Laura is a fantastic tour guide. We took the West Hollywood Beverly Hills tour and enjoyed it…read moreimmensely. Laura is an extremely knowledgeable guide. A student of architecture. Made us feel very welcome in LA. I feel like I learned so much about the buildings around me.

I learned of Laura and Architecture Tours LA while a friend was visiting from Paris last summer. We…read morewent on the Hollywood tour and had an amazing experience. Laura's knowledge of architecture, architectural history and the history of Los Angeles is unmatched. The tour was relaxed, informative and conversational in nature. My mother has always been fascinated by the Hancock Park and Larchmont Village neighborhoods so this winter I scheduled the Hancock Park-Miracle Mile tour as a Christmas gift. Another great experience. I learned more about the city in two afternoons with Laura than I had in 25 years of living in Los Angeles. The tours are well curated, and Laura adapts content and presentation to the interests and knowledge of the participants skillfully. I highly recommend this experience for locals and visitors, architecture buffs and novices.

Archie was a great guide, very knowledgeable. I lived the old photographs he brought. Sad to think…read moreif the many beautiful buildings that were list, but still many gems to revisit and riscover. It's great to discover your own city. I thought the KA

Los Angeles Conservancy is a nonprofit organization with a mission to preserve the historic places…read morein Los Angeles. They offer weekly and monthly architecture / history walking tours in Downtown LA with few seasonal tours. [Weekly Saturday tours]: Historic Downtown, Broadway Historic Theatre and Commercial District, Art Deco, and Union Station. [Monthly Saturday tours]: Angelino Heights, Modern Skyline, and The Biltmore Hotel lobby. *** Historic Downtown Walking Tour - each Saturday at 9:45 AM *** [Parking]: Option #1 (shorter walk) is the Pershing Square underground garage (532 S. Olive Street, Los Angeles, 90013) - $9 all day on weekends. 2nd option (longer walk) is the Westlawn Garage at Central Library (524 S. Flower Street) - discount is offered to Los Angeles Public Library card holders (parking validation is available at the library's Information Desk on the first floor). I only paid $1 at the Westlawn Garage with parking validation ($1.00 flat rate - validation still apply even if visitors come before 9:30 AM). [Special notes]: Arrive at least ten minutes early to check in. Tour meets at the center of Pershing Square near the mini-groves of Orange trees. The tour was supposed to start at 9:45 AM, but everyone arrived at 9:30 AM so our tour had an early start. [Price]: $25 per adult. $18 per youth (17 years and under). [Duration]: Our tour started at 9:30 AM and ended at 12 PM. The starting point was Pershing Square and the ending point was behind The Bradbury Building. All tours are led by volunteers. [Experience]: The tour mainly focuses on discussing beaux-arts vs art deco buildings. Our group walked into 5 different buildings including PacMutual Building, Los Angeles Public Library, The CalEdison, Grand Central Market, and The Bradbury Building (aka known from the 1982 movie Blade Runner). There was a short restroom break at Los Angeles Public Library at 10:30 AM. Our group also rode Angels Flight Railway and fare was covered as a part of the tour. [Conclusion]: A solid tour and it was a great experience to learn some basic history of buildings in Downtown LA. I would definitely consider doing some of their other tours to learn more about LA.

Fun stop when visiting Grand Central Market. So many movies have filmed here -- Blade Runner and…read moreLethal Weapon just to name a couple. It's refreshing to see this kind of architecture in Los Angeles among endless mini malls. You can tell real pride went into the design and craftsmanship. A true historic landmark and worth taking a few minutes to appreciate while you're there.

I never knew about this place until my friends suggested it. So glad we stopped by. You don't see…read morethese old buildings much at all anymore. You can only walk the 1st floor but it's pretty cool!

What an amazing opportunity to see this historic home perched on in the Hollywood Hills. What a…read moreonce in a lifetime moment. I loved the house and the tour with all the history of the family and this home. Our docents Scott was great.

An amazing piece of architecture that overlooks the city of Los Angeles. This is definitely a place…read moreto enjoy the views of the city of angels, learn about its historic significance, and take some amazing photos. Eric the docent at Stahl House is informative, engaging, and very passionate. I knew a little bit about the house and its story , but Eric definitely paints a wonderful picture about the stahls and their commitment to follow their dreams! My advice to anyone is make sure you bring clean socks because you will be removing your shoes when entering the home and be prepared to take lots of photos. Eric was more than willing to help direct us to the best spots to take photos. Be mindful that no photo equipment is allowed other than your phone.

I had SO MUCH FUN tonight on the DTLA Mystery Ghost Tour with Chris as our guide!…read more Walking through the streets of downtown LA while learning details about the Black Dahlia, Elisa Lam, Vaughn Greenwood, John Párkinson and others was mesmerizing! We stopped at the Clifton amd before we entered heard all about Clifford Clinton, his efforts to clean up LA, his wife, his mistress, his attempted suicide and finally how all the of the aforementioned managed to find a way to co exist until his death. Chris was well spoken, articulate, funny and very personable. The others on the tour were cool people too- I met two women from my hometown of Boston and ended getting dinner with another couple of people after the walk. The entire experience lasted a little over three hours with bathroom breaks and a martini from the Clifton thrown in the mix. I'm so glad I chose these guys vs a commercialized van on a people safari in LA. I really wanted to experience DTLA from the perspective of a truth seeker, mesmerized by its architecture, history and seedy history. I could feel the energy in some of these places- magical. Highly recommended 5 stars isn't enough! Thanks Chris, you were awesome!

We had a great day with our guide, Paul! Very informative filled with a chock full of interesting…read morefacts! We are native Los Angeles peeps and never rode Angel's Flight. Paul treated us to a ride which made it special! I definitely recommend this tour company!

