Since the devastating fires that tore through parts of Los Angeles County in January, the city and its many communities have shown a unified passion and commitment to this metro they call home. Here, we celebrate some stunning moments captured around town over recent years by professional photographers. As these snaps proves, this diverse and dynamic place will always offer magic to those who dare to dream. 

Santa Monica Sunset 

(pictured above)

By Kyle Huber

In 1909, the first iteration of the Santa Monica Pier was opened to the public. The concrete pier was built to carry sewer lines out to sea to keep the beaches clean. It soon became a popular fishing destination. In 1922 the Carousel, a National Historic Landmark that still stands and runs today, opened to the public with 44 hand-carved horses plus a calliope to provide the music.

Over the years, a roller coaster was added to the pier. The Playland Arcade with bumper cars, carnival-style rides and attractions was opened. Restaurants and food stands opened alongside tourist shops and the pier grew as a tourist destination well into the 1960s.

By the 1970s, though, competition from other local attractions and theme parks such as Disneyland caused a dramatic downturn in the pier. The destination became much less family- and tourist-friendly and fell into general disrepair. The fateful storms of 1983 destroyed much of the pier, leaving only about one-third standing.

By 1990, the pier had been rebuilt, and six years later, Pacific Park officially opened. With it, the first full-scale amusement park attractions were opened on the pier since the 1930s. Today the pier is again an international tourist destination.

Kyle photographed the pier in late January during a beautiful Southern California sunset. “The cotton candy sunset was lit up like crazy this day. The colors of the pier and the Ferris wheel lit up put a smile on everyone’s face. When I first moved to LA, I thought this was the coolest place. I still do.”

Venice Skatepark Afternoon

By Brendon Hayward

In the 1950s, California surfers began to attach roller skate wheels to small wooden replicas of long-board surfboards to “sidewalk surf” on the streets around Venice Beach. As the novelty spread in-land, sidewalk surfers began to rival the number of ocean surfers. Between the 1950s and the early 1970s, little changed in the world of sidewalk surfing—until a literal reinvention of the wheel in 1973 changed everything. The introduction of urethane wheels improved performance on asphalt and cement, which in turn ushered in faster rides and more control. The era of what we consider modern skateboarding began.

A devastating drought-hit Southern California in 1976. City leaders across Southern California ordered that no swimming pools could be filled, leaving tens of thousands of backyard pools across Southern California dry. No one knows exactly who the first person to drop into an empty pool was, but Venice’s Z-Boys were the first to be recognized for the pioneering aerial tricks associated with “bowl” skateboarding.

The Bu

By Richard Podgurski Jr.

“Everybody takes pictures of people surfing in Malibu,” says photographer Richard Podgurski Jr. But not like this.

From a bird’s-eye view, Richard captures a lone surfer emerging from the ocean on a summer day. The overcast sky accentuates the blue of the water and serves as a stark contrast to the surfer emerging from the waves. That contrast is what caught Robert’s eye. He knew he wanted to show “the Bu” in a new light.

It’s a quiet moment we don’t normally get to see. After the action and excitement of being in the water, the surfer heads back to shore with their board. It’s a time to catch their breath—a far cry from the action shots so typical of surf photography. In this print, Richard gives us access to something intimate.

“I liked the different perspective of Malibu,” he says.

Hollywood Sign

By Karl Huber

At 1,708 feet tall, Mount Lee, a rocky, chaparral-covered peak, stands high in the Hollywood Hills, which make up the eastern edge of the Santa Monica Mountains. In the early 1900s, the peak overlooked a basin of sparsely populated orange and avocado groves. Few paved streets connected the small towns below, and real estate developers planned new housing developments. One such developer was H.J. Whitley, who had previously used a large sign to promote his Whitley Heights neighborhood. Now Whitley decided to up the ante for his new development—Hollywoodland.

In 1923 he erected a gigantic metal sign on the south-facing side of Mount Lee. that spelled out “Hollywoodland.” Each individual letter was 50 feet tall. More than 4,000 lightbulbs were attached to the letters, and the sign blinked HOLLY, then WOOD, then LAND, then HOLLYWOODLAND—all night, every night, for a year and a half.

Originally intended to last only that long, it became such a tourist attraction that it was left in place. The “Land” portion of the sign was removed in 1949, along with the lightbulbs.

By 1978, though, the sign had badly deteriorated. Later that year, a newly restored Hollywood sign was unveiled, each letter about 5 feet shorter, with the entire sign more than 450 feet long.

Kyle visited the area near the sign in 2017. “I loved how the Hollywood sign appeared between the trees. This natural framing intrigued me. Golden hour in L.A. had already become my favorite time of day to work with. The sunset colors began showing off as I positioned myself for the shot. I was excited to find a new angle on the iconic sign that I hadn’t seen before!”

Cotton Candy Skies

By Roberto Nickson

A long-running criticism declares that Los Angeles drivers can’t drive in the rain. While traffic statistics prove that crash rates double in Los Angeles during rainstorms, the fact is that crash rates increase everywhere during inclement weather. (Although nationally, accident rates go up only about 34%.)

This classic song is mostly correct: It (almost) never rains in California. Los Angeles only gets about 14 inches of rain a year, and averages just 35 rainy days a year. This ensures that grime and oil that would be washed away by rain in other areas remain on the roads in car-crazy Los Angeles. When the rains hit, the oils float on the wet streets, and the wet streets become slippery. This, added to general inexperience driving in adverse conditions, accounts for Los Angeles’ reputation.

But as Roberto found, those few rainy days produce amazing sunsets. “I love post-rain skies. I also just love the rain in general. Not only is it calming, but it makes me not feel guilty for being inside working. It’s really tough to focus sometimes during those perfectly sunny Southern California days. After a drizzly day in L.A., I decided to go for a cruise and just listen to music as it was the final week before I sold my car. I thought the sunset would be one of those orange-filled post-rain sunsets, but it turned out to be a beautiful cotton candy-colored one. I decided to take a bit of an impromptu shoot of the skies.”

Los Angeles Valentine

By Pierson X

“It was Valentine’s Day, and I didn’t have any plans,” recalls Pierson. “The phone rang, and it was my friend. He told me, ‘I’m having a bad day. My girlfriend broke up with me three days ago, and I had planned a big thing. I can’t cancel, so do you want to be my Valentine?’

“He had reserved a helicopter tour of Los Angeles. Very romantic. I figured that the least I could do was step in and try to cheer him up.”

Among the sights the ex-girlfriend missed visible in this picture: the Wilshire Center, 1,100 feet tall and (73 stories). It’s the tallest structure west of the Mississippi. (The tower on the top counts as a structure; kinda sneaky, but it gets the record.)

US Bank Tower, the previous record holder at 1,018 feet and 73 floors. It appears taller than the nearby buildings because it’s on higher ground. The US Bank Tower was built to withstand an 8.3 Richter scale earthquake. It has the world’s highest helicopter landing pad, and the world’s highest signage.

Los Angeles City Hall—at 454 feet, it was, by decree, the tallest building in Los Angeles until 1964. Seen in nearly every skyline shot of any movie depicting Los Angeles, City Hall was featured on TV in Adventures of Superman as the home of the Daily Planet.

Westin Bonaventure Hotel, designed by John C. Portman Jr., defined the 1970s. It has the most hotel rooms in all of Los Angeles. The outdoor elevators have plaques dedicated to the famous movies and TV shows filmed there, including In the Line of Fire, True Lies, and Interstellar.

Pierson adds: “This was February 2020, so things hadn’t closed down yet. In hindsight, this was one of the last times I saw traffic in Los Angeles until recently.”