For many of us, street lamps are taken for granted--a place to post garage sale signs or rewards for lost pets. That is until they go out. Then you begin to appreciate how they help make our streets safer and contribute to a neighborhood's ambience.
But look up and really take note of the variety of lights lining our streets. Have you ever noticed the dragons helping to hold up the lamps on Olympic Boulevard? How about the scantily clad women adorning each corner of the "Wilshire Special" lamps found east of MacArthur Park?
LA's variety of lights reflects the diversity of our population. You'll find unique lights in unique neighborhoods such as Chinatown, Angelino Heights and Westwood.
The Bureau of Street Lighting are the folks who keep those lights bright. They also help create new lighting designs and preserve old favorites. The Bureau maintains a small museum in their downtown office to show off their lineage of lighting. You can learn more about it by visiting their website.
Of course, it's hard to talk about LA streetlights and not mention "Urban Light," the famous sculpture that resides outside of the LA County Museum of Art.
Before "Urban Light," there was "Vermonica," a sculpture created by artist Sheila Klein.
To learn more about our city's wide variety of luminescence check out our video story hosted by Simone Chu.
News
Top news of the day
You can see some early examples of LA streetlights here.
And you can learn more about the artist, Sheila Klein here.
Produced by Patrick Campbell
