Miniature Los Angeles (and Beyond)

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Happy 70th Anniversary to Disneyland! In honor of the occasion, a miniature version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as seen at the Disneyland Hotel.

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The Vincent Thomas Bridge turns 60 on November 15, 1963. In honor of the occasion, here’s California Governor Pat Brown and California Assembly Vincent Thomas standing in front of a Vincent Thomas Bridge cake, courtesy of Los Angeles Harbor Department.

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Diorama of the Velaslavasay when it was located in Hollywood, as seen at the Forest Lawn Museum exhibit.

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Happy 84th Union Station!! Photo of the WPA model in the Natural History Museum’s “Becoming LA” exhibit.

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On April 26, 1928, Los Angeles City Hall was formally dedicated #OTD. This photo of a miniature City Hall comes from the Los Angeles City Archives.

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Congratulations to the Dodgers on the team’s historic 111th win!! In honor of the occasion, here’s Dodger Stadium in miniature, created by Brett Pevey (follow his work on Instagram at @archmodelsbybrett).

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This past weekend, Boyle Heights hosted its first Nikkei Festival. To quote Boyle Heights Beat:

“It truly feels amazing to see so many people out here today celebrating the Japanese history of Boyle Heights, a history my parents were a part of and a history that is too often forgotten,” said Okamura during the celebration of the neighborhood’s first ever Nikkei Celebration.

In the parade was this miniature roving Japanese Hospital, which opened in 1929 at First and Fickett, operated until the 1960s and eventually became a city Historical-Cultural Monument. 

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This lovely model of the Los Angeles Public Library was created by Pfeiffer Architects to show the new Bradley Wing in 1993. From LAPL’s Instagram account.

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Lately, I’ve been digging into the history of the Red Cars. Sharing this article in the Pacific Electric employee newsletter from 1951. I wonder what happened to Don C. Tibbetts and these beautiful models! 🚃🚃🚃

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The Christmas Tree Lane Model Railroad has a number of miniature train stations (and a few street scenes) in Los Angeles. The organization hosted an open house on December 11 and plan to host another one this upcoming weekend.

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A miniature version of the the Islander, a municipal ferry boat that transported people between San Pedro & Terminal Island. On August 8, 1941, San Pedro hosted “Ferry Day” to celebrate the new municipal ferry service. A little over 20 years later that ferry service was made obsolete when the Vincent Thomas Bridge opened in 1963. Photo from the Maritime Museum’s Facebook page.

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An old photo of a model of the Stahl House can be seen in this 2021 Vanity Fair article that looks at the new book about this famous Case Study house in Los Angeles written by the Stahl family.

“As the Stahls tell it, the house may have been a modernist glass bubble, but the glass had smudgy handprints all over it. The towheaded Stahl kids liked to roller-skate across the concrete floors and got up to the usual youthful japery—setting Barbies afire and the like.”

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The Yale Puppeteers opened their show at the famous Turnabout Theatre 80 years ago today. The theatre was located at 716 N. La Cienega Blvd. On display at the LA Public Library’s wonderful exhibit about the Yale Puppeteers, this model was created by Charles Taylor in the 1950s. This exhibit is an impressive look at the history of this once-popular puppet troupe in Los Angeles.

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On April 26, 1928, Los Angeles City Hall was formally dedicated. In this USC Libraries photo, a man is working on what looks like the diorama of LA’s Civic Center currently housed at NHMLA (but I’m not 100% sure).

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Artist Kieran Wright makes tiny replicas of LA’s most iconic buildings

Kieran Wright has been spending his pandemic creating small scale replicas of LA’s most historic and quintessential businesses.

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Catalina Museum on Twitter

“Introducing the miniature Catalina Casino Lego Kit! **NEW** and only available at the Catalina Island Museum! These collectible editions are specially made by Histobrick, a small company that makes historical kits. Purchase your kit with the link, https://t.co/fY1qzUtU2c”

A LEGO-version of the historic Casino on Catalina Island.

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Happy 45th birthday to downtown’s Triforium, created by artist Joseph Young. Photo of the Triforium model comes from this Los Angeles Magazine article: https://www.lamag.com/askchris/slide-show-happy-birthday-triforium/