The City of Angels: Mostly Downtown with a Splash of Beach
 

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I recently traveled to Los Angeles and spent a week in this wonderful city. I had been here in the past when I was a little bit younger and didn't think much of it. I always went with the common reputation that LA was a sprawling empire when in fact this city has a great urban downtown, with strong historic bones, and many great districts forming a nice mix of people from all different cultures.

A week did not do this city justice and there definitely will be more frequent visits! I traveled all over the city however, most of my camera time was spent downtown. For those with low bandwidth, there are 135 photos in this set so I apologize if you hiccup! Let's begin shall we?

First up, Downtown! This was the first city, outside of my home city, I have used my 10-20mm lens. So, there are a lot of wide-angle shots!

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The US Bank Tower, the tallest building in Los Angeles built in 1989. It rises a total of 310 meters (1018 feet) with a total of 73-floors. We will be seeing this guy a lot throughout the set!

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I was very fortunate to have very clear sunny days the entire week!

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Great street walls comprised of historic buildings.. LOVE IT!

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Lots of infill going up too.. Shame on me for not looking this up but, what's going in here? That's a nice size hole!

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By far the best tree in the core..

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Little Tokyo

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Oh these guys.. I was just an innocent passerby.

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The first time I've seen the Walt Disney Concert Hall in person.. Funky..

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Beach Adventure Break!

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Went out to Venice Beach for one afternoon..

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Obviously you can't see much here so click this for the full 30000x1645 pano!

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Back to the city!

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This was a fantastic little neighborhood with some beautiful homes! I was very pleased to randomly run into it!

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Poor little guy is pretty beat up. It looks like restorations were in progress though!

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Once again, click here for the full 15937x3312 pano!

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Vista Hermosa Park was also a great find! Talk about a park with a view!

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Heading down to the Arts District..

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Some Union Station greatness!!

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I had to hit up the Red Line from Union Station and go to Hollywood for some prime people watching / photo entertainment.. Got off on Hollywood / Vine

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Oh wonderful.. A red carpet event.. (It was for some Disney movie)

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Hollywood / Highland

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Okay enough Hollywood.. Back to the city..

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Nighttime! My favorite part!

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A fog is starting to roll in..

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Some Staples Center action! There was a little carnival too!

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I'm not complaining but there is Catching Fire stuff all over the city right now. It's kind of crazy.. Kind of cool watching the ad in the plaza though..

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And that's it! Thanks for stopping by!! :tup:

I'll admit I've always had an East Coast bias about LA. Never considered it a "real city". Thanks to threads like this and others on SSP, my opinion has changed.

Great set Ryan. Love the older downtown buildings and that quaint hood you stumbled upon. Thanks for tour.

Great photos and tour! Thanks.

Awesome job!

In one word, WOW! Awesome skills sir.

amazing job. Top 3 LA tour of all time, if not the best. Your picture quality is spectacular and the colors.. wow

FYI, i live right next to the hole in #19... They are building a 8 story building with 700 high end rentals and 42000 square foot Whole foods

Great photos !
Thanks for the tour

Thanks guys! LA definitely exceeded my expectations.. My opinion has been changed as well..

Also, thanks for the info on that project, LosAngelesSportsFan. Seems like a solid downtown infill project!

No Problem. Great to hear that you had a good time! hope you had a chance to sample all the great food

Wonderful photographs RyanD! Great job.

Spectacular photos! Thanks for sharing, Ryan!

L.A. always captivates me. Amazing tour. Love your night shots. Very complete thread. Great job!

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain.:tup:

Wow, LA is looking good these days. You really make me want to get up there for a weekend trip sometime. Great pics!

LA looks gorgeous!

OMG, isn't this the thriller house?

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Thanks again for all the kind words guys!

I Google searched the thriller house and I think it is! They said it was in Angelino Heights which was this neighborhood I shot in! Awesome!

Gorgeous photos. LA looks great.

Amazing, RyanD! Best tour thread I've seen.
You really gave me inspiration to go around and walk around Downtown which I've never done because of safety concerns. Did you feel safe when you were exploring the Downtown area?

Thanks!!!

Thank you! During the day I felt very comfortable. My sister has lived there for a few years now, and we walked around for the first day I was there but would be totally fine alone.

All of the night stuff I pretty much did alone and still felt fairly safe. Standard fare in any city setting, use your gut instinct and know what's going on around you. I also didn't pack a tripod (I just used lens caps/phone/rocks to prop my camera), so I could pack up and move quickly if needed since I didn't know what downtown was like at night. Turns out it was pretty pleasant :)

If all else fails, use a buddy system if you're still unsure! You can never go wrong with that!!

LOL, you didn't even realize. :haha:

You stumbled upon the most famous house of the 80's and had no idea.

Superb tour! I love LA. This one is sizzling hot: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3786/1...443b5798_b.jpg

Los Angeles is a fascinating place. So autocentric yet so urban. Some of your photos from the Old Part of Downtown, such as Broadway, Spring, et al. almost make DTLA look Latin American. Good stuff.