LA Architecture Tour – Landmarks and Tour Companies
From Spanish Revival historic landmarks to homes and other buildings that span more than a century of design by the world’s most lauded architects, LA has so much superb architecture.
Downtown Los Angeles’ El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument (125 Paseo de la Plaza) features several Spanish Mission-style historical buildings around a plaza. The focal point of the area is the Avila Adobe, the city’s oldest building, off of which runs Olvera Street, a pedestrian street full of mariachi bands, Mexican food and craft stands, and folk dancing. The Old Plaza Firehouse (134 Paseo de la Plaza) was the city’s first firehouse and has recently been restored and turned into a museum of photographs and firefighting equipment from the 19th century.
Just around the corner from El Pueblo are some of the city’s well-known examples of Art Deco architecture — the movie palaces of Broadway – including the classic Orpheum Theater (842 S Broadway). Hollywood is home to several more classic movie palaces, including the infamous Grauman’s Chinese Theater (6925 Hollywood Blvd), the Egyptian Theater (6712 Hollywood Blvd), and the groovy Pantages Theater (6233 Hollywood Blvd).
Several homes in LA are architectural landmarks, including gems designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, Eero Saarinen, and R.M. Schindler. The MAK Center for Art and Architecture (835 N Kings Rd, West Hollywood) is housed in the home Schindler designed for himself, making it a great place to start getting acquainted with modern LA architecture.
And of course, you can’t forget the 1950s-era Southern California beach-boardwalk-meets-diner kitsch. Los Angeles is full of these little gems, most notably the Tail o’ the Pup (329 North San Vicente Blvd) hot dog-shaped hot dog stand in Beverly Hills, and Randy’s Donuts (805 West Manchester) with its huge doughnut-shaped sign in Inglewood near LAX.
There are also a handful of tour companies that run architectural tours of Los Angeles:
http://www.architecturetoursla.com (Classic Tours)
http://www.laconservancy.org/tours/ (Walking Tours)
http://sixtaste.rezgo.com/ (Food and Sightseeing)
http://www.aialosangeles.org/content/home-tours (Home Tours)
www.redlinetours.com (Downtown Walking Tour)
www.pasadenaheritage.org (Old Pasadena Tours)
