Sky Space

This image isn’t mine. I found it online, although I see this building all the time, I haven’t photographed it.

This weekend I had the pleasure of going to the top, seeing all those incredible views. I figure. I better let you see what the building itself looks like. The US Bank building, The Library Tower or today as it is known, OUE.  This picture was taken before OUE bought the building and added the observation deck and slide. They are on the 69th floor, where the two outcroppings end, a few floors before the crown.Two elevator rides up and we are on the 70th floor. Looking down on the slide. My fear of heights prevented me from going down this.  Others in my group did it and enjoyed it. Well, maybe they didn’t enjoy it as much as they claimed……I was happy to have my picture taken with the angel wings. So why did this not scare me? Because it feels stable and solid. Because that thick glass is high and I don’t feel like I will fall. That slide is 100% glass, sitting, even for a moment on the glass would have freaked me out.

Inside the building, on the 54th floor, there is a shaft with mirrors and lights going down to the ground. It is covered with thick glass, I got dizzy peering over the edge. I know my limits. The views!  The day was so clear and bright, we had strong winds the day before. So the views were spectacular.  You know me, I have a whole collection of images of the Hollywood sign from all kinds of angles. How about this one! Or the Broad Tower, with views of Santa Monica bay beyond. This is now the tallest building west of the Mississippi. The US Bank tower is on higher ground. But if they stood side to side, the Broad would be taller, and not only because of the spire. But they don’t have an observation deck.Just looking south at the massive landscape of Los Angeles.Staples Center, the Convention center and the old Hotel Figueroa. Also the cross of the 10 and the 110 freeways.Looking down on buildings I only see from the ground. This is the gas flame of the Gas Company Tower. Built at same time as the US Bank building. Both bought air rights from the library, that money was used to renovate and expand the library. Next to it, well really across the street, is the Biltmore Hotel and in front of that, Pershing Square.On the other side, The Bonaventure Hotel. A law that was rescinded recently said that all buildings over a certain height in Los Angeles, have to have a helicopter pad. The number indicates the weight that can land.  The Broad was built after the law was changed, maybe now we’ll start to see more interesting rooflines on buildings.Look at a map of Los Angeles, the streets in downtown are slightly torqued, they don’t follow the north-south grid.  When the first design of Los Angeles was proposed by Lieutenant Ord, back in 1852, he followed the Spanish tradition of having the north facing streets be more to the Northwest, so that all angles would get more sunlight. I’m not sure that the Bank of America building is perfectly on the correct axis, but it is more so than all of its neighbors which makes it stand out like a sore thumb.  As the city grew, the streets returned to a north-south, east-west axis.City Hall looks so small from above. Beyond it, Union Station with the railroad tracks.The yellow brick building is the Bradbury Building. I have often looked up at the glass atrium. It’s large. Looking down at it, I realize how very large it really is.

For those of you who come on one of our conservancy tours, you will get a coupon to visit the Sky Space. Locals get a discount as well. Otherwise, it’s $25, another $8 for the pleasure of two seconds on the slide.

Leah

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