@@jeromemarshall9930GTA? What's that? I'm talking real shit. I'm the Chief Executive Officer of an entire corporation enterprise. Got an office on the 52nd floor.
It's cool how they built this based off of the maze bank tower before GTAV was even released. Must have been an Easter egg for a future game. Edit: This is a joke (some of y’all are dumb)
Whoever is in charge of the rules for building heights needs to change it so a spire doesn't count towards the height. In my opinion, if there's a room someone can enter, then it counts towards the building's height.
That would be council on tall buildings and urban habitat. They are the ones who included “spire” height with building height, they call it “architectural height” complete BS.
From any outside distance/ angle, it still clearly looks like the tallest building in LA... Wilshire Grand only surpassed it because of a freaking spire
The Empire State Building opened in New York City in May 1931. At 102 floors, it was the tallest building in the nation until the Sears Tower opened in Chicago in 1974. The Library Tower is 73 stories high and was completed in 1991, so it is more modern, but 31 years old.
1:21 - Anyone wonder what the “12” on the deck of the helipad means? That number indicates the weight of the helicopter id can handle safely. So 12 means nothing heavier than 12,000 pounds can land there. Cool no?!
What's even more interesting is the location of the US Bank building. Bunker Hill was once home to many Victorian mansions built in the early 1800s to 1920. It was once one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in LA. Each home was a mansion so unique that they each had names. After the two World Wars, many pensioners on limited budgets began to move in to these mansions, as owners began to sublet them. The city of LA wanted to be a "city of progress" & saw the old homes as an eyesore. In the 1960s, the city of LA purchased the entire area through eminent domain, forcefully evicting the citizens of this huge area. They then completely bulldozed the entire area, destroying irreplaceable historical homes. The destruction was so thorough that Bunker Hill lost 50ft in elevation (five stories). Priceless homes & history lost, simply to make room for modern banks. Charity groups got together & saved two homes from destruction, The Castle & Salt Box. This was done using the new "historical landmark" designation. The homes were moved to Heritage Square Park, where they sadly were burned to the ground a mere several weeks later. The last vestiges of important history, gone just like that. The only surviving structure from Bunker Hill is Angel's Flight, which was moved a few streets down. The world's shortest railway became even shorter at its new location. The city didn't even have it running again until the early 2000s. The more you learn about LA's history, you begin to find that much of it was erased during the 60s onward. Many historic buildings were destroyed in the name of progress. Many more sit languishing in ruins, likely to also be condemned & lost. Some of the most iconic designs from the Art Deco period are mere ruins now, including masterworks from famous architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright. The city even destroyed the subway system, & only began rebuilding them in the late 90s. The many trollies are also long gone. Ironically, progress ended up destroying the solution to car pollution & congested streets.
@@fl0pZ3 It's sad that so much history is lost. Especially when it's literally an entire neighborhood erased off the map by the government. It's amazing how many buildings have been torn down since the 60s in the name of progress. Many of which are honestly constructed better than their modern counterparts lol
@@k-ozdragon The Bunker Hill teardown was done in order to build the skyscrapers that had been banned in the City of Los Angeles until 1957, when the earthquake ordinances were changed. Until that time the 1928 City Hall building was the tallest in the City of Los Angeles. The original Angel's Flight was in use from 1901 to 1969. The new Angel's Flight began in 1996, but was shutdown in 2001 due to an accident on it in which a tourist had been killed. Since the early 2000s, there has been at least 1 other closure of Angel's Flight due to accidents. Los Angeles did not ever have a subway system until the current system underground began in January 1993. That what you might refer as the old subway was really an above-ground street-level electric railway called the Pacific Electric Railway. It was known as the Red Car and has been brought back for about 1 mile alongside the ocean in San Pedro. The Red Cars were in use from 1901 to 1961 and were ended by the automobile and rubber tire industries. There were Yellow Cars, electric street cars as well. The Blue Line began on an old Red Car right-of-way in 1990 and cost $1 billion per mile in 1990 dollars. The current Red Line is a subway. The old Red Car was street level. The Green Line opened in August 1995, mostly following the route of the 105 Freeway, but veers sharply away from LAX into El Segundo and Hawthorne due to the taxi companies wielding powerful influence and wanting dominance at LAX. An example of a whole neighborhood removed is also found west of LAX, where in the 1960s, large homes were leveled to make way for runway expansion to accommodate jumbo jets, which were just new by the early 1970a. There are old street signs and sidewalks in that region of the City of Los Angeles. Century Boulevard used to go to the ocean and La Tijera Boulevard went farther west in those times. LAX began as Mines Field in 1929 and there are photos of the German Graf Zepoelin having landed there back then. The Hindenburg explosion in Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937 ended zeppelin flight services due to the highly combustible hydrogen gas used as fuel.
@@jasonburger3533 Bunker Hill was razed to the ground for "progress" which was to remove the old buildings & replace them with shiny new skyscrapers. LA had little care for turