In 1999, the Manabi and Sumi Hirasaki National Resource Center (HNRC) was established to provide access to the museum's information and resources, both at the facility and online, and documents both the life and culture of the Japanese Americans.
The museum currently has three exhibitions. Common Ground: The Heart of Community focuses on early immigration into the United States to the present day by presenting various art, artifacts and media. The second exhibition is titled Living Flowers: Ikebana and Contemporary Art which details the Japanse tradition of flower arrangement, ikebana, while displaying a contemporary expression. It began on June 15, 2008 and ends September 7, 2008. The third and most recent exhibition started on July 12, 2008 and is titled GLORIOUS EXCESS (BORN). This exhibition presents Mike Shinoda's paintings and artwork. It ends on August 3, 2008 and is presented in two parts.
|
#5 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Chinese American Museum
Los Angeles CA
~0.35 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Chinese American Museum
Symbolically housed in the oldest and last surviving structure of Los Angeles’ original Chinatown, the 7,200 square foot Chinese American Museum (CAM) embodies both a cultural and physical link to the past and a promising point of entry for the city’s multicultural future. Opened on December 18, 2003 after 20 years of dedicated community and civic leadership and support, CAM’s presence at El Pueblo de Historical Monument-- a 44-acre public park honored as the city's "birthplace" as well as the site of original Chinatown-- heralds a rebirth of an important city architecture and reflects the vibrant development of an immigrant history that began over 150 years ago in America, specifically when the first major Chinese settlement was documented in Los Angeles in the 1860s. As a visual symbol of new and emerging traditions, CAM is proud to serve as an active-learning institution dedicated to researching, preserving and sharing the stories, experiences and contributions of Chinese Americans in the United States through quality exhibitions, programs, events, publications and workshops.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Chinese American Museum (CAM) is to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of America’s diverse heritage by researching, preserving, and sharing the history, rich cultural legacy, and continuing contributions of Chinese Americans.
Museum History
The Chinese American Museum (CAM) is the first museum in Southern California dedicated to the Chinese American experience and history in this region.
|
#6 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Museum of Neon Art
Los Angeles CA
~0.35 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Museum of Neon Art
The Museum of Neon Art (MONA) is a museum that exists to a encourage learning and curiosity through the preservation, collection, and interpretation of neon art. The museum is located at 136 West Fourth Street in Los Angeles, California, and is devoted to art built using neon lighting. This includes the preservation of old neon signs as well as display of original fine art and kinetic art. The collection includes neon signs from the Brown Derby and Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
The museum was founded in 1981 by Lili Lakich and Richard Jenkins.
|
#7 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Chandler Pavilion
Los Angeles CA
~0.40 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Chandler Pavilion
The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center (which is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States). The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.
The Pavilion has 3,197 seats spread over four tiers, with chandeliers, wide curving stairways and rich décor. The auditorium's sections are the Orchestra (divided in Premiere Orchestra, Center Orchestra, Main Orchestra and Orchestra Ring), Circle (divided in Grand Circle and Founders Circle), Loge (divide in Front Loge and Rear Loge), as well as Balcony (divided in Front Balcony and Rear Balcony).
|
#8 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Los Angeles CA
~0.40 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, also called the Los Angeles Cathedral, is a cathedral church of the United States in Los Angeles, California. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and seat of its archbishop, currently Roger Cardinal Mahony.
Consecrated and dedicated on September 2, 2002, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels replaced the smaller Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, which was severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. While some felt St. Vibiana's Cathedral was irreparably damaged, the site was eventually taken over by the city which sold the former cathedral building to developer Tom Gilmore in 1999 for $4.6M. Gilmore has spent an additional $6M renovating it and turning it into a performing arts complex, now named "Vibiana."
