L.A. Conservancy Walking Tours

Don’t waste your money on other gimmicky tours of LA. LA Conservancy tours are legit and you’ll get more than just a drive by of a celebs house. Learn the history and richness LA has to offer. The tours are volunteer run and you will pay a small fee. Tours are not just for out of towners. LA natives, you’ll walk away learning more about our great city.

STROLLIN’ DOWN BROADWAY!
Do you ever dream about being in a different time? I certainly do, but of no particular period of time. Maybe that’s why relics and historical architecture make me get all googly eyed. There’s just something about walking into a structure that has been abandoned for decades, or historical buildings where the décor is mostly untouched, makes my mind go wild. Imagining how people lived by decorating a room in my head with furniture and fixtures, picturing family time, what they did as a family, etc… SHIVER! Love it!
Anywhoo! Thanks to the annual Night on Broadway event held in downtown LA, my head was overwhelmed with the interior of the historical theaters we were able to enter and see some form of performance. I needed more. So, I checked out the LA Conservancy website and wouldn’t ya know it, they offer tours. Whoo Hoo!!!
Registering for a few Crew members and I was easy peasy. The Conservancy offers several different tours; however, my interest this time around was in the Broadway Historic Theatre and Commercial District Walking Tour. Confirmation of the reservation was emailed to me, which included their strict start time policy, meeting point, and other vital information regarding the tour. We knew that not all of the theaters would be accessible, and we were ok with that.
We all gathered at the meeting spot, and were presented to the bestestestest guide ever!!! Andrew! If you can, I’d advise attempting to reserve him. He was so knowledgeable, upbeat, friendly, and kept us entertained while walking the street of Broadway, and he kept a good walking pace. You know, a hikers «mosey» is equivalent of a speed walker.
At the end of the day, our minds were nourished with knowledge of the old, leg muscles were fulfilled with the good pace and distance, but our tummy’s were rumblin’ and grumblin’. We were in need of some nourishment. We expressed our gratitude to our awesome guide, Andrew, tried to give him a tip, but he wouldn’t accept. He suggested we donate it to the Conservancy, or better, purchase a membership. There are benefits to becoming a member, at least in my opinion. One that I’m most interested in is «Last Remaining Seats.» I’ll get into all the theaters one way or another. Tee hee hee!!!
CLOSING CREDITS:
If this review peaks your interest, check out the LA Conservancy (LAC) website, you may find a tour that overwhelms nourishes your brain. I truly have to commend the LAC, their website and follow up emails are very well composed, they are filled with a freakton of information, yet presented in a way that isn’t overwhelming. Kudos!!! Having said that, there really isn’t much else I can say to sum up this review.

The L.A. Historic Theater tour by Carol Mitchell, is one of the best tours I’ve participated in… Carol is well informed, energetic, fun, and delightful to be with… and she moves the tour along at the perfect pace! She is filled with facts, dates, and names, and is extremely professional also! Great tour, and great guide! Highly recommend!

I attended the historical downtown LA conservancy tour because I had heard so many great things about the Bradbury building and a LA Conservancy member recommended the tour. The landmarks on the tour were fantastic, but given that so much of the learning experience is driven by the docent, my review is for the docent on the tour itself. She was very enthusiastic and had great energy, but began the tour speaking a mile a minute, and spoke so fast, that several people on our tour group (myself included) felt very rushed because she was trying to cram in so much information in the various time slots she alloted herself to discuss at each location. It is hard for an audience to feel at ease and it is difficult to absorb the information when she talks and conveys through her body language that it is a race to the finish. Even though the number of landmarks visited is manageable, I think the presentation would be greatly improved if it felt more at ease, interactive and conversational. I think if the presentation was edited to focus on a few key points rather than cramming in too much content. She seemed to beat herself up if she didnt remember the exact year a building was erected, which for most of us, we don’t need an exact date and its not worth anyone beating themselves up about. I was just so fascinated with the architecture and history that I let the buildings speak for themselves on the tour because at times, the rushed energy was something I had to filter out. The tour guide was great, but I wish she let the audience get a word in too. I had a question about the architecture and what certain symbols meant, and she seemed dismissive so that she could get to all the talking points on her index cards. I’m sure she was a very smart woman, and said she was a commercial banker, the presentation was not what I was expecting. With more practice and more consideration, the tour will be a two-​way interaction too as the docent develops more experience.