This is the annual design show for those of you looking to redo your kitchen, bathroom, flooring or…read moreif you're an interior design professional. I came not being or seeking to be any of the above. I just came to check it out. I found a ton of $5 discounts online, but Goldstar had a deal that knocked the $30 one day pass down to $15+$4 fees = $19. Before you buy your ticket online, check Groupon, Livingsocial, Goldstar, etc. to see if there are any deals. If you're a student you can also get a 3 day pass for only $15! You really only need 3-5 hours to cover all the booths in the South Hall. If you want to see a lot of speakers or presentations, then of course add more time. They do allow ins and outs so you can go to your car and drop off the loads of catalogs you pickup. There are a lot of kitchen and bath manufacturers here. If you're looking for inspiration on a redesign, then this is a great place to get ideas on high end fixtures. There's retro, sleek, modern, futuristic, cubist, straight bling gaudy... it's all here. Just know that some cool designs are not practical at all. There was a bathtub that was so tall and deep and not sloped that it would force you to sit at 90 degrees in the tub and have to rest your arms above your shoulders... not comfortable at all. There are some furniture and lighting designers here, but not too many, mainly smaller independent designers that just have 3-5 models to showcase. No Herman Miller, Phillipe Starck or anything like that. It felt like there were more patio furniture booths than there were regular furniture booths. This year (2014) there were a lot of pre-fab home exhibits, which were cool to look at but mainly felt like an upscale mobile home. A pre-fab home made in a metal shipping container? Yes, there's a company that does that. If you were thinking about going to design school, there's plenty of information on that as most of the major schools in the area were represented in one corner. With all the kitchens on display, surprisingly none of them had any cooking demos going on. The only free samples in the show were drinks... a couple of coffee makers, a sparkling water tap. If you get hungry you'll have to eat the deplorable convention center offerings or step out to LA Live/Nokia Plaza to get some better eats. There was a Coolhaus Ice Cream Sandwich Truck in the middle of the floor. Most of the vendors we talked to were friendly and eager to share about their products and hand me their thick catalogs. There are mini booths for artists and small businesses. Interesting or useless depending on your tastes. Cardboard iPhone speaker amplifier? Concrete table plant pots? Etched aluminum drawings? Heated chairs made out of slabs of rock? Most of the speaking topics leaned towards the future of design or trends in design... more appealing to the design pro than to the common citizen. If you get the VIP packs, you can go on the home tours (visits to area homes, not at the convention site). Favorite giveaway received? Double layer drinking glass from Topbrewer Scanomat. Parking - Pay $15 to park in the Convention Center parking structure or drive around nearby and find an all day lot for $5-$10. I found $5 parking easily. Worth going to? Yes. Would I go again? Yes. Would I go every year? No. I think you only need to go once every 3 or 4 years to stay in tune with some of the new smart home innovations or design trends. $100,000 budget to redo your kitchen and bathrooms and have it look cool? It's doable. :)

I don't understand how they can legally claim this is the largest home show on the west coast,…read morebecause it's not. my first visit to Dwell was back in 2011 and boy have things gone down hill. There is nothing to this show. They tried this year by bringing in "big names" like Karim Rashid and Johnathon Adler, but if anything I kind of felt bed for them- bad press. This show was so dead, in both attendees and exhibitors that it should be free. It has gotten progressively worse over the years. To top it off, the people who work the registration on the phone and over email were rude. Wanting to charge $350 for a trade pass if you're not an architect. I want my money and time back. Not worth the $60 for trade they want to charge. Throw it away!

Interesting, fun and tasty. Nancy was great leading the tour. Looking forward to doing another one.read more

Loved the K- Town food tour with Nancy. So delicious and included tastes and flavors with which I…read morewasn't familiar. Will definitely go back to the spots we visited. Nancy imparted so much information about the dishes and Korean food traditions we were experiencing -- it was an epicurean delight!

Pasadena Heritage lecture "Tribute to Julia Morgan, Architect", was held January 21, 2012 in honor…read moreof Julie Morgan's 140th birthday, the 35th anniversary of the founding of PH and to raise awareness for the possible preservation, renovation and restoration of JM's YWCA (1921) located at Marengo and Holly in Pasadena which has been listed on PH's most endangered list for many years. This was a very informative, well attended presentation on the City's historic civic center plan, JM's bio and body of work, architecture and construction of the YWCA as well as the past and present function of the structure and possibilities for reuse. The second part of this program may be scheduled in the Fall of 2012. Julia Morgan, California's first licensed woman architect, is known for her work at Hearst Castle, in addition to her work in SF, Oakland, No. California and for the design and construction of YWCA buildings throughout California, Utah, Arizona, and Hawaii including 14 structures at the Asilomar Conference Grounds (originally YWCA) in Pacific Grove. Bernard Maybeck was her mentor.

For the past 16 years, Pasadena Heritage has been hosting the annual Craftsman weekend, which…read moreaccording to their website is "the largest and most comprehensive celebration in the Western United States." Throughout this weekend, you can take both bus and/or walking tours of historic neighborhoods, but the highlight of the weekend is the Craftsman House Tour where you get to visit six distinctive period homes, Not only do you get to see the interiors of these beautiful homes, you'll also have trained docents inside who will give you historical facts and architectural info about the home itself. So if you have a love of the American Arts & Craftsman movement, than why not take advantage of being local to a part of the country where you can see beautiful examples of this distinct architectural and design style. I certainly did last year and with Annual Craftsman Weekend coming around again in October, you can too. To see the pics I took while on the 2006 Craftsman House Tour, check out the link below: http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594566541113/