Art & Architecture in LA

Would you believe that Los Angeles once had the most extensive interurban mass transit system in the world? Did you know that Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles (the "other" Broadway) is part of the largest historic theatre district in America? Did you know that the world's first "motion picture palace" was built in Los Angeles and still survives?

LA's Red Car

The photo above is of LA's famed "Red Car," once part of the most extensive interurban mass transit system in the world with 7,000 miles of track. This photo was taken in Hollywood long before the film studios moved here from Chicago and New Jersey. The Subway Terminal Building was one of the busiest train stations in America with more than 150,000 passengers daily.

When people think of cities rich in American history they usually think of east coast cities like New York, Washington DC, Boston and Philadelphia but rarely, if ever, do they think of Hollywood or Los Angeles. What's interesting is most believe that Los Angeles has no historic architecture when, in fact, Los Angeles has the largest contiguous collection of historic architecture of any city in America!

When the studios want locations reminiscent of old New York or turn of the century Chicago where do they go? No, not New York, not Chicago but right here in Downtown LA! Why? Because the streetscapes of Downtown LA have remained essentially the same since the roaring 20's. Downtown LA is a living museum of American history and architecture. Why then do people think that LA has no historic architecture? Beats us!

The Tours

Inside Historic Hollywood - This is our inaugural tour and the only walking tour of Hollywood taking you inside the landmarks. This tour takes you INSIDE Disney's El Capitan Theatre, Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, the Blossom Room (home of the first Academy Awards ceremony) and a real Hollywood speakeasy.

Inside Historic Downtown LA - We take you INSIDE the Grand Central Market, Edison Building, Central Library (flash point of LA's preservation movement), the historic Biltmore Hotel, Palace Theatre (the oldest Orpheum Theatre in the world), Clifton's Cafeteria (inspired Walt Disney for Disneyland) and the Warner Pantages Theatre.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Grauman's Chinese Theatre is not just a place where stars immortalize themselves in cement. Because people are so eager to look at the footprints on the ground they rarely look up at the elaborate temple roof which is teeming with little dragons - a positive statement representing the power of the human spirit.

Grauman wanted to erect a realistic Chinese temple but his chief architect, Raymond Kennedy, of the architectural firm Meyer & Holler, insisted that the style was too heavy. Kennedy presented a design that was influenced by "Chinese Chippendale." The detail to the right is on the main door of the Chinese Theatre and best represents Kennedy's application of Chippendale to the theatre's exterior.

Amazing Cast Iron Detailing at the El Capitan Theatre

The El Capitan is a jewel in the heart of the Hollywood Entertainment District. Designed in the Churrigueresque style, the ground floor is wrapped in a brocade of ornamental cast iron. Churrigueresque was adapted from Spanish Cathedrals found near the Panama Canal region.

Learn more about Churrigueresque and other architectural styles on our Inside Historic Hollywood Tour.

Historic Tile Work at the Pig and Whistle Restaurant

The colorful and elaborate tile work pictured here was created for the Pig & Whistle Restaurant, Hollywood in 1927. Los Angeles was famous for the application of ornamental tile work in homes and commercial buildings especially inthe1920's and 1930's. Some of the most popular tiles were called "Malibu Tile" a kind of Mediterranean inspired tile that was manufactured in, of course, Malibu.

Egyptian Hieroglyphs at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre

Grauman's Egyptian Theatre is a fantasy in Egyptian Revival and is one of the best examples of this rare architectural style anywhere in the country. Egyptian Revival was very popular during the 1920's and Grauman went over-the-top when he created this shrine to early motion pictures. The renovation of Grauman's Egyptian in the 1990's by the American Cinematheque treated the structure as a kind of "archeological dig" - an appropriate and unique design solution for the Egyptian-themed movie palace.

Grauman's other fantasy-like creation was, of course, the world famous Chinese Theatre just down the street.

Beaux Arts Neo-classicism Detailing at the Masonic Temple in Hollywood

The fraternal organization known as the Society of Free Masons constructed one of Hollywood's first commercial buildings in 1921. Appropriately, it was designed in the Beaux Arts Neo-Classicism style - barrowed from the Greeks.

The imposing yet graceful style projected a deliberate sense of order and authority onto Hollywood Boulevard (then known as Prospect Ave.). Beaux Arts Neo-Classicism was used extensively across Post-Victorian America as a way to instill a sense of order to America's burgeoning and often chaotic cities.

Financial institutions loved this style as it implied solidity.

Art Deco Detailing along Hollywood Boulevard

Los Angeles was America's "City of the Future" in the 1920's and the application of Art Deco design to architecture in LA helped epitomize this notion. Although not as "monumental" as in New York or Chicago, Art Deco architecture in America was most impressive in Los Angeles. Tens of thousands of major and minor Art Deco masterpieces dotted the LA landscape and looked to the future by reaching to the sky. Some of the most important details of Art Deco in architecture include vertical lines and highly ornamental detailing.

Deconstructivist Architecture at the Walt Disney Hall in Downtown Los Angeles

Again, 80 years later, Los Angeles is being touted as the "City of the Future." The renaissance of Downtown Los Angeles' begins with bold, experimental and startling designs by contemporary architects Frank Gehry, Raphael Moneo and Eric Owens Moss.

Los Angeles, eager to maintain the momentum of the current renaissance, is employing daring experiments in urban design rarely seen in other cities.

Final Note

Unbenownst to many, Downtown Los Angeles has the largest concentration of pre-war historic architecture of any city in the United States. The fallacy that Los Angeles is devoid of any history or significant architecture was perpetuated by a steady migration out of Downtown to "greener pastures" to the west. In Post-War Los Angeles, "Ticky-tacky" tract home developments and strip malls spread across the landscape as young Angelenos searched desperately for a better life. In recent years LA's tract homes became dull and uninspiring and the strip malls lifeless. This, unfortunately, is the Los Angeles that most people know today.

As LA marched outward it forgot the legacy it left behind in Downtown. This ignorance, and the decay that ensued, ironically, was Downtown's saving grace. Blocks and blocks of historic structures sit just as they were in the 1920's and 30's as if they were caught in some strange time warp. Downtown has become a virtual museum of architecture - an imprint of life as it existed in Los Angeles before WW2.

Our tours of Downtown and Hollywood reveal a city you may never knew existed!