Some Tours for Guests Who Love Site-Seeing

As one who revels in the region’s rich and diverse landscape and architecture, I am often prevailed upon to take visitors on tours, especially during the summer.

My tours vary, subject to interests and time. History buffs want to see the very old Los Angeles; preservationists want to visit a range of landmarks; architects want to focus on the work of specific designers, and others are happily eclectic and like to be entertained.

The architecture, of course, is in addition to the sand and surf of Manhattan Beach, picnics in Will Rogers State Park, family dinners in Chinatown, cheering at Dodger Stadium, visiting museums, experiencing the Hollywood Bowl, sampling various amusement parks and shopping.

My architecture list for those interested in history begins with the Olvera Street area downtown, and the plaza and Plaza Church there. Then maybe a glimpse into the Bradbury Building at 304 S. Broadway before driving a few miles southwest to Alvarado Terrace, off Pico Boulevard, to view, among others there, the Powers House, at No. 1345. Then it is just a few blocks south, to Chester Place in North University Park, to see the Doheny Mansion.

If the visitors aren’t getting too restless, it is then on to California 110 north, exiting at Avenue 43 to view the Lummis House to the west, and Heritage Square to the east. From there, I usually continue on to Pasadena to admire the Greene and Greene Gamble House, at 4 Westmoreland Place, off Orange Grove Boulevard.

Some of these landmarks are open to the public and make an engaging tour. However, hours vary and permission is sometimes required. Telephone, or check a local guidebook. Among those I find reasonably reliable is “LA/Access,” available at most bookstores.

On my tour, if there is more time, we head east to the 200-year-old San Gabriel Mission at 537 W. Mission Drive, and northeast to the former San Marino estate of railroad tycoon Henry Huntington, now an evocative library, art gallery and garden (follow the signs off Huntington Boulevard). It is a long day’s tour that is sure to squelch the myth that Los Angeles has no history. My tours for preservationists inevitably include a Frank Lloyd Wright house, usually either the Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Park in Hollywood or the Ennis Brown House at 2607 Glendower Ave. in Los Feliz Hills.

I also like the latter for its views southeast of downtown, and northeast to a nearby hill and the Richard Neutra-designed Lovell House, a classic of the International style. Also in the same spirit, and a must, is the Schindler House at 833 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood.

For more guidance, check with the Los Angeles Conservancy, which sponsors many interesting walks and has published informative brochures that can be used for self-guided tours. Among the areas and interests highlighted are Hollywood, the historic downtown theater and financial districts, and a variety of neighborhoods and architectural styles and periods. The brochures sell for $2 and can be obtained from the Conservancy at 433 S. Spring St., Suite 1024, Los Angeles 90013.

For those other than pedants, I tend to mix and match, including the Greene and Greene Gamble House in Pasadena with a Frank Gehry architectural self-advertisement at 1002 22nd St. in Santa Monica; lunch atop the Art Deco Bullocks Wilshire; a hot dog at the Tail o’ the Pup on San Vicente Boulevard in West Hollywood, and the Roman villa that is the Getty Museum, 17985 W. Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, with the singularly styled Museum of Contemporary Art, 152 N. Central Ave., downtown Los Angeles.

The toppers are views of the ocean at dusk from Palisades Park, and the view of the city at night from Mulholland Drive. The list, happily, is endless, as is, it seems, the seasonal parade of visitors.