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Seeing the City of Angels from the Clouds
Lost Angeles is notorious for its horrendous traffic, and when my wife and I recently visited the area on a business trip, the city certainly lived up to its reputation. Although we had the luxury of taking company taxis to and from everywhere we needed to be, we still had to allot ample time for travel. Since neither of us had ever been to the city before, we didn’t want to leave without a proper tour.
The prospect of spending an entire day fighting the traffic, however, was neither attractive nor feasible with my business schedule. Luckily, we were able to find a company that charters Los Angeles helicopter tours. Although we couldn’t see many of the sites close up, it did allow us to take in all of the major attractions in a fraction of the time.
Los Angeles Attractions: The Miracle Mile
As one of the most densely populated areas of Los Angeles, The Miracle Mile is a buzzing stretch of Wilshire Boulevard located in-between Fairfax and La Brea Avenues. Many people are probably most familiar with The Miracle Mile through the 1988 film of the same name, but the area is one of the busiest in Los Angeles. The buildings lining the Boulevard are classic art deco structures and a spectacle in themselves.
One of the main attractions on the stretch is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which features four separate buildings and a wealth of original artwork. Traffic, as can be imagined, is a constant struggle, and as such, many people opt for Los Angeles helicopter tours while taking in the site—although you will have to venture in on foot to see the museum.
Echo Park
At the end of the 19th century, when the hills were still covered with native plants and grasses, a horse-drawn streetcar line served the dirt road that is now Echo Park Ave. The community of Echo Park was founded by Thomas Kelly, a carriage maker turned real estate developer. In the late 1880s Kelly teamed up with a group of local investors, selling off pieces of what they called “the Montana Tract.” Legend says that the lake got its name after workers building the reservoir remarked that their voices echoed off the canyon walls.
The Los Angeles film industry was centered in Echo Park before the studios moved to Hollywood, just before World War I. Mack Sennett’s studio was in Echo Park until the end of the silent era, and a large number of silent comedies were shot in the neighborhood, as were several Laurel and Hardy,Charlie Chaplin, Our Gang, Ben Turpin, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Charley Chase, Chester Conklin, and Three Stooges shorts. Tom Mix also built his studio just over the hill in the Silverlake area, and many Westerns were shot in hills of Echo Park, East Silverlake and the Elysian Hills. Some of the earliest screen performers, including Gloria Swanson and Tom Mix, bought homes in the Angelino Heights and surrounding neighborhoods before moving to Hollywood and other areas. Echo Park was named Edendale before the construction of the park itself, which can be seen vividly from private LA helicopter tours. The original name survives through the U.S. Post Office Edendale branch and the Edendale branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.
A Private LA Club
The Jonathan Club is a private social club in Los Angeles, California, U.S. It maintains two clubhouses, one in downtown Los Angeles at 545 South Figueroa Street (built in 1924) and one on the beach in Santa Monica. Indeed, the private club’s location in a prime spot on the Santa Monica beach has been a continuing source of debate, since that portion of the beach is off limits to all but clubmembers and their guests.
The Los Angeles headquarters has dining and residential facilities, ballrooms, a health club, a library and other accoutrements. The Jonathan Club has been rated among the top five private city clubs of the United States for many years, and the Santa Monica Beach location can be showcased nicely on LA helicopter tours.
Membership in the club is by invitation. For most of its history it was for men only, but since 1987 it has accepted both men and women.