It is mother church to over four million professed Catholics in the archdiocese. Our Lady of the Angels is home to the relics of Saint Vibiana, brought from Rome by Thaddeus Amat y Brusi, the first bishop of Los Angeles.
|
#9 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Music Center
Los Angeles CA
~0.41 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Los Angeles Music Center
The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the nation. Located in downtown Los Angeles, the Music Center is home to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theater, Mark Taper Forum and Walt Disney Concert Hall. (REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, is located below Walt Disney Concert Hall but is only loosely associated with 'The Music Center.') Each year, the Music Center welcomes more than 2.3 million people to performances by its four internationally renowned performing arts companies: Los Angeles Philharmonic, Center Theatre Group (CTG), L.A. Opera and Los Angeles Master Chorale.
|
#10 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Museum Contemporary Art
Los Angeles
~0.42 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Museum Contemporary Art
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's original space, initially intended as a "temporary" exhibit space while the main facility was built, is now known as the Geffen Contemporary, in the Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles. The Pacific Design Center facility is in nearby West Hollywood.
The museum's exhibits consist primarily of American and European contemporary art created since 1940.
|
#11 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Chinatown (Neighborhood)
Los Angeles CA
~0.49 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Chinatown
Chinatown in Los Angeles, California (Chinese: ??????; pinyin: luò shan ji táng rén jie) is a Chinatown in Downtown Los Angeles that was founded in the late 1800s. It was originally located less than a mile from its current location where Union Station is located.
|
#12 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Music Center and Disney Hall
Los Angeles CA
~0.58 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Music Center and Disney Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves (among other purposes) as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
Lillian Disney made an initial gift in 1987 to build a performance venue as a gift to the people of Los Angeles and a tribute to Walt Disney's devotion to the arts and the city. The Frank Gehry-designed building opened on October 23 2003. Both the architecture by Frank Gehry and the acoustics of the concert hall (designed by Yasuhisa Toyota) were praised in contrast to its predecessor, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
|
#13 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
U.S. Bank Tower
Los Angeles CA
~0.64 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to U.S. Bank Tower
U.S. Bank Tower, formerly Library Tower and First Interstate Bank World Center, is a 310.3 m (1,018 ft) skyscraper at 633 West Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles, California. It is the tallest building in the state, the tenth-tallest in the United States, the tallest west of the Mississippi River, and as of December 2009, the 40th tallest building in the world. Because local building codes require the building to have a helipad, it is also the tallest building in the world with a roof-top heliport. Until the construction of Taipei 101, it was also the tallest building in a major active seismic region; its structure was designed to resist an earthquake of 8.3 on the Richter scale. It consists of 73 stories above ground and two parking levels below ground. Construction began in 1987 with completion in 1989. The building was designed by Henry N. Cobb of the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and cost $350 million to build. It is one of the most recognizable buildings in Los Angeles, often used in establishing shots for the city in films and television programs.
|
#14 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Downtown (Neighborhood)
Los Angeles CA
~0.66 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Downtown
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The area features many of the city's major arts institutions and sports facilities, sightseeing opportunities, a variety of skyscrapers and associated large multinational corporations and an array of public art and unique shopping opportunities. Downtown is the hub of the city's freeway network and growing Metro rapid transit system.
Though Downtown is generally thought to be bounded by the Los Angeles River on the east, the Hollywood (101) Freeway to the north, the Santa Monica (10) Freeway on the south and the Harbor (110) Freeway on the west, some sources, including the Los Angeles Downtown News and Los Angeles Times, extend the area past the traditional boundary to include University Park and Exposition Park (encompassing the University of Southern California (USC) and Central City West neighborhoods.
|
#15 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Central Public Library
Los Angeles CA
~0.66 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Los Angeles Central Public Library
The Richard Riordan Central Library, originally constructed in 1926, is a downtown Los Angeles landmark. It is the third largest public library in the United States in terms of book and periodical holdings. Originally simply the Central Library, the building was renamed in honor of the longtime president of the Board of Library Commissioners and President of the University of Southern California, Rufus B. von KleinSmid. The building was subsequently renamed in 2001 after Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.
Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue designed the original Los Angeles Central Library to mimic the architecture of ancient Egypt. The central tower is topped with a tiled mosaic pyramid with suns on either side with a hand holding a torch representing the "Light of Learning" at the apex. Other elements include sphinxes, snakes, and celestial mosaics. It has similarities to the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska, also designed by Goodhue and which also featured sculpture by the architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie.
