Above Southern California

While I appreciate photography as an art form, I'm more interested in its ability to document the world around us. Aerial photography, in particular, is extremely useful in understanding the built environment of our cities.

A few months ago, I was presented a rare opportunity to take a helicopter ride over the Santa Clarita Valley and take photos. I really enjoyed the experience and found it valuable in my professional endeavors, as one of my current tasks at work is to help develop a new General Plan for that community. More on that experience can be found here.

More recently, I took several photos out of a plane window on my return trip from New York City. Thanks to sunny weather and a relative lack of smog, I was able to document the urban environment of Los Angeles from an aerial perspective. I'd like to share some of those photos here, along with commentary:

N.B. Clicking on the photos will bring you to their Flick page. On that page, click "All Sizes" to see them at high resolution.

As we begin our initial descent into LAX, we're looking south at new subdivisions in the city of Beaumont, about 80 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles. This could be considered the edge of Southern California's "urban sprawl." Interstate 10 is located near the bottom of the photo.

Here we're over the Moreno Valley, looking south at the March Air Base and the city of Perris. Here, agricultural uses are slowly giving way to new development. Interstate 215 crosses the photo from upper left to lower right.

Moving west, we're now over the city of Chino Hills. Fortunately, most of the rugged landscape you see is protected as part of Chino Hills State Park. State Route 71 crosses diagonally in the lower left part of the photo. Near the top of the photo is the notoriously congested State Route 91, the only freeway linking the employment centers of Orange County with the bedroom communities of Riverside County.

We've made it into the Los Angeles Basin. We're over the city of Santa Fe Springs, looking south towards the "Gateway Cities" along the border between Los Angeles and Orange Counties. As you can see, Santa Fe Springs is one of a handful of Southern California cities that is predominately industrial. Employment centers are dispersed throughout our region, reinforcing its decentralized pattern.

We're looking down Interstate 605, appropriately named the San Gabriel River Freeway, as it parallels the "river" to its right. The San Gabriel River provides a border between the cities of Norwalk (at left) and Downey (at right). The Interstate 605/Interstate 5 interchange is at the lower left, and the Interstate 605/Interstate 105 interchange is at the upper left.

As we descend further, we get an interesting view of the Los Angeles River where it meets the Rio Hondo in the city of South Gate. Interstate 710 is at right, crossing the L.A. River as it approaches its junction with Interstate 105.

Here we are finally over Los Angeles proper, looking at Watts. The cluster of similar-looking buildings at lower left is the Jordan Downs housing project.

Massive freeway interchanges are some of the largest structures in Los Angeles. We're looking at the junction of Interstate 110 and Interstate 105, a stack of concrete and asphalt that towers over the surrounding neighborhoods of South L.A.

We're getting close to LAX, above the unincorporated community of West Athens-Westmont in South L.A. I used to patrol these very streets as a Zoning Enforcement Officer. Vermont Avenue is the major thoroughfare at left (with a tree-lined median), and Normandie Avenue is the major thoroughfare at right. Both are cross-town arterties, running 25 miles from Griffith Park in the north all the way to Harbor City in the south.

Right before landing, we fly over the unincorporated community of Lennox and train our eyes on another big interchange, this one between Interstate 405 and Interstate 105. In the distance are the communities of the South Bay, located along the Pacific Ocean.

Want to see more?