The most populous city in the state, Los Angeles is the commercial and cultural heart of Southern California and the many industries that call the area home. Originally inhabited by the Tongva people, this coastal region was claimed for Spain by Portuguese explorer Juan Rodr?-guez Cabrillo in 1542. Two hundred and forty years later, the city was founded by the Spanish and then forty years after that became part of Mexico following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, Los Angeles was included in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that made the city part of the United States. Los Angeles grew rapidly after oil was discovered in the 1890s and then again as film and television production found itself a fair-weathered home, bringing with it a host of arts, entertainment, and manufacturing industries. Agriculture and ranching traditions spanning centuries are engrained in the city's landscape, and its proximity to a major port has made it a hub of innovation while maintaining its rooted historical identity. Come along as LASN explores some of the landscapes and Landscape Architects that have shaped this iconic city.

SoFi Stadium
On the site of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack, SoFi Stadium is a recent development comprising 60 acres of the original 298-acre property. The land has long been a witness to history, with famed racehorse Seabiscuit winning the inaugural Hollywood Gold Cup on opening day in June of 1938. Once the track closed in 2013, the property underwent a phased and ongoing transformation into master-planned sports and entertainment destination named Hollywood Park. Overseen by Los Angeles-based firm Studio-MLA, the property as a whole will feature 25 acres of parks and open space, a 6-acre artificial lake that serves a stormwater management function, over 41 acres of retail and office space, and over 300 luxury townhome and apartment units. According to the Landscape Architects, the lake is the first to successfully mix stormwater with reclaimed water, and the first-ever filtration system to clean water before reuse. Most recently, the site hosted thousands of visitors for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and will do so again for Super Bowl LXI in 2027 and for the 2028 Summer Olympics swimming and artistic swimming competitions as well as the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony.

Exposition Park
Located in South Los Angeles just off Interstates 10 and 110, Exposition Park encompasses 160 acres of world-class parks, museums, sports facilities, and entertainment venues. The site was originally purchased by the state of California and founded as an agricultural fairground in 1872. In the early 1900s, parcels of the property were turned from racetracks and farmers markets into gardens and museums. In 1923, the iconic Los Angeles Coliseum was completed as a memorial to Los Angeles veterans of World War I and - in 2028 - will be the first venue to host the Summer Olympics three times after doing so in 1932 and 1984. In the 1990s, landscape architecture firm Mel?(C)ndrez (now RELM) created a master plan for the park and the grounds for the California Science Center. In 2013, Mia Lehrer + Associates (now Studio-MLA) designed the 3.5-acre Nature Gardens that sit adjacent to the Natural History Museum. Studio-MLA also did work on the park's newest addition, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, that will open later this year. A new master plan developed by Torto Gallas + Partners was approved in 2020 to support the plan to reduce vehicular presence surrounding venues for the 2028 Olympics.

 
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
The newest addition to Exposition Park, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art encompasses 11 acres of the park's western-most edge, right across the street from the Los Angeles Coliseum. George Lucas, the renowned filmmaker for whom the institution is named, founded the museum with his wife and businesswoman Mellody Hobson to "explore how images move us and shape our collective memory." Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, the building itself looks straight out of the planet Alderaan, complete with a green roof and spacious, shaded entry plaza. What was once a parking lot is now a curving landscape designed by Mia Lehrer, PLA, FASLA, of Studio-MLA. The many gardens feature more than 200 new trees as well as drought-tolerant and native plantings, with rainwater captured for on-site irrigation. The museum opens September 22, 2026.

Pershing Square
Pershing Square is a five-acre public square that can trace its ownership back 245 years to when Spain granted the land to the city of Los Angeles. Now sitting, appropriately, in the city's Historic Core, Pershing Square was named after World War I veteran General John Pershing in 1918 and will celebrate its 160th anniversary as a public park in 2026. In 1951, the original land was dug up to install an 1,800-car parking garage topped with a lawn and two reflecting pools. Forty years later, renowned Landscape Architect Laurie Olin, PLA, FASLA teamed up with Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta to bring about the iconic, postmodern design that exists today. Considered too large to function as a single space, the team split the land with a central east-west walkway separating the green lawn of the northern plaza from the large pool-like fountain in the southern plaza. Notable landscape elements reference California's cultural history, like a small orange grove, a stylized earthquake fault line, embedded star shapes, and a 120-foot campanile mimicking the region's life-giving aqueducts.