Some of the more notable collections included the Science and Technology Library in a special alcove above the general Science Department which included a complete collection of all Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) publications including the complete Patent Gazette and Trademark Gazette issues from the opening of the PTO. It also included a complete set of the entire registration books published by the Copyright Office starting from Volume 1. These collections were restored when the Central Library reopened.
It was extensively renovated and expanded in a "Modernist/Beaux Arts style" (according to the principal architect of the renovation Norman Pfeiffer) from 1988 through 1993, including an enormous, eight-story atrium dedicated to former mayor Tom Bradley. The interior of the library is decorated with various figures, statues, chandeliers, and grilles, notably a four-part mural by illustrator Dean Cornwell depicting stages of the history of California.
The building's limited access had caused a number of problems. Generally, the accessible public stacks in the reading rooms only displayed about 10-20% of the actual collections of the Central Library. For anything else, a patron had to submit a request slip and a clerk would retrieve the desired material from the internal stacks. Internal stacks were packed very tightly and had very little headroom. For example, while the normal reading rooms had ceilings of anywhere from ten to fifteen feet, the internal stack areas were many shelves of about six-foot height, stacked internally, so that while the public access area was about two floors plus the Science and Technology alcove, the internal stacks were approximately five or six floors. To fix this would have required substantial renovation, a cost the city was not willing to cover, especially after hours of operation were cut in response to the 1978 property tax reduction measure Proposition 13.
The catalyst for the renovation was the devastating arson fire of April 29, 1986. Although the building was safely evacuated, its vintage construction precluded the ventilation of heat and smoke, and limited firefighter access. Some 400,000 volumes—20 percent of the library's holdings—were destroyed, with significant water and smoke damage done to the surviving works. A second fire on September 3 of the same year destroyed the contents of the Music Department Reading Room.
As part of the rehabilitation plan, the LAPL sold its air rights to developers, enabling the construction of the eponymous Library Tower (later renamed the U.S. Bank Tower as well as an earlier period when the building was called the First Interstate World Center) skyscraper across the street. Additional funds were raised through corporate and personal contributions which flowed from the effort of the "Save The Books" campaign formed by Mayor Tom Bradley.
The campaign, co-chaired by Lodwrick Cook, then CEO of Atlantic Richfield Corporation (ARCO) had targeted a goal to raise $10 million through corporate and individual contributions (ranging from schoolchildren's nickels and dimes to $50,000 contributions by Los Angeles businessman Marvin Davis and MCA Chairman Lew Wasserman). Dr. Gene Scott (w. eugene Scott, Ph.D.), an LAPL neighbor and member of the 43 strong blue ribbon committee, donated the use of his University Network television studios and himself to what became a 48-hour telethon to raise $2 million towards the total objective.
The Library's renovation was completed in 1993. The Central Library reopened on October 3, 1993.
|
#16 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Staples Center - LA Clippers - LA lakers - LA Kings
Los Angeles
~1.40 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Staples Center - LA Clippers - LA lakers - LA Kings
Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex. It is suitable for large indoor events, including basketball, ice hockey, arena football and concerts. When configured for basketball, the Staples Center has a capacity of 19,000 spectators. When it hosts concerts and boxing matches, the Staples Center has a capacity of 20,000.
It is owned and operated by the L.A. Arena Company and Anschutz Entertainment Group. The arena serves as the home of two NBA franchises, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League (AFL) played there until they folded.
|
#17 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles
~1.40 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles Dodgers
In Chavez Ravine, on a hill overlooking downtown Los Angeles. The stadium was known as Chavez Ravine when the Angels were playing there.
Dodger Stadium is a stadium in Los Angeles, California, United States. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962. Dodger Stadium was constructed from 1959 to 1962 at a cost of $23 million paid for through private financing. Dodger Stadium is currently the third oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball (behind Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago,) and is the largest ballpark by seating capacity.
The stadium hosted the 1980 MLB All-Star Game, as well as games of the 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, and 1988 World Series. It also hosted the semifinals and finals of the 2009 World Baseball Classic as well as exhibition baseball during the 1984 Summer Olympics.
|
#18 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Convention Center (Downtown)
Los Angeles CA
~1.49 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Los Angeles Convention Center (Downtown)
The Convention Center opened in 1971 and expanded in 1993 and 1997. The northeast portion of the Center was demolished in 1997 to make way for the Staples Center.
