Los Altos Apartments | Los Angeles Conservancy
Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy

Los Altos Apartments

When Los Altos Apartments opened in 1926, the Los Angeles Times hailed it as a new standard of beauty and dignity in Los Angeles apartment-house construction.

The five-story building exudes the Spanish Revival style with Italian influences and, with its neon rooftop sign, has long been one of the most instantly recognizable buildings on Wilshire Boulevard.

Reportedly, architect Julia Morgan designed lavish apartments in the building for newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst and his longtime mistress, actress Marion Davies.

After community activists fought to save the landmark from demolition in the 1990s, the building was beautifully restored as a combination of affordable and market-rate housing.

Photo courtesy Chattel, Inc

Chase Knolls

This garden apartment community in Sherman Oaks was built in response to the postwar population boom, for those looking for "gracious living in apartment homes."
Los Angeles Conservancy archives

El Capitan Theatre and Office Building

The El Capitan Theatre and Office Building is the third of four major theatres constructed by prominent real estate developer C. E. Toberman, known as the “Father of Hollywood.” The six-story building was designed in the elaborate Spanish Baroque style by the renowned firm of Morgan, Walls, & Clements, who incorporated retail and office space into the upper floors. Noted theatre architect G. Albert Lansburgh designed the elaborate interior.