Modern by Moonlight Walking Tour! Highly recommend — fun facts, amazing art information, not too much walking but enough where you covered several blocks. And… to be honest, our tour guide, Carol Mitchell, was/​is just the best! So sweet, nice, professional, and just loud enough without being overbearing AND her fact/​tidbits/​information was delivered in such a way where it wasn’t just facts being droned on and on. She was like the best teacher you had in elementary school where you kinda loved if from the minute you met her. Honestly — one of the top five tour guides I’ve ever had.
To conclude: Affordable tour + amazing tour guide + ending at the Bonaventure for a little treat and drink = Wonderful date night that I would recommend to every Los Angeleno or visitor!

What an awesome experience! I felt like I learned so much. Its true, you can live in this city for years but until you actually get out there and walk around it – you don’t know what you’re truly missing out on! We loved our tour, we loved the enthusiasm of our tour guide, and the knowledge he shared. Thank you for this fantastic experience! We’re excited to experience the Broadway tour next.
Bring water! Bring whatever you’ll need to be comfortable for the next 2 hours as there are no stops for shopping — at least not on the Moonlight tour.

Went on the Historic Broadway Theaters walk with John and loved all of it. We were able to gain access to several theaters and were treated to an organ show at the Orpheum. The organ simply topped off the experience. I’ll be back!

A friend suggested we take this on as a weekend activity and I was so glad we did! I love art deco architecture, so it was a nice opportunity to take a walk through downtown LA and hear about some of the history of the buildings.
Quite often, I’m in a car or on transit downtown, so it’s hard to have the time to stop and really appreciate the details that went into buildings (that they don’t put in now).
Our docent was new and didn’t seem as knowledgeable as some of the others… it sometimes felt like we were a little rushed, when other groups were staying longer.
We stopped at about 10 buildings along the way, and were able to go into the lobby of some, but not others. We couldn’t photograph any in the jewelry district because the merchants worry about people scoping them out :(
For as much as we took in, I wonder if the conservancy could do a second art deco tour… to cover off on some of the other buildings. There was plenty we didn’t see (and you can’t do it all and really learn about anything).
At $ 10, a great value, and a nice way to spend a weekend morning!

This was a great experience, our tour guide was very knowledge and seem to really enjoy what he was doing. He gave us so much history on the buildings, bunker hill and the library. Would recommend this tour.

Nice little detour from the madness of LA traffic, just before the street grid of downtown. Take a 5 minute drive, or a 15 minute walk, and see why, historically, rich people built homes on hills.

My first LA Conservancy Tour– great experience! Monica was a super nice guide, and had just switched tours, but did a wonderful job. I was very happy to see the US Bank up close, as well as the Angel Flight and Grand Central Market. This tour makes you want to watch 500 days of summer all over again (don’t watch it before! After is much more effective ;)). I will definitely take another one of the Conservancy tours.$ 10 is affordable and everything is well organized. Unfortunately, we could not get into some of the buildings due to the Festival this weekend, but that was just bad timing.

I am a damn fan! What a great way to learn about DTLA! The $ 10 you pay is a bargain deal for what you get in return :)
I wanted to do extra different for my birthday. After looking through my never ending Unilocal bookmark list, I came across this and a lightbulb went off. Why not learn about this wonderful city with a group of my friends?
So on an early Saturday morning me, my sister, and a group of my friends met at Pershing Square to take the Historic Downtown Tour. As we were waiting for our specific guide to arrive, it was refreshing to see other people in their specific tour groups also eager to learn about LA.
Our guide, a Diane Keaton look-​a-​like was pretty informative. There were some parts in which it kind of felt more like a grade school field trip but overall a very good bargain for what you get. I enjoyed walking around DTLA while learning parts of its history.
I’d definitely do the other tours even if it was just me. A definite must do whether you’re an LA native or an LA tourist.

We heard about the LA Conservancy Tour through a friend. It was our first walking tour and we absolutely loved it!!! We recommend it whether you live in LA or are just visiting.
The tour starts out at Pershing Square and ends at Gran Central Market. It’s amazing what some of these buildings look like in the inside. Makes you feel like you entered into a whole new world.
When you sign up for your tour, ask for Oscar Hernandez. He was our tour guide and made the tour that much more interesting. He was passionate about the history he was sharing with us and was funny.
Definitely give this tour and our tour guide five stars!!!

