downtown l. a.

I live in Santa Barbara and I’m interested in photography. Where are some historical places to take pictures in Los Angeles? I’m interested in old movie palaces, movie and TV show locations, historic homes and buildings, World War II–related sites and airplane museums. — William Lemons

Looking for things to do in L.A.? Ask us your questions and our expert guides will share highly specific recommendations.

Here’s what we suggest:

It’s cool to hear that you’re interested in capturing the beauty and history of Los Angeles through your camera lens, William. Given that you’ll be traveling from out of town, I am recommending spots that you can visit in a single day, if you’d like. They’re mostly in and around Downtown L.A.

First off, if you don’t feel like driving and paying for parking all over town, I’d suggest taking Amtrak from Santa Barbara to L.A. You can take take photos of the gorgeous view along the way and once you step off the train, you’ll already be at the first historic site on the list: the true stunner that is Union Station.

Open since 1939, it’s one of the country’s last great train stations and considered to be the largest railroad passenger terminal on the West Coast. Designed by father-and-son architect team John and Donald Parkinson, it blends Art Deco, Spanish Colonial and Streamline Moderne styles. Travel writer Christopher Reynolds, a.k.a. the person in the newsroom that everyone goes to for trip advice, tells me, “With its clock tower, big arches and high ceilings, Union Station feels like a secular church.” He notes that security guards will often shoo you off if you use a tripod without advance approval, so it’s best to bring a handheld camera instead.

Next, walk across the road to Olvera Street, one of the oldest streets in L.A. It’s part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument that’s been fighting to stay open since the pandemic. As you stroll through the area and take pictures, check out the Mexican marketplace, capturing the pottery, clothing and art along the way, and grab some authentic cuisine. Times food editor Daniel Hernandez swears by Cielito Lindo, a taquería that’s been around since the 1934, and still makes the most “perfectly rolled taquitos.” (The family-owned restaurant is currently raising funds to stay open due to economic hardship.)

Next, hop on an e-scooter or take a quick bus ride to the Historic Broadway Theater District, which has 12 stunning movie theaters — all of which were built between 1910 and 1931. The Los Angeles Conservancy even hosts walking tours of the famous district. You can register online for the next ones on June 6, 13, 20 and 27.

You’ll probably be hungry after the tour, so you might as well visit Grand Central Market, the city’s largest and oldest public market. Open since 1917, the market has more than 40 food stalls including China Cafe (open since 1959), Villa’s Tacos, Egg Slut and more. Afterward, take a brisk walk to L.A.’s most beautiful library, the L.A. Central Library, which turns 100 this year. Grab your camera and marvel at the exterior of the Art Deco-style building, which draws inspiration from Egyptian and Mediterranean Revival architecture. Then head inside on the second floor rotunda to see the marvelous California history mural and the breathtaking globe chandelier.

Now for some rapid-fire suggestions across L.A.: There’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1920s-era Hollyhock House at Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood. (If you go here, I suggest stopping by nearby Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice for a delicious sweet treat.) Or check out any one of L.A.’s most iconic TV houses including “The Brady Bunch” home in Studio City, “The Golden Girls” residence in Brentwood and the “Seinfield” Koreatown apartment building. (These are private residencies, so you won’t be able to go inside but you can snap a photo of the exterior.) If it’s architecture you’re into, peruse this guide to L.A.’s iconic homes that you can tour IRL, including the Adamson House in Malibu, the Eames House in Pacific Palisades and the Lummis Home (El Alisal) near Mount Washington. Finally, if you’re open to joining a group of fellow photographers, I suggest following Instagram pages for collectives like L.A. Photo Club and the 85 Mil Photo Walk Series, which host meetups and walking tours regularly.

L.A. is filled with so many beautiful historical sites, so I hope that these suggestions help get you started, and most importantly, that you continue taking awesome pictures. Have a great time!

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In 1995, when the L.A. Metro system was in its most nascent stage, Ken Karagozian — then an amateur photographer in an Owens Valley, Calif., workshop — found his way underground to document the subterranean marriage between downtown L.A. and Westlake through Metro’s Red Line, now called the B Line.

From that came a feature in Life magazine, but more importantly, a driving principle: Karagozian believed that the construction workers, engineers and electricians who were subject to the whims of a city indecisive on the subway project were deserving of intimate documentation. The invisible many who built the pyramids and New York’s skyline never got that chance, he said, but the people who contributed to the historically controversial Metro D Line from Koreatown to Westwood would, if he had a say.

“When I did take photography workshops, they always said, ‘Do a project close to your home,’” Karagozian said on a call from his Agoura Hills residence. “I wrote a letter to [L.A. Metro], which said, ‘How can I get permission to photograph?’”

Days before the fires ravaged L.A. in 2025, Altadena-based historian and author India Mandelkern had a phone call with Karagozian, who was interested in collaborating on a project about the D Line. After publishing a book on the art and politics of street lighting in Los Angeles, Mandelkern worked on the L.A. Metro blog, soliciting interviews from Angelenos who seemed desperate for a line to the Westside.

