Virtually any architectural style can be found in Los Angeles, although the ones most widely identified with the region are Spanish Mission Revival and Craftsman, as epitomized by the California bungalow. Such renowned architects as Irving Gill, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard J. Neutra, and R.M. Schindler did some of their most original work in Los Angeles in the first half of the 20th century. The abundant sunshine, attractive landscape, and lack of hardened aesthetic traditions have invited experimentation among private and public patrons. For decades, the streets sprouted vernacular buildings humorously designed to suggest their commercial uses. The hat-shaped Brown Derby Restaurant and the Tail o’ the Pup hot dog stand resembling the featured product were among many that caught the public’s fancy. The experimental Case Study Houses of Craig Ellwood and Charles and Ray Eames are still much studied by students. Until 1956, Los Angeles enforced a 140-foot (43-metre) building height limit (except for City Hall) so as to maintain a horizontal appearance. When the ban was lifted, skyscraper construction began.

Museums

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Los Angeles has more than 200 museums. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), founded in 1910, is the premier fine arts museum. It contains 250,000 pieces of art and is the anchor for what is known as “Museum Row” on Wilshire Boulevard. Other important art museums are the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens (1919) in San Marino; the Norton Simon Museum of Art (1975) in Pasadena; the J. Paul Getty Museum, with locations at the Getty Center in Los Angeles (designed by Richard Meier; 1997) and the Getty Villa in Malibu (opened 2006); and the three locations of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA; founded 1979)—MOCA Grand Avenue, designed by Isozaki Arata (1986), the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (1984), in a building renovated by Frank Gehry, and MOCA Pacific Design Center (designed by Cesar Pelli and Associates), which opened in 2000. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (1913) and its sister institution, the Page Museum–La Brea Tarpits (1977), are popular. Among the museums devoted to ethnic heritage are the California African American Museum (1984), the Japanese American National Museum (1985), and the Skirball Cultural Center (featuring Jewish culture and history; 1996). There are several museums associated with movie stars: humorist Will Rogers’s ranch in Pacific Palisades, the Museum of the American West in Griffith Park (formerly the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum; 1988), and silent-film cowboy William S. Hart’s home in Newhall. Other museums are devoted to children, crafts, maritime, television and radio, military, automobile, aeronautic, and railroad history.

Sports and recreation

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Angelenos are avid fans of nearly every imaginable sport. Four milestones in the city’s evolving sports culture were hosting the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, the arrival of the Dodgers professional baseball team (formerly of Brooklyn, New York) in 1958 and the Lakers men’s professional basketball team (formerly of Minneapolis, Minnesota) in 1960, and again hosting the Summer Games in 1984. Other regional professional teams include the Rams and the Chargers (football), the Angels (baseball), the Kings and the Ducks (ice hockey), the Clippers (men’s basketball), the Sparks (women’s basketball), and the LA Galaxy and Los Angeles FC (football [soccer]). In addition to professional franchises, Los Angeles also supports numerous amateur events and high school and college rivalries. The many sports venues—the Rose Bowl, Memorial Coliseum, Dodger Stadium, Inglewood Forum, and Staples Center—also attest to the city’s high interest in sports.

The city of Los Angeles has few neighbourhood parks but does possess the world’s largest urban park, Griffith Park, covering some 6.5 square miles (17 square km) of rugged mountainous terrain. Exposition Park, Hancock Park, and Elysian Park are among other popular city recreation areas. Of the regional parks, the most important is the sprawling 239-square-mile (619-square-km) Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (1978), the largest such preserve in an American metropolis. Jointly managed by the U.S. National Park Service, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the area includes some existing homes but restricts permanent new construction to protect the natural environment. Regional beaches attract millions of visitors yearly, requiring the services of as many as several hundred lifeguards on a given summer’s day.

Los Angeles revolutionized the theme park industry. From his Burbank studio, movie mogul Walt Disney created a “Magic Kingdom” that would extend the life of his popular cartoon characters into an amusement park. He opened Disneyland in Orange county in 1955 to instant acclaim. Disney’s venture inspired the creation of Universal Studios Hollywood, a theme park in Studio City that also draws millions of visitors yearly.