Maguire Gardens at the Los Angeles Public Library
Just two blocks northwest of Pershing Square, Maguire Gardens sit at the foot of the Los Angeles Central Library, which was designed in the 1920s with an art deco, ancient near east aesthetic by New York architect Bertram Goodhue. By the 1960s, the land in both the East Lawn and the West Garden had been redeveloped to accommodate the library's expansion of the Bradley Wing and the need for staff parking. After two unsolved arson fires in the late 1980s ignited a public effort to update the aging facility, Landscape Architects Lawrence Halprin, FASLA, and Douglas Campbell, AICP, ASLA, were tasked with designing a renewed public green space that honored the original gardens. The result is an Islamic-influenced design that expands the architectural aesthetic through long, shallow pools and an avenue of tall cypresses. A series of low steps leading up to the library forms an art piece titled "Spine," comprising a quotation on each step written in various ancient and modern languages and arranged in chronological order. Multiple fountains are found on the site, some alluding directly to the architectural design of the library and others providing postmodern aesthetic contrast. Free tours of the building are given every day the library is open, with free tours of the gardens given on Saturdays.
Getty Center

Seen from miles around, the Getty Center is a visual and cultural landmark in Los Angeles, boasting a 110-acre parcel that makes up the hilltop museum, which is only accessible by a 900-foot-long, cable-pulled funicular. In the master plan designed by architect Richard Meier in the early 1980s, 19 of the 24 developed acres were set aside for gardens. The task was originally taken up by Emmet L. Wemple & Associates Landscape Architects with an overall site plan focused on drought-tolerant plantings. A few years later, Laurie Olin, PLA, FASLA was brought on to design the gardens immediately surrounding the museum. In the late 90s, Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects came alongside artist Robert Irwin to bring his grand vision of spiral walkways, cascading terraces, and colorful plantings in the central garden to life. A decade later, the OLIN team was contracted to develop the Fran and Ray Stark Sculpture Terrace and Gardens, and they are partnering with the institution once more to bring about the campus's largest renovation since its opening. Beginning spring 2027, the Getty Center will be closed to the public for an entire year, aiming to improve accessibility as well as increase opportunities for connection with art and nature ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Grove & The Original Farmers Market
These adjacent properties have become almost synonymous, even though The Original Farmers Market predates The Grove by over 60 years. In reality, the two sites were always connected, as they started in the 1880s as a dairy ranch and farm owned by two business partners from Illinois. Once Arthur Fremont Gilmore retained ownership of both properties, he began renting space in an open field so local farmers could sell their produce. As Los Angeles grew, these temporary stalls became permanent fixtures in the 1950s, offering more than 100 stalls of dining, produce, and retail for television studio employees working just across the street. The adjacent property served as parking lots and the remains of the original dairy farm orchard until the turn of the century, when Landscape Architects at Lifescapes International worked alongside architects at Elkus Manfredi under the vision of developer Rick Caruso to create a 17.5-acre, open-air retail and entertainment center that emulates a small-town main street. In addition to a 14-theater cinema, a three-story Barnes & Noble, and a 20,000-square-foot Nordstrom, the outdoor amenities include a streetcar, custom-designed streetlights, 45-foot-tall palm trees, a large town green, and a lake complete with a bridge and fountain jets that dance to music.

Griffith Park
Totaling 4,310 acres, Griffith Park is one of the largest municipal parks with urban wilderness and the largest municipal landmark in Los Angeles. This is in large part due to its early designation as a public park when it was donated to the city of Los Angeles in 1896 by Welsh-born mining expert Griffith J. Griffith, for whom the park is named. During Griffith's life and after his death, the development of the land relied greatly on a trust Griffith had set aside for the purpose, a trust that enabled the realization of an aviation park, the Greek Theatre, the iconic Griffith Observatory, a merry-go-round, a miniature railway, and more. Today, the property is also home to the Los Angeles Zoo, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, the Hollywood Sign, the Autry Museum of the American West, three golf courses, and more. In 1978, global landscape architecture firm SWA Group developed a master plan centered on recreation and nature conservation that includes defined hiking, biking, and horse trails through the mountainous terrain. The city is currently in the first of five phases of a new initiative to create a master plan for the southern-most corner of Griffith Park.

University of California, Los Angeles
In 1914, a teachers college founded by the state of California moved from a small building on an orange grove to a Hollywood ranch and expanded its two-year program to a full four years with 300 students in its first graduating class. One hundred and twelve years later, University of California, Los Angeles offers 337 degree programs for over 49,000 undergraduate and graduate students. At first, the 400-acre campus contained only four buildings, but as enrollment grew, a building project undertaken after World War II added residence halls, parking structures, classrooms, athletic and recreational facilities, and more. Much of this foundational development was led by Ralph D. Cornell, PLA, FASLA. Called the "Olmsted of Los Angeles" by The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Cornell shaped many public and private properties in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, but some of his most notable work involved the 35 years he spent from 1937 to 1972 as UCLA's supervising Landscape Architect. In that time, Cornell created a master plan that turned a scattered collection of buildings designed in the Beaux Arts style into a cohesive campus system that lasted for the better part of 70 years, leaning heavily on Mediterranean aesthetics and native California plantings. In 2022, the university revealed its newest masterplan conceived by national design firm DesignWorkshop, who received an Honor Award from the ASLA in 2024 for the project. This plan envisions the next 30 years of the campus as the student population continues to grow on a limited site while fire and drought prove formidable challenges to the area.

As seen in LASN magazine, August 2026.