A Karagozian photo shows a group of workers during the Section 2 breakthrough during the underground construction of the Metro D Line.

(Ken Karagozian)

A photo by Karagozian shows sunlight filtering underground into the Wilshire/Fairfax site during construction.

(Ken Karagozian)

After Mandelkern connected with Karagozian, their project had solid form: a photo book, titled “Wilshire Subway: The Making of the D Line Subway Extension,” about the history, conflict and people behind the scenes and underground ahead of the May 8 opening of the subway expansion along Wilshire Boulevard. (New stations will be added at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega. In the future, stations in Beverly Hills, Century City and Westwood will open.)

A related photo exhibition, “Wilshire Subway: Photographed by Ken Karagozian,” is on view through May 14 at the 1301PE art gallery on Wilshire Boulevard.

This week, we chatted more with Karagozian and Mandelkern about their project.

After writing a book about the social history of street lighting, what brought you underground?

Mandelkern: Well, a couple different reasons. First, I was very interested in Metro just because I had worked there as the blog editor, and in that role, I got to explore so many different stories. I thought Wilshire Boulevard was one of the most interesting places, the stories of this rail-building ambition that persisted for so many different years, and what that says about Angelenos. Second, I think that we talk about L.A. as a horizontal city, and that’s certainly true. If you go somewhere like Tokyo, you instantly see that this is what a vertical city is, but I wanted to bring a little bit of that to L.A. There is so much history buried beneath the ground that we seem to forget, and once you start tunneling, you realize that it’s always been there and it hasn’t disappeared. It’s just pushed beneath us.

In support of their new project, writer India Mendelkern, left, and photographer Ken Karagozian appear at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in April.

(Ken Karagozian)

Of all the people you spoke to for this book, which one most influenced the way you understood what the D Line could provide for the city?

Karagozian: This was a joint venture between three contractors, and they each had their specialty. It was Skanska, Traylor [Bros.] and Shea. With Traylor, they were brothers and they were doing the tunneling. Richard McLane [chief mechanical engineer of Traylor Bros.] was very helpful in telling me a little bit about the history of Wilshire Boulevard and facts of tunneling. … All these different contractors impacted the project in some way.

Mandelkern: I always say Ken is one of the best construction photographers out there, but his specialty is really people. When I interviewed some of these individual workers, a whole different story came to light, and I realized that many of these workers came to L.A., started at the bottom of the totem pole, and through working on the subway have risen through the ranks, gotten promotions, become leaders, and their kids now work in construction. … It’s just so amazing that so many of these individuals are doing all this work behind the scenes that creates infrastructure that connects all of us.

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1. Carpenter Jenna Dorough poses for a portrait by Karagozian during the underground construction of the Metro D Line. 2. A concrete supervisor photographed by Karagozian at the La Cienega Boulevard station. (Ken Karagozian)

There are many portraits in the book of the builders who created the D Line. India referred to the short lifespans of the workers compared to the marvelous structures they craft: Was it intentional that you documented most of the D Line’s visual history through the people who built it?

Karagozian: When I go down underground and after the stations are completed, to me, it’s the people that built it that should tell the story. I didn’t just want to get a shot of them from behind. I really like to photograph their faces. … When I photographed the workers from the Red Line, some of these workers from the middle ’90s are still working on the Purple Line. I’ve known them for years, and now their children are working in construction; it becomes a family issue. … Going down and photographing the tunnels with that lighting in that perspective, it’s always been so interesting.

Mandelkern: That just reminded me of one of the quotes in the book from John Yen, who is the VP of operations at Skanska. He said, “In construction, we work ourselves out of a job.” I always found it really interesting that, as we build, the whole point is to kind of disappear. It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes in the essay, when James [Rojas] writes [that] when the stations are open, they’ll be shiny and new, but that will kind of erase all the memories and all the work of the people who’ve been doing this for all this time. This book really became a way to sort of remember all of these different people that have been working on these projects for decades and decades, even if they’re not really remembered in the official record.

As the D Line prepares to open, does it somehow feel like the end of a journey?

Mandelkern: This just [started] so many other things for me. Afterwards, I decided I really want to learn about the geology of L.A., and I found an interest in paleontology, too. I hope with any book that it just gets people curious, and it gets them to start asking questions. I think that “Wilshire Subway” does accomplish that. L.A. is just this bowl with all these different salad layers, and as we penetrate down, we learn more and more about our history.

Karagozian: It does a little bit. With May 8 being the grand opening, and as the stations are complete and they’re testing the trains underground, it almost feels like it’s graduation time. Time to celebrate the journey of going through high school, college, whatever. I am still continuing to photograph the [Purple Line extension], which is Rodeo or Beverly [Hills] station … Now it’s just the accomplishment of celebrating all the work that I’ve put into this project and going down almost once a week and photographing the process for so many years.