Discover 20 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Burbank (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Storer House, Amelia Earheart, and St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church. Also, be sure to include Mulholland Dam in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Burbank (California).
Table of Contents
Storer House
Historical landmark in Los Angeles, California. Storer House is a Frank Lloyd Wright house in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles built in 1923. The structure is noteworthy as one of the four Mayan Revival style textile-block houses built by Wright in the Los Angeles area from 1922 to 1924.[1]
Amelia Earheart
The North Hollywood Amelia Earhart Regional Library, which was formerly known as the North Hollywood Branch Library, is a branch library in the Los Angeles Public Library system, located in the North Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California. It was built in 1930 based on a Mediterranean Revival design by architects Weston & Weston.[2]
St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church
Catholic church in Burbank, California. St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church is a Catholic parish on North Fifth Street in Burbank, California. It includes a Catholic church, elementary school, and high school. Founded in 1907, it was one of the first Catholic churches in the San Fernando Valley. Known as Holy Trinity Parish until 1939, it was renamed in honor of St. Robert Bellarmine. The church and school buildings on the St. Robert Bellarmine campus are modeled after colonial American buildings, including Monticello, Independence Hall, Mount Vernon and the library at the University of Virginia.[3]
Address: 133 N 5th St, Burbank (Burbank)
Mulholland Dam
The Mulholland Dam is a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power dam located in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California, east of the Hollywood Freeway. Designed with a storage capacity of 7,900 acre⋅ft of water at a maximum depth of 183 feet, the dam forms the Hollywood Reservoir, which collects water from various aqueducts and impounds the creek of Weid Canyon.[4]
Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation
The Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation is in Los Angeles, California. The shrine is a 75-foot-tall structure of marble, mosaic, and sculpted figures and is the burial site for fifteen pioneers of aviation. Designed by Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. and sculptor, Federico Augustino Giorgi, it was built in 1924 as the entrance to Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery. Aviation enthusiast James Gillette was impressed by the rotunda's close proximity to the airport and Lockheed Aircraft Company. He conceived a plan to use the structure as a shrine to aviation and worked to that end for two decades. It was dedicated in 1953 by aviation enthusiasts who wanted a final resting place for pilots, mechanics, and other pioneers of flight.
Dedicated to the honored dead of American aviation on the 50th anniversary of powered flight, December 17, 1953, by Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker USAF (retired). Beneath the memorial tablets in this sacred portal rest the cremated remains of famous flyers who contributed so much to the history and development of aviation. The bronze plaques upon the marble walls memorialize beloved Americans who devoted their lives to the advancement of the air age. Administered under the auspices of the Brookins–Lahm–Wright Aeronautical Foundation, this shrine stands as a lasting tribute.
On May 27, 1996, it was rededicated by Dr. Tom Crouch, Chairman of the Aeronautics Department at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution.[5]
Château Élysée
The Manor Hotel - A Religious Retreat of the Church of Scientology is a hotel originally built as the Château Élysée and located at 5930 Franklin Ave. in the Franklin Village section of Los Angeles, California. It was originally built as a luxury long-term residential apartment house for movie stars by Elinor K. Ince, widow of Thomas H. Ince, the highly successful pioneer silent filmmaker who died in 1924. Designed by eminent architect Arthur E. Harvey as a prominent seven-story replica of a 17th-century French-Normandy castle, it remains as the most impressive of several Hollywood chateaux built during the area's booming 1920s.[6]
Address: 5930 Franklin Avenue, Burbank (Central Los Angeles)
Warner Bros. Studios
Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, formerly known as Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Studios and The Burbank Studios, is a major filmmaking facility owned and run by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. in Burbank, California. First National Pictures built the 62-acre studio lot in 1926 as it expanded from a film distributor to film production.[7]
Lovell House
Historical landmark in Los Angeles, California. The Lovell House or Lovell Health House is an International style modernist residence designed and built by Richard Neutra between 1927 and 1929. The home, located at 4616 Dundee Drive in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, was built for the physician and naturopath Philip Lovell. It is considered a major monument in architectural history, and was a turning point in Neutra's career.
It is often described as the first steel frame house in the United States, and also an early example of the use of gunite (sprayed-on concrete). Neutra was familiar with steel construction due to his earlier work with the Chicago firm Holabird & Roche. Neutra served as the contractor for the project in order to manage the cost and quality.[8]
Lasky-DeMille Barn
The Lasky-DeMille Barn is one of Hollywood's first film studios. It is a designated California State Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now the site of the Hollywood Heritage Museum.[9]
Glendale Public Library
Glendale Public Library is a name used for a group of seven library branches in Glendale, California, under the Library, Arts & Culture Department, including the Downtown Central Library and the Brand Library & Art Center. GPL's branches have hosted many events, and offers numerous services for customers.[10]
Address: 222 East Harvard Street, Burbank (Glendale)
Hollywood Cross
Historical landmark in Los Angeles, California. The Hollywood Cross is a 32-foot high, steel cross and historic-cultural monument in Hollywood, California. Located just above the Ford Amphitheatre and overlooking the Cahuenga Pass, Hollywood Freeway and Hollywood Bowl, it was originally erected as a memorial for Christine Wetherill Stevenson and is now owned by The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, California.[11]
10 Universal City Plaza
Office. 10 Universal City Plaza is a 35-story, 154.23 m rhombic skyscraper in Universal City, California near Los Angeles. The tower was completed in 1984 by Hathaway Dinwiddie, and was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and contains 820,000 sq ft of office space. It is the tallest building in the San Fernando Valley.
