Landmark Gems of LA’s Historic Core
Friday Oct. 10, 1:00-3:00 pm
Transport: Walking tour. Meet at Rendezvous Court, Biltmore Hotel.
Tour Maximum: 36 people – will be split into 3 groups of 12 each.
Cost: $25
Tour Description:
Join the Los Angeles Conservancy for a guided exploration of the city’s Historic Core, home to a remarkable concentration of early 20th-century architecture. This two-hour walking tour begins at the 1923 Beaux Arts-style Biltmore Hotel, once the largest hotel west of Chicago and famously known as the “Host of the Coast.” Highlights include the original lobby with its Moorish beamed ceiling, a sweeping Spanish Baroque staircase, and a 350-foot-long galleria leading to a series of lavishly decorated ballrooms.
Next, tourgoers visit the Los Angeles Central Library, Bertram Goodhue’s richly symbolic 1926 landmark that merges ancient iconography with early Moderne design. A devastating fire and threats of demolition in the 1970s helped inspire the founding of the Los Angeles Conservancy. The tour concludes at the Bradbury Building, an 1893 commercial structure whose skylit atrium, open-cage elevators, and intricate ironwork remain one of the most iconic and visually striking interiors in Los Angeles.
Tour leaders:
L.A. Conservancy docents.