The LA Conservancy tours are truly one of LA’s hidden gems. It’s sometimes hard to pin down what it is that I love so much about DTLA, but every time I do something like this I’m reminded of the wonderful, wacky things that have combined to make DTLA what it is in the relatively short time it’s been around.
This tour centers on buildings that were designed/​built in the mid-​1920s, a time when everyone went wild for both Egyptian and Art Deco stylings. You get a little bit of background on the neoclassical Beaux Arts style that Art Deco rebelled against, and a stroll through the old Financial District (close to Spring/​6^th) reveals a lot of original Beaux Arts buildings. Compare that to the streamlined, geometric, colorful stylings of Art Deco, and you pretty much get the spirit of the 20s in Los Angeles.
There are a handful of stops on this 2.5-hour tour, and our guide Annie (who runs the tour program) did a great job of stepping in to lead our group when they had an unexpected influx of interest on the day that I was there. She really knew her stuff, and her love for the city came through during our stroll.
Can’t wait to go on to the next tour!

I heard about the LA Conservancy walking tours through a friend of mine. I decided to give it a try while doing a ‘first date’ thing. killing two birds w/​one stone is always a good thing. i like to be resourceful.
The tour started out in the middle of Pershing Square. I was a little unnerved by the bloody hand print on the concrete /​: i didn’t let that stop me from enjoying my tour. when i realized who our tour guide was, i was immediately smitten. definitely NOT BAD ON THE EYES! yowsa! This tour was starting off on a GOOD foot!
After hearing a brief history of Pershing Square, we headed out to see the rest of historical DTLA. the tour guide was great! he really knew his history and was very engaging w/​the crowd. his name was Oscar Hernandez i think? If you’re reading this Oscar — THANKS for a very interesting and fun 2 hours.
I would definitely recommend this tour to all. I am looking forward to all of the others!

:Sigh: The Historical tour, this is probably the most famous tours out of all of them that the conservancy offers. If you want to see all the famous movie locations like 500 days of summer, Blade Runner, etc. you take this one.
Unfortunately I got the tour guide from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Not to hate on the guy, he is very knowledgeable to the point where he was talking about the rock embedded near the stair case at the LA Library. But there is so much input my head can store that at one point I have to start pushing the old out.
I thought the tour was good but would have thought it was awesome if it were a silent movie. Alright that was cruel, the guide does a great job, I can tell he has passion for this tour. But a little on the down low, do not need to know where I could get the best burrito in downtown LA. Although I did end the tour hungry after walking through Grand Central Market, overall worth a try.

This is our 6^th or so L.A. Conservancy Tour, and this is one of our favorites! Got to learn more about the history of Los Angeles, and walked away appreciating the beauty of Downtown L.A.
The 2 ½ hour walking tour started in Pershing Square. During the tour, we went inside and checked out the beautiful interiors of the L.A. Library, One Bunker Hill, Bradbury Building, and Metro 417. We also got the chance to see the amazing exterior features of the Millenium Biltmore Hotel, Title Guarantee and Trust Building, US Bank Tower and Million Dollar Theater. The tour ended at Grand Central Market and Angel’s Flight Railway.
Join the L.A. Conservancy and tours are only $ 5, instead of $ 10. The L.A. Conservancy has some of the most knowledgeable tour guides who just love what they do.

Even though I’ve been an Angelino for practically all of my adult life, I’m saddened to say that I knew next to nothing about DTLA, specifically some of the more historic buildings and sights thereof. The LA Conservancy nonprofit group does a terrific job of fostering initiatives of concerned citizens about historic preservation and deter senseless demolition. Through its tours, it educates us about some of the history of the architecture from Beaux-​Art to Art Deco; the Historic Downtown Walking Tour is just one of them and after completing just this one I would be interested in taking some of the others…
The tour begins at Pershing Square every Saturday morning at 1000am although they want you to show up by 945am. Although parking in and around the area is competitive, we found it particularly convenient to park underneath Pershing Square for $ 7. I only heard later from other reviewers that the organizers of the walk can validate the parking at the beginning of the tour for a slight discount. Some of the other tours require you to make reservations in advance but this tour accepts walk-​ons which is nice — $ 10 per person without having to give out any personal information is a bargain…
The walking tour lasts about 2 and a half hours and covers about a mile or so give or take. It would be nice to take the tour when the weather isn’t too hot like in the spring or the fall, but the docent in additional to adding their own personal style to the tour, was pretty good about walking and stopping in the shade. We even stopped midway while touring the Library for a pit stop so don’t worry about bringing a bottle of water for the trip…
In addition to the Biltmore Hotel, Angels Flight, and the downtown steps, a couple of other things to keep your eye out for on the tour:
— Jeffrey Greene’s trompe l’oeil mural on the top floors of the Subway Terminal Building of windows and painters…
— The inside of the Bradbury Building which I particularly remember in the movie Blade Runner was closed on that weekend for filming but I will definitely go back to see on my own… =(
— The inside of One Bunker Hill looked pretty opulent…
— A deal involving air rights allowed the US Bank Tower
to exceed its height limit and at the same time helped renovate the Central Library…
We had an awesome time taking the tour and we concluded our LA tourist mini-​staycation with lunch at the Grand Central Market
, not a bad way to spend half a Saturday…

