What Makes Los Angeles Like No Place Else

L.A. is known for beaches, freeways and Hollywood, but hillside living also makes the city unique.

By Jesus Sanchez, FrontDoor.com | Published: 11/25/2008

The Hollywood sign is an international icon, but it can only been seen from a distance. The area around the sign is tightly controlled and off-limits to the public.

Thanks to Los Angeles' geography and metropolitan sprawl, you don't need to drive for hours to sit atop a mountain to find inspiration. In fact, the Santa Monica Mountains, which tower more than 1,000 feet, are located within the city limits of Los Angeles.

Flattened ridges and hilltops serve as pedestals for the city's skyscrapers and palaces of culture. The hills are also home to hundreds of thousands of residents, from celebrity millionaires ensconced in Bel Air mansions to working-class families crowded into aging Lincoln Heights bungalows.

It's not all cool breezes and breathtaking views in the hills of Los Angeles, however. Fires threaten to consume brush-covered slopes and the homes in between while the winter rains leave hill-dwellers on the lookout for fast-moving flows of mud and rock. Forget to pick up a carton of milk on the drive home? Well, that means a long and slow trip down and then back up narrow, winding roads.

Still, the benefits, as well as prestige, of hillside living continues to draw more and more residents to build on ever-steeper slopes. What's it like to live on a hill with year-round views? Here are some of the lofty spots worth visiting for the vistas:

Baldwin Hills

The mass of the Baldwin Hills appears to rise like an island on the urban sea of L.A.'s Westside. Much of the terrain remains an active oil field, which is off limits to the public. But the trails of Kenneth Hahn State Park as well as many of the streets of the surrounding upscale African-American community provide plenty of spots to gaze at the Hollywood Hills to the north, downtown Los Angeles to the east, the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Hollywood Sign

The 50-foot-high landmark sign is located just below the 1,600-foot summit of Mount Lee, but don't try and go near the giant letters. The sign itself is fenced, patrolled and off-limits to the public. You can get close and above the sign by hiking a few miles along the strenuous Brush Canyon Trail through Griffith Park. But a far easier option is to drive to nearby Lake Hollywood Reservoir and snap a few pictures from the picnic ground and jogging trails.

Griffith Observatory

The city's vast grid of streets and freeways spreads out to the horizon from this landmark set high on a bluff in Griffith Park. A recent renovation and expansion placed new exhibit halls, displays and restaurants below ground, leaving the observatory's copper domes and art deco styling untouched. Nighttime is when you should go to take a free peek at the city below and the stars above.

Getty Center & Museum

The white monorail glides silently up the side of a steep hill, leaving behind the roar and fumes of the 405 freeway before coming to a gentle stop. The doors whoosh open, and visitors step out upon a broad stone terrace high above the city. It's hard not to feel like some mythical god who has alighted atop a modern-day Acropolis. Instead, you are just one of the droves of visitors who roam the grounds and gardens of the Getty Center, the museum and research center perched on a ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains above the posh community of Brentwood. Yes, the artwork inside is world class. But it's hard to stay indoors when jetliner views of the city, mountains and Pacific emerge from nearly every direction. Not to be missed is a cactus garden that appears to float over the city's sprawl.

NEXT: Elysian Fields

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