Walt Disney Concert Hall

This bowed silver building stands out among the skyscrapers of Downtown L.A. (though it now has an equally interesting-looking neighbor in the Broad). Those stainless-steel curves have a purpose, though. Architect Frank Gehry designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall with top-notch sound quality in mind, and the result is an architectural landmark that doubles as one of the most acoustically advanced concert halls in the world. The venue is home to the always impressive L.A. Philharmonic, a 100-piece orchestra that puts on concerts ranging from classical to jazz, contemporary, and world music throughout the year.

The Gehry designed Walt Disney Concert Hall is a must see in downtown Los Angeles. Whether you have time to catch an amazing musical or concert or just stop briefly to appreciate the architectural symphony, the concert hall is worth squeezing into your Los Angeles itinerary. The hall is tucked neatly into the high rises downtown and is equally brilliant under the setting California sun or the bright city lights.

Beautiful in the outside but you must hear the music on the inside to truly appreciate the place. Brilliant!

When I was a kid living in the San Fernando Valley we never considered going to downtown Los Angeles. In fact we stayed away from it. Why go downtown when there was West L.A. and the beach? It wasn’t a great place to visit or walk around, particularly at night. But that was 25 years ago; times have changed and downtown L.A. has undergone a renaissance like many other downtown urban areas around the world over the past decade. Today downtown Los Angeles is bustling with great restaurants, shopping, museums, and a number of great tourist attractions like L.A. Live, the Staples Center, and The Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is definitely worth a visit on any L.A. trip. Plan on spending a morning or afternoon exploring downtown on foot. For an amazing view of downtown at night have a drink at the rotating restaurant on top of the Westin Bonaventure. Be sure to make time to walk around the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Check out the super cool bar and Middle Eastern decor at Hotel Figueroa. And have breakfast at the famous Pantry Cafe.

I turned up at Walt Disney Concert Hall relatively early in the morning in the hope of finding throngs of pedestrians milling around. Unluckily for me, it was overcast and there wasn’t much foot traffic. But the more I looked at the iconic building, the more motion I saw in the structure’s design. I used the PowerShot G5 X’s dedicated exposure compensation dial to combat the peculiar lighting and then frame the photograph so that there would be a multitude of angles, lines, and curves. I’m happy with the result, which shows that even the image of an inanimate object can convey a graceful motion.

Love it or hate it, the stainless steel curves of downtown L.A.'s Walt Disney Concert Hall are arrestingly eye-catching. Designed by Frank Gehry and completed in 2003, the building is a metallic marvel. Even if you can’t take one of the mid-day guided tours, it’s worth ‘snooping around’ the free open-to-the-public areas. To get here: corner of Grand and First, downtown Los Angeles. For more info: http://www.musiccenter.org/visit/index.html

Located in downtown L.A. this concert hall was designed by Frank Gehry and is made of thousands of panels of stainless steel, it’s absolutely stunning and worth the visit.