Los Angeles Travel Blog

This type of smaller stucco box apartment building was a staple of 50s and 60s Los Angeles architecture; the name refers to the typographic symbols often used as a decorative marks on the front of the buildings. As a commercial vernacular form, this style of apartment has its roots in both modernism...

The Vasquez Rocks Natural Area is located about 40 miles north of Los Angeles, just off of the Antelope Valley Freeway (CA 14) near Agua Dulce. This site is located on the Elkhorn branch of the San Andreas fault; 15 million years of tectonic activity have created the up-thrust sandstone, shale, and basalt...

A couple months ago the New York Times Frugal Traveler wrote an article about his experience exploring Los Angeles on a bicycle. This piece came to the somewhat unexpected conclusion that getting around on a bike is actually a great way to see the L.A. basin. My own experience living here has led me...

The Los Angeles River flows with water and contradiction. This waterway is the reason that Los Angeles was settled in the first place, yet it is now hidden beneath so many overpasses and bridges. Unlike most rivers the L.A. river is now a man-made river, as most of its year round flow is the outflow...

Just to the east of Point Fermin in San Pedro, California, are the remains of a neighborhood that has been sliding into the sea since 1929. This “slump” is attributed to wave action and the presence of bentonite clay here, a material which has a propensity to become very slippery. A broken...

To get in the proper celebrity spotting state of mind, I have collected below some photos from Alan Light’s fabulous and star-studded flickr page. These snapshots span decades and, for a full disclaimer, some the shots were taken in Hawaii. Thanks for indulging my poetic license to showcase these...

Between 1933 to 1945 there was evidently a Nazi compound in Rustic Canyon near Brentwood. The property in question is now owned by the city of L.A. and is located within Topanga State Park. It makes for a great hike, like a real-life Lost adventure right here next to the city. Most of the wooden structures...

The Fern Dell entrance to Griffith Park is a handy way to access this large and diverse park.  Right on the edge of the park here is the Fern Dell trail itself (also called Ferndell, located at Black Oak Dr. and Fern Dell Dr. 90027). This short and picturesque stroll along a sunken man-made stream features...

The Citadel Outlets retail complex, complete with prominent winged genii statues, is a prominent landmark beside the I-5 just south of downtown Los Angeles. The story of this Assyrian-styled landmark dates back to 1929, when the main building and the decorated exterior walls were built to house Samson’s...

Recently I have been looking through a bunch of collections featuring pictures of historic Los Angeles. I think the thrill I get from these photos is connected to the rapid growth of the city of Los Angeles during the last century, growth that has resulted in drastic changes to the landscape over mere...