The Los Angeles Convention Center (abbreviated LACC) is a convention center in the southwest portion of downtown Los Angeles. The LACC hosts annual events such as the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, and is best known to video games fans as host to E3. The LACC also gained notoriety for hosting Celebration IV. Its newest major events were Erotica-LA (June 7–9, 2008), Anime Expo, (July 2 – 5, 2009), where more than 44,000 fans attended in 2009[1], and the Governors' Ball following the Primetime Emmys beginning in September 2008.
|
#19 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Westlake (Neighborhood)
Los Angeles CA
~1.49 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Westlake
Westlake is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. It should not be confused with Westlake Village, an independent municipality in Los Angeles County near Thousand Oaks and close to the Ventura County line.
Westlake derives its name from the lake in what is now MacArthur Park.
Westlake, which includes Pico-Union, is bordered by Downtown Los Angeles on the southeast, Santa Monica Freeway on the south, Koreatown on the west, Virgil Village on the north, and Echo Park on the northeast. Its boundaries are roughly the Hollywood Freeway on the northeast, the Harbor Freeway on the southeast, Olympic Boulevard on the south, and Hoover Street on the west. One major subdistrict includes Lafayette Square.
Principal thoroughfares include Beverly, Wilshire, Olympic and Rampart Boulevards and Alvarado, Temple, Hoover, and Third Streets. The district is served by the Hollywood and Harbor Freeways. Metro Red Line and Purple Line subway trains run through the district on their way to Hollywood and Koreatown, respectively. Both lines include a stop at the Westlake/MacArthur Park Station.
One of the first areas of Los Angeles west of Figueroa Street to see residential development, by the 1920s Westlake resembled the Upper East Side of Manhattan (complete with a large Jewish population). Wealthy businessmen commuted to downtown, Wilshire Center (now Koreatown), Hollywood, and the Miracle Mile from the district's Spanish Revival and Art Deco mansions. The district's less affluent northeastern blocks also became the home of Los Angeles' Filipino population, much of which remains in Westlake and nearby neighborhoods to this day.
Westlake suffered greatly from the abandonment of the numerous streetcar lines serving the district and the construction of Los Angeles' network of freeways in the 1950s. By the 1960s, virtually all of its white population had decamped to the West Side or the suburbs, replaced with transients who had been pushed out of Bunker Hill by "urban renewal" in the 1950s, and Mexican-Americans in the 50s and 60s, who themselves moved out for suburbs by the middle 1970s. Most of Westlake's elegant mansions were subdivided into apartments at this time, and many of its Beaux-Arts apartment buildings became residential hotels. Meanwhile, MacArthur Park became notorious for its narcotics dealers, heroin addicts, and prostitutes.
In the 1980s Westlake became the home of Los Angeles' vibrant but severely impoverished Salvadoran and Guatemalan community, exiles from the civil wars in Central America at the time, and which was drawn to the area's cheap housing and proximity to Salvadoran and Guatemalan consulates. The concurrent development of adjacent Bunker Hill as a major commercial district provided many of the newcomers with employment in the garment industry and service industries.
|
#20 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Pico Union (Neighborhood)
Los Angeles CA
~1.84 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Pico Union
Pico-Union is a district in Los Angeles, California. Its name derives from the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Union Avenue. "The Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) officially adopted the name in 1970, when it launched a neighborhood renewal program that continues to this day. In the 1980s, the area became a major point of entry for Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants seeking refuge from civil war," according to the Pico Union Self-Guided Walking Tour, published in 2009 by the Los Angeles Conservancy.
|
#21 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Echo Park
Los Angeles CA
~1.88 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Echo Park
Echo Park is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California.
At the end of the 19th century, when the hills were still covered with native plants and grasses, a horse-drawn streetcar line served the dirt road that is now Echo Park Ave. The community of Echo Park was founded by Thomas Kelly, a carriage maker turned real estate developer. In the late 1880s Kelly teamed up with a group of local investors, selling off pieces of what they called "the Montana Tract." Legend says that the lake got its name after workers building the reservoir remarked that their voices echoed off the canyon walls.
