//
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Built in 1893, the Bradbury Building is one of Southern California's most remarkable architectural achievements. Behind its modest exterior lies a light-filled Victorian court that rises with open cage elevators, marble stairs and ornate iron railings. The building has been a set for many movies, perhaps most notably the conclusion of Blade Runner. Visitors without business in the building are allowed into the lobby and up to the first landing of the staircase.
The Bradbury Building is an architectural landmark in downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. Built in 1893, the five-story office building is best known for its extraordinary skylit atrium of access walkways, stairs and elevators, and their ornate ironwork. The building was commissioned by Los Angeles gold-mining millionaire Lewis L. Bradbury and constructed by architect George Wyman from the original design by Sumner Hunt. It appears in numerous works of fiction and has been the site of many film and television shoots and music videos.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Art Deco classic. No longer owned by the LA Times as of 2024. No interior tours available.
A pedestrian shopping mall with a view of City Hall up the street and a monument to astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka, who perished in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Completed in 1928, this towering Art Deco building is the center of the city's government, housing the mayor's office and the city council meeting chambers, and was the city's tallest building for nearly forty years after it was built. An observation desk on the 27th floor offers a marvelous view of Downtown; you'll have to check in at the security desk at the entrance, and they'll give you directions to the observation desk. On the way up admire the spacious rotunda on the 3rd floor and the "Hall of Mayors" on the 26th floor.
The Theater District along Broadway had fallen into serious disrepair for decades, with most of the theaters being occupied by swap meets selling discount jewelry, electronics and $2 socks. Fortunately, most of the architecture and marquees remain, and are being renovated and turned into glorious destinations once again - starting with an Urban Outfitters and the Ace Hotel.
A bustling urban mall with traditional Japanese architecture and lanterns.
Clifton's Cafeteria, Clifton's Republic
One of the inspirations for Disneyland, Clifton's is a bar, restaurant, and nightclub themed after the woods of California, full of taxidermy, fake plants, strange artifacts, and comfortable seating, with a multi-story design organized around a dancefloor with an enormous hollow fake redwood in the middle of it.