I have a slight obsession with Angelino Heights, so I’m biased… but this tour was amazing.
It focuses on the 1300 block of Carroll Avenue, and a bit of East Edgeware avenue. You’ll get a great history of Los Angeles, and will come away feeling as though you have a good picture of the development of our fair city. You’ll also get a decent primer on architecture, but it’s not too heavy-​handed.
On our tour, we were lucky enough to go into two houses — the Innes («Charmed») House and the Libby house on East Edgeware. Major kudos to Murray and Bobby for being kind enough to open their homes to strangers.
As I mentioned in my review of Carroll Ave, it’s worth your time to visit the 1400 block of Carroll Ave, as well as the other streets in the neighborhood (Douglas, Kellam, Calumet, Edgeware, Kensington, Bellevue, etc). There are a few great Victorians sprinkled in on those streets also.
Very much worth the $ 10 that it costs to go.
NOTE: These tours seem to book up fast! Unlike the other LA Conservancy tours, which take place 2 – 4 times per month, the Angelino Heights tour just happens once each month. We had to buy our tickets over 2 months in advance in order to find an open spot.

This review is long past due, what an amazing tour!
We took the historic downtown tour (moar info here:
)
Seriously you guys this tour will give you an entirely different perspective of downtown LA, and it’s only 10 bucks!
They offer other tours as well, definitely worth checking out what the LA Conservancy has to offer!

The LA Conservancy holds walking tours of various DTLA areas every Saturday. The Modern Skyline tour is on the first and third Saturdays of the month, at $ 10 a person for non-​members. We were walk-​ons and it was no problem for us and another couple to join in, although the group was a little too big; we often had a hard time hearing our guide, who was a retired art professor from Cal State Northridge.
Still, we heard some interesting information on our 2.5 hour walk around the financial district. I hardly ever visit downtown LA on my own, so I had never seen most of the skyscrapers that close, nor had I noticed some of the details, like the history of written language on the Central Library’s steps. We also learned about the public art in front of many buildings, and she talked about the architecture as well. This tour is a great affordable way to get some background info and see downtown landmarks up close. I’m interested in taking some of their other tours.

I’m pretty sure if you pricked my finger, I would bleed LA, but I bleed for today’s LA. Yesterday’s LA, well, that’s a mystery to me, so instead of continuing to live in the dark with regard to LA’s past, I thought I’d at least get a little night light.
Making reservations was easy and $ 10 seemed like a ridiculously fair amount for all the info I would be soaking up.
I arrived at Pershing Square at 10 and met my tour guide, Kenon. A lovely retired history professor from CSUN, she was sprightly and provided interesting facts about the architecture of Downtown LA’s older buildings, and really helped the group open our eyes to our surroundings and the pretty obvious contrast of new LA to old LA. I think it would be interesting to take the tour from a couple of different guides, as each one is probably passionate about a different aspect of Downtown LA, so the info spewed out to you would be the same, but with unique little notes from each tour guide.
We made our way from Pershing Square and ended at Grand Central Market. I’ve got to say that my favorite part was the Bradbury Building as I’ve heard the name plenty of times but had never been inside. It was quite spectacular and I felt like I was on the Titanic standing on the ground floor looking up.
There was a decent amount of walking on the tour (including a bathroom pit stop at the library), but nothing a decent pair of sneaks can’t handle. It’s about two hours and it’s genius to end at Grand Central Market because then we could all satisfy our hunger pains!