Echo Park was named Edendale before the construction of the park itself. The original name survives through the U.S. Post Office Edendale branch and the Edendale branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.
The Los Angeles film industry was centered in Echo Park before the studios moved to Hollywood, just before World War I. Mack Sennett's studio was in Echo Park until the end of the silent era, and a large number of silent comedies were shot in the neighborhood, as were several Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Our Gang, Ben Turpin, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Charley Chase, Chester Conklin, and Three Stooges shorts. Tom Mix also built his studio just over the hill in the Silverlake area, and many Westerns were shot in hills of Echo Park, East Silverlake and the Elysian Hills. Some of the earliest screen performers, including Gloria Swanson and Tom Mix, bought homes in the Angelino Heights and surrounding neighborhoods before moving to Hollywood and other areas.
|
#22 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Elysian Park (Neighborhood)
Los Angeles CA
~1.92 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Elysian Park
Elysian Park is the city's oldest public park and, at 575-acres, the second largest after Griffith Park. It is home to numerous historic sites, including the Los Angeles Police Academy and Barlow Hospital, that are linked by miles of walking trails.
In 1769, Gaspar de Portola and Father Juan Crespi camped on the river bank opposite Buena Vista Hill near the North Broadway Bridge entrance to Elysian Park. Yang-Na Indian villagers from the creeks of Solano Canyon and the current location of the Los Angeles Police Academy greeted the Spaniards with native refreshments.
In 1781, the Pueblo of Los Angeles was officially established by Spanish California Governor Felipe de Neve with the Royal Grant of 4 square Spanish leagues (translated into 28 square miles or about 17,000 acres) of Pueblo Lands. Of this public land grant, the approximately 575-acre Elysian Park is the last remaining large piece. All else has been auctioned off or given away. Los Angeles even had to buy back the site of the present City Hall.
One of the first American official acts was the Ord Survey of 1849 to record the boundaries of these Pueblo Lands so they could be auctioned to produce city revenue. Elysian Park was then known as Rock Quarry Hills for the building stone mined in the area. But instead of being sold, the Rock Quarry Hills area were "reserved" for public purpose and withdrawn from public auction.
In 1886, the Mayor and City Council of Los Angeles dedicated the Rock Quarry Hills as a city park forever, and renamed it Elysian Park (Elysian is derived from the Greek word paradise). Subsequent city charters have protected dedicated park lands and their use for park purposes in perpetuity.
These are rare charter provisions, as city charters go, and have given parkland protectors a firm legal base for organized support of dedicated park land in the City of Los Angeles. It is upon this legal base that the Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park has fought for two decades to retain park lands for park purposes.
Every effort is being made to establish the historical significance of this public park in order to conserve it for future generations as a part of the Santa Monica Mountains system of urban open space vital to the survival of the human, animal and botanical denizens of these historic parklands.
|
#23 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Angelus Temple
Los Angeles CA
~1.95 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Angelus Temple
|
#24 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
MacArthur Park
Los Angeles CA
~2.11 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park (formerly Westlake Park) is a park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, named after General Douglas MacArthur and designated city of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100.
The park is divided in two by Wilshire Boulevard. The southern portion primarily consists of a lake, while the northern half includes an amphitheatre, bandshell, soccer fields, and a children's playground along with a recreation center operated by the city of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The bandshell, recently renovated as the Levitt Pavilion - MacArthur Park, is once again the host of jazz, big band, salsa music, and world music concerts. Since reopening it hosts at least 50 free concerts each summer between June and September.
The lake in MacArthur Park is fed by natural springs (although an artificial bottom to the lake was laid during the construction of the L.A. Metro Red Line, opened in 1993). In the past, a fountain with a reflecting pool on the northern end was also fed by the springs.
The Metro Red Line runs beneath MacArthur Park, and the train line can be accessed through the adjacent Westlake/MacArthur Park station.
|
#25 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Silver Lake (Neighborhood)
Los Angeles CA
~2.52 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Silver Lake
Silver Lake is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California east of Hollywood and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Silver Lake is inhabited by a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups, but it is best known as an eclectic gathering of hipsters, the creative class and a noticeable presence of LGBT people.
