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Some people have a weird concept of national landmarks. Here are my shortlists for the two cities. My criteria was to include buildings/things that most people can put a picture to. I did not include "places" like Compton, Beverly Hills, Wicker Park, or Humboldt Park, and I did not try to include popular attractions like museums and the Lincoln Park Zoo. They are staples, but not necesarily landmarks that can "represent" the city. The landmarks in bold are universally known.
Los Angeles
-Hollywood Sign -Griffith Observatory -Walk of Fame
-Bonaventure Hotel -Walt Disney Concert Hall -Grauman's Chinese Theater
-Kodak Theater
-LA City Hall (none of the others are well known landmarks outside of history/architecture buffs, believe me) -LAX spaceship restaurant thing -Watts Towers -Santa Monica Pier -Capitol Records -Disney Land Anaheim
-Whisky A Go Go or Viper Room
-Ventura Highway -MGM Studios/Culver City/Paramount Studios/CBS Studios/Disney Studios (insert studios here)
Chicago
-Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) -John Hancock Building
-Buckingham Fountain
-Water Tower
-Chicago Board of Trade -Chicago Theater
-Daley Center/Chicago Picasso -Drawbridges (namely the Michigan Ave bridge)
-Cabrini Green (or Montgomery Ward factory)
-Merchandise Mart
-The Drake -Tribune Tower -Wrigley Field
-Wrigley Building -Navy Pier -Marina City
-Robie House (or insert famous Frank Lloyd Wright house here or Unitarian Church)
-Baha'i Temple
-First MacDonald's chain restaurant
Chicago actually has more landmarks, but they aren't as universally known as the landmarks in LA. I think if Hollywood film production/music records were in Chicago, everyone would know about all of Chicago's landmarks and LA's would be less well known. It's a matter of publicity and having well over half of all movies and recording studios in your backyard puts everything in full view of the world.
Hollywood sign and statue of liberty are the 2 most famous landmarks in america
Chicago sears tower is great but not on an international level like L.A & N.Y
It's called the 2nd city for a reason
Some people have a weird concept of national landmarks. Here are my shortlists for the two cities. My criteria was to include buildings/things that most people can put a picture to. I did not include "places" like Compton, Beverly Hills, Wicker Park, or Humboldt Park, and I did not try to include popular attractions like museums and the Lincoln Park Zoo. They are staples, but not necesarily landmarks that can "represent" the city. The landmarks in bold are universally known.
Los Angeles
-Hollywood Sign -Griffith Observatory -Walk of Fame
-Bonaventure Hotel -Walt Disney Concert Hall -Grauman's Chinese Theater
-Kodak Theater
-LA City Hall (none of the others are well known landmarks outside of history/architecture buffs, believe me) -LAX spaceship restaurant thing -Watts Towers -Santa Monica Pier -Capitol Records -Disney Land Anaheim
-Whisky A Go Go or Viper Room
-Ventura Highway -MGM Studios/Culver City/Paramount Studios/CBS Studios/Disney Studios (insert studios here)
There really is no competition in the USA when it comes to landmarks. LA and NY have this one. I can honestly only think about 3-4 famous landmarks in Chicago.
Disagree. I think the best outcome LA could hope for would be a wash.
To the laymen. Most people in US will be aware of these. Can't speak for international recognition.
LA (taking from initial poster):
Hollywood Sign,
Walt Disney Concert Hall,
Griffith Park Observatory,
Grauman's Chinese Theater,
Hollywood Walk of Fame,
U.S. bank tower (maybe),
Getty Museum (maybe),
Disneyland
Santa Monica Pier (have never really heard of this). How about the spot where Fonzi jumped the shark?
+
Rodeo Drive
Ocean
Venicia Beach (or whatever it's called)
Sunset Strip
The round Capital Records building on Wilshire (?) (doubtful)
LaBrea Tarpits (doubtful)
Rose Bowl
Maybe you could include "stars houses" as a catch-all or OJ's house alone
Playboy mansion (doubtful)
Chicago (a good start by from EndersDrift):
Frank Lloyd Wright's House (maybe)
Robbie House (maybe)
Willis (Sears) Tower
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (doubtful)
Art Institute of Chicago
University of Chicago (maybe)
+
Millenium Park (CloudGate and Gehry Bandshell)
John Hancock Center
Picasso Sculpture
the el
Chicago River with bridges
Wrigley Field
Field Museum
Museum of Science & Industry
Buckingham Fountain
Navy Pier
Adler Plantarium (maybe)
Michigan Avenue
Soldier Field (maybe)
Oak St. Beach (maybe)
Lake Michigan CSO (Symphony Center) (doubtful)
Farnsworth House (no)
Lakeshore Drive Apartments (no)
Illinois Institute of Technology (National Historic Landmark for its Architecture) (no)
Chase Auditorium (Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me) (no)
Buildings by Louis Sullivan (too general)
dementor-- are you Ohio248 now? Good schtick.
To be fair, the CSO is frequently considered the best of the big five, but that may not be something that is generally known.
LA has many more famous landmarks, but a fair amount of them are kinda cheap touristy stuff (enough of this Madame Tussaud's, Ripley's believe it or not crap). Hollywood is a gross tourist trap, and even though I try to stay east of Vermont if I can help it, I'm sure happy Wilshire exists to I can drive through the real part of the city to get west when I want a beach day (not doing freeways). LA tore down a lot of its best landmarks in the 80's when the city became a hellscape until the turn of the millennium.
Chicago has better museums, frankly, but maybe that doesn't count as landmarks. Also architecture aficionados obviously would go for Chicago since LA has no sense of aesthetic to save its life, but that's changing. Obviously Chicago doesn't have anything as instantly recognizable as the Hollywood sign, but Chicago's greatest "landmark" has been exported to the white house, if ya know what I mean.
I noticed many down LA architecture but as an architecture buff I find LA's architecture unique, interesting and quite beautiful. There are so many types. Mid century modern, art deco and so many others. Also I noticed quite a few Frank Lloyd Wright houses in and around LA. I love it.
If you went to the African bushlands, or the Guatemalan rainforest, you think they've heard of the Willis Tower or Shedd Aquarium? LOL. Then ask them about Hollywood or Disneyland. Maybe throw in Beverly Hills.
I noticed many down LA architecture but as an architecture buff I find LA's architecture unique, interesting and quite beautiful. There are so many types. Mid century modern, art deco and so many others. Also I noticed quite a few Frank Lloyd Wright houses in and around LA. I love it.
It's typical ignorance. You see posters pimping Frank Lloyd Wright's house in Chicago, without realizing that L.A. is a monster for landmark residential architecture, no city in this country touches it in that category.
And for the guy clowning L.A.'s skid row--I'll take it any day over the death trap known as the South Side of Chicago.
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