French conglomerate Vivendi Universal sold the building to CarrAmerica Realty Corporation and Beacon Capital Partners in 2003, for $190 million. CarrAmerica have owned 80% of this building, while Vivendi and NBC Universal owned the remainder. The building was sold to Broadway Partners in December 2006. The firm lost control of the building in March 2008 in an auction to a partnership between Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners for $306 million after Broadway failed to service its massive debt load.
On October 3, 2013, it was reported by the LA Times that NBCUniversal's parent company Comcast Corporation had purchased the building for about $420 million.[12]
Burbank City Hall
City government office in Burbank, California. Burbank City Hall is the site of the municipal government of Burbank, California, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Designed by architects William Allen and W. George Lutzi in the Moderne or Art Deco style, ground was broken in February 1941 and construction was completed in 1943. The structure was partially funded by the Federal Works Agency, Works Progress Administration (WPA). It was completed at a total cost of $409,000.
Burbank City Councilman Ted McConkey told the Los Angeles Daily News in 1996: "Anyone walking into City Hall would recognize that it's something unique. It's special because of the period in which it was built, because of the way it's been maintained and because of all the murals at City Hall. We get an inordinate number of requests to use City Hall from film companies." When it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, it became the second listed building in Burbank — the first being Burbank's main post office.
The structure's 77-foot tower serves as the main lobby and features art deco detailing and more than 20 types of marble, which can be found in the city seal on the floor, the trim, walls and in the treads and risers of the grand stairway. Its artistic features include several works: cast medallions, one bas-relief sculpture by Bartolo Mako titled 'A Tribute to Craftsmen" along Third Street, two bas-relief sculpture panels on the front facade of an unknown artist and a framed painting titled "Justice, also by Mako, for hanging in the City Attorney's office.
Burbank City Hall's most notable artistic features are the large murals painted by muralist Hugo Ballin. Ballin also painted the murals at the Griffith Observatory and Wilshire Boulevard Temple. There are two major Ballin murals at the Burbank City Hall: "The Four Freedoms" in the Council Chamber and "Burbank Industry" in the rotunda. In 2001, the building underwent a renovation project that included restoration of the Ballin murals.
The Council Chamber located on the second floor is noted for its teakwood-panelled walls and Ballin's "Four Freedoms" mural. The mural was inspired by Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 "Four Freedoms" speech and is considered one of Ballin's finest works. The chamber has built-in rails and tables. In 1978, the original carved wooden pews were replaced by padded theater-style seating, and the checkered floor was carpeted. During the 2001 renovation, the ceiling was returned to its original height revealing the top of the Four Freedoms mural that had been obscured for decades.
The "Burbank Industry" in the rotunda features Burbank-built airplanes, the motion picture industry, agriculture, and a power plant. In 1964, the bottom portion of the Burbank Industry mural was removed to make room for a bridge to an adjacent municipal building. After being stored for 37 years rolled in a plastic sheet at various times under a street bridge at the city's yards, in a bedroom on Amherst Drive, and at the Burbank Historical Society's Gordon Howard Museum, the 1964 building (and the bridge to it) were demolished and the lower section returned to its place and reattached by art conservators. The unveiling ceremony for all the restored art took place on September 10, 2001.[13]
Address: 275 E Olive Ave, Burbank (Burbank)
Martial Arts History Museum
Museum in Burbank, California. The Martial Arts History Museum is a museum in America devoted to the history of martial arts located in Burbank, California. It was created as an educational facility teaching young people and visitors about art, culture and tradition and how Asian history became part of American history through the martial arts. The Martial Arts History Museum is divided into several sections including China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Hawaii, Anime and Media.[14]
Address: 2319 W Magnolia Blvd, 91506-1735 Burbank (Burbank)
Hollywood Tower
Hollywood Tower, originally known as La Belle Tour, is a large apartment building in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The tower, built in 1929, was a popular residence for entertainment industry employees for many years and has often been cited as the inspiration for Disney's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attractions. The real-life Hollywood Tower was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.[15]
St. Leon Cathedral
Cathedral in Burbank, California. St. Leon Armenian Cathedral in the city of Burbank, California is an Armenian Apostolic cathedral that was built in 2010. The cathedral is home to the Armenian community in the Southern California area and is located directly across the street to Woodbury University. The cathedral was consecrated by HH Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians. The cathedral falls on the northern side of Glenoaks Boulevard and is visible from the Interstate 5 freeway.[16]
Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District
Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District consists of twelve blocks between the 6200 and 7000 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. This strip of commercial and retail businesses is recognized for its historical significance and was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[17]
St. Anne Melkite Catholic Cathedral
St. Anne Melkite Greek Catholic Cathedral in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, is a modern cathedral inspired by Byzantine architecture. It is the co-cathedral church of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton, which encompasses the entire United States.[18]
C.E. Toberman Estate
The C. E. Toberman Estate, also known as Villa Las Colinas, is a gated Mission Revival mansion and estate on Camino Palmero in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1984.[19]
Saint Saviour's Chapel
Saint Saviour's Chapel at Harvard-Westlake School in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, California, is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The chapel was patterned after the Chapel at Rugby School in England. Its pews face the center aisle, and it is considered an excellent example of the collegiate chapel style. It also features a large rood cross made by students in the school's wood shop. The chapel was built in 1914 at the original campus of the Harvard School at Western Avenue and Venice Boulevard. It was designed by Reginald Johnson, the son of the first Episcopal bishop of Los Angeles. When the campus moved to its present Studio City location in 1937, the chapel was divided into sixteen pieces and moved to the new campus through Sepulveda Pass via Sepulveda Boulevard.[20]