The neighborhood was named for Water Board Commissioner Herman Silver, who was instrumental in the creation of the Silver Lake Reservoir, located within the neighborhood.
Silver Lake contains some of the most famous modernist architecture in North America. Architect Richard Neutra, designer of many homes in the area, built his own home on Silver Lake Boulevard. The house still exists, and is visited by architecture fans and students. Neutra's offices were nearby on Glendale Boulevard. The building signage bears the name of his firm. A block east of Silver Lake Blvd. and near Neutra's home is Neutra Place, home to several homes he designed.
|
#26 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Cypress Park (Neighborhood)
Los Angeles CA
~2.74 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Cypress Park
Cypress Park is a neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles, California, United States.
Cypress Park is one of the first suburbs of Los Angeles.[citation needed] It was developed mostly in the early 20th Century as a working class neighborhood whose main attraction was its proximity to the nearby railroad yards. The population back then was predominantly white and Italian-American.[citation needed]
Currently Cypress Park has a predominately Spanish speaking Latino population. However like many communities in the surrounding area, Cypress Park is undergoing rapid gentrification due to its proximity to both Downtown Los Angeles and Silverlake, plus easy commutes via three freeways (the 5, the 110, and the 2) to Hollywood, Burbank, Pasadena, and the San Fernando Valley.
Cypress Park was the long-time home of the Jeffries family who had a large Victorian house and estate at Cypress Ave and Figueroa St., now the site of Florence Nightingale Middle School. One of the Jeffries' children was James J. Jeffries, the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1899-1905. The Jeffries Family developed one of the real estate tracts in Cypress Park known as the Jeffries-Highland View Tract,[citation needed] and there is a street named after them, Jeffries Avenue, that goes from the Los Angeles River Center at Avenue 26 to Isabel Street.
Another notable historic home in Cypress Park is at 901 Isabel St, a 1905 Greek Revival Mansion designed by John C. Austin, architect of the Griffith Observatory and Los Angeles City Hall.[citation needed]
Cypress Park is also home to The Los Angeles River Center, formerly Lawry's Restaurant, as well as Footsie's, a local bar popular with east-side hipsters.[citation needed]
Cypress Park is represented by the Greater Cypress Park Neighborhood Council.
|
#27 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Lincoln Heights (Neighborhood)
Los Angeles CA
~2.93 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Lincoln Heights
Lincoln Heights is a neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles, California.
Lincoln Heights is bounded by the Los Angeles River on the west, the San Bernardino Freeway (I-10) on the south, and Indiana Street on the east; the district's northern border is unclear due to the area's uneven terrain. Adjacent communities include El Sereno on the east, City Terrace on the southeast, Boyle Heights on the south, Chinatown and Solano Canyon on the west, Cypress Park on the northwest, Mt. Washington on the north, and Montecito Heights on the northeast. Major thoroughfares include Valley Boulevard; Mission Road; Pasadena Avenue; North Main, Marengo, Daly, and Figueroa Streets; and North Broadway. The Golden State Freeway (I-5) runs through the district, and the Metro Gold Line has a stop in the far northwestern portion of the district. Lincoln Heights' ZIP Code is 90031.
Lincoln Heights is considered to be the oldest neighborhood in Los Angeles, dating to the 1830s. Perched on bluffs above the Los Angeles River, it was originally home to some of the city's wealthiest residents, who built a large number of Victorian mansions in the district (many of which have been preserved under the city's historic preservation program). North Broadway became a busy commercial strip, which it remains today. By the turn of the 20th century, however, the rapid industrial development along the riverbanks made it less appealing for wealthy Angelenos, who moved on first to the Arroyo Seco area and Hollywood, then (from the 1920s onward) to rapidly developing Mid-Wilshire. As wealthy residents departed, Lincoln Heights became home to a large Italian American population, as well as an increasingly large Mexican American population. It and its cross-river neighbor "Little Italy" (what is now Chinatown) formed the heart of southern California's Italian-American community. One of the major landmarks from this period, the San Antonio Winery, continues to operate today, albeit with non-local grapes.
