Los Angeles: A Tour Via Cinema

Los Angeles not only is the home of Hollywood itself, but also has been filmed countless times in countless movies. The hills around Los Angeles have been the backdrop for countless love scenes, car chases and panoramas. Historic Los Angeles has also been featured many times.

We start with Griffith Park Observatory, one of Los Angeles' most famous landmarks that was completed in 1935. James Dean filmed a huge part of Rebel Without A Cause on the grounds and is perhaps the most famous movie filmed at the observatory. James Cameron used the observatory as the beginning part of his groundbreaking Terminator movie when the T-800 beats up three punks to find clothes. The climactic scene of The Rocketeer also takes place as young Bill Campbell rockets off to save his girl and the world from the Nazis. Transformers also featured the park with Optimus Prime and his Autobots trying to find the location of the ancient Allspark.

A good portion of Independence Day takes place in Los Angeles, including the U.S. Bank Tower and the Fourth Street Viaduct. The U.S. Bank Tower is completely destroyed by the huge alien spacecraft in their initial attack. The tower is the tallest building in the western United States and tallest building in the Los Angeles skyline.

The Fox Plaza was defended by John McClane in the original Die Hard movie. Located at 2121 Avenue of the Stars, the lobby was also in the opening scene of the movie Speed.

Los Angeles International Airport is one of the most recognizable airports on film. The Terminal and Catch Me If You Can were filmed inside. Speed and Airplane! were both filmed outside. George Lucas' inspiring first movie THX 1138 was also filmed at the iconic airport extensively. In addition to these movies, many films have quick shots of the white architecture outside the airport.

Another famous L.A. landmark is the Hollywood sign overlooking the city on Mount Lee. Erected in 1923 to be used as an advertisement, the sign was kept up as an iconic reminder of the power of Hollywood. At last count, more than fifty films have had shots of the sign. The sign tumbled down the hillside in 1974's Earthquake, and met a similar fate in Superman. A portion of the sign that read "Land" was destroyed in the Rocketeer and destroyed again by a tornado in The Day After Tomorrow.

These are the most recognizable places filmed in Los Angeles. There are many more places around Los Angeles you can tour that have been in many movies over many years.