This post continues with photos from the impromptu tour of downtown Los Angeles.  

The first image is the Bank of America tower.  Originally called the Security Pacific Plaza, it was built in 1992.  It's 55 stories tall and interestingly the four sides face due North, South, East, and West.  The Orange structure in front of the building is a large Calder sculpture.

Some properties do not allow photographs to be taken on their property using "professional" looking cameras!  It's ok to take a photo of the structure from the sidewalk ... its  public property or use a cell phone but lift one of those big cameras to your eye and you'll soon be politely asked to stop by a security guard. This is one of those buildings.

This image is of the North side of the Bonadventure Hotel.  It's 35 stories tall and consists of a round central core surrounded by 4 circular tower.  I watched it being built in 1976 from the 21st floor of the building on the right side of the image. 

This photo was taken from the lobby or ground floor of the central tower.  The lens is pointed upward at one of the external towers.  The glass "tube-like" structure on the right hand side is an elevator shaft that runs up through the glass ceiling of the lobby to the outside of the building:

One of the gems in LA is the library system which has 6 million volumes contained in is facilities.  The  tan concrete structure in this image was built in 1926.  It is the Central libarary.  A new Atrium wing was built in 1993.  It can not be seen in this image. 

The Atrium addition is 8 stories tall.  This image was taken on the middle level looking upwards to the top levels. It's quite different in architecture from the original building.

These red beams are the rafters of the Atrium holding the structure together and ...

Used to support threegiant unique chandeliers:

Another really cool building inside is the Biltmore Hotel. It was finished in 1923. It was, at the time, the largest hotel west of the Mississippi. Of course, it was the scene for many "Hollywood" events including some of the original Academy Awards shows.  Its also been the "location" for many movie scenes. During the 1990's, it underwent a major renovation. The image below is the front desk area of hotel.

Called the "Rendezvous Court", this was original lobby and front desk area of the hotel.  It was converted to this "cafe" area during the rennovation.

Next to the Rendezvous Court, facing the street is the hotel's barber shop.  As we walked by, this person was apparently getting a "Mohawk" haircut. He and the barber kindly agreed to allow me to take a photo!

The last image is the bank lobby of a very old building that was once the HQ for So. Cal. Edison before it moved to the San Gabriel Valley.  It's quite beautiful inside ... something not conveyed by the rather plain exterior of the building.  This is true many tines over ... the gems are in the inside!

The tour is over, but there's lots more to see in Downtown LA.  There are hidden gems like these tucked away from public view.  

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to look and comment!

Bye for now,

Adam