Beginning just after World War II, Italians and some Mexicans began migrating out of Lincoln Heights and into working-class and middle-class suburbs in the San Gabriel Valley, including Alhambra, San Gabriel, Rosemead, Montebello,California, and Temple City, California . This process accelerated during the 1950s with the construction of the Golden State Freeway, which split the district right down the middle and devastated the neighborhoods through which it passed. Ever since, Lincoln Heights has been a poor-to-working class Chicano and Latin American immigrant barrio. Many ethnic Chinese immigrants from Vietnam and their US-born children also reside in Lincoln Heights, due to its proximity to Chinatown.
The case of the missing child Walter Collins was kidnapped in his home in Lincoln Heights. The Clint Eastwood film Changeling was based on it.
As of the 2005 census Lincoln Heights had an estimated population of 80,000, one of the largest of any Los Angeles neighborhood. The racial makeup of the neighborhood is 80.1% Latino, 17.3% Asian, 3.6% were Non-Hispanic Black and White. Lincoln Heights is known for its Hispanic population as well as its growing Asian population, but many Italians still reside in the area.
North Broadway is Lincoln Heights' focal point with its various restaurants and grocery stores. Councilman Ed Reyes's office is in the south Broadway area nearer to Downtown LA.
|
#28 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
Heritage Square
Los Angeles CA
~3.23 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to Heritage Square
A living history museum reflecting the settlement and development of Southern California from the Civil War to the early 20th Century, Heritage Square Museum offers visitors a look into the everyday lives of Southern Californians at the close of the 19th Century.
Guided tours of the museum are supplemented by special events, such as Museums of the Arroyo Day®, which take our guests back in time to the era where electricity was a novelty, a trip to the beach was often a full-weekend activity, and manners were distinctly different from those of today.
The eight historic structures located at the museum, constructed during the Victorian Era, were saved from demolition and serve as a perfect background to educate the public about Southern California's early development. From the simplicity of the Octagon House to the opulence of the Perry Mansion, the Museum provides a unique look at the lifestyles of the people who contributed so much to the development of modern Los Angeles.
|
#29 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
University of Southern California (USC)
Los Angeles CA
~3.38 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to University of Southern California (USC)
The University of Southern California (commonly called USC and other names) is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in the University Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, USA. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university.
The university offers undergraduate and graduate programs in a variety of subjects. USC's four year, full-time undergraduate program is ranked 26th among national universities by U.S. News & World Report, which classified it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 22% of the 35,809 people who applied for freshman admission for the Class of 2013.
USC's slightly larger graduate program includes nationally-ranked programs in business, engineering, and law. The university conducts a considerable amount of research activity, and received $463.7 million in research support in fiscal 2008-09.
Under the leadership of President Steven Sample, the university has undergone significant change that has improved its national rankings and its reputation for academic programs. USC was named "College of the Year 2000" by the editors of Time and The Princeton Review for the university's extensive community-service programs. USC students hail from all 50 states in the United States as well as over 115 countries.
USC sponsors 19 intercollegiate sports and competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I-A Pacific-10 Conference. Members of the sports teams, the Trojans, have won 89 NCAA team championships, making them third in that category among all universities. The university is also second in the nation in Individual NCAA Championships, with 347.
|
#30 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
California African American Museum
Los Angeles CA
~3.41 miles from Los Angeles city center
Hotels Close to California African American Museum
The California African American Museum (CAAM) is a museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA.
The museum opened in 1981, in temporary quarters at the California Museum of Science and Industry (now the California Science Center). The current facility was built with State and private funds of around $5 million. The museum was designed by the African–American architects Jack Haywood and (the late) Vince Proby. The new museum building opened to the public during the Los Angeles Olympic Games in July 1984. A major renovation occurred between 2001 and 2003.
|
|
|
Book as a Group For 
#1 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#2 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#3 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#4 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#5 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#6 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#7 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#8 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#9 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#10 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#11 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#12 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#13 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#14 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#15 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#16 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#17 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#18 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#19 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#20 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#21 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#22 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#23 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#24 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#25 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#26 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#27 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#28 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#29 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles
#30 of 30 Things To Do in Los Angeles