Quote:
Originally Posted by bhunsberger
Los Angeles, California | February 2019
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Admit it...downtown L.A skyline from a distance on a clear winter day with snow on the mountains is better than average, maybe even spectacular. Mr. Bhunsberger took a great photograph here from Kenneth Hahn Park a few miles southwest of DTLA. The mountains aren't actually that close--10,000' Mt. San Antonio ("Mt. Baldy", the tallest in the pic) is at least 30 miles to the northeast. Telephoto lens makes the peaks look closer than they are. There are few cities in the world where tall mountain peaks are really close to the city, say less than 10 miles. Even Denver is tens of miles from the tall peaks of the Rocky front range. Salt Lake is quite close to the Wasatch front. Many cities in South America, Europe and Asia have impressive mountain backdrops, But I'd rate L.A. as having one of the better U.S. backdrops, maybe the best for big cities over a million.
L.A. area also has several clusters of skyscrapers (mostly) to the west of downtown (beyond the left side of photo), starting in Koreatown and continuing out along the Wilshire corridor to "Miracle Mile", Beverly Hills (mostly under 15 stories due to height limit law), Century City, Westwood, Brentwood and Santa Monica (few built recently due to NIMBYs). Hollywood cluster is also expanding, but NIMBYs try to prevent them from being built. Long Beach to the south is building a few more skyscrapers, as are a few places in Orange County. The San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown also has a few taller buildings. But downtown is by far the major skyscraper center of the region (Century City a distant #2).
Wish downtown Los Angeles had a few old art deco/neo-gothic tall towers in there from the 1920s, but there aren't any tall ones. A mix of skyscrapers form different eras helps a skyline be better. L.A. had a height limit law that blocked most buildings over 150 feet until the late 1950s (City Hall got a waiver, and rose to 454' in 1928). There are lots of old buildings in DTLA, but few of the old ones are taller than 150 feet. The Eastern Columbia is my favorite from the 1920s (rises to slightly over 200' with a clock tower and is aqua blue!), and City Hall is good too. In a few years, L.A. could have 4 or 5 supertalls (it has 2 now) and many more over 700 feet. Check out the downtown L.A. thread for details.
Also in Southern California, the skyline of San Diego is increasingly impressive, but there is a 500 foot height limit. In NorCal, The San Francisco skyline of course is impressive and has a magnificent setting. On the west coast, Seattle and Vancouver are also top rate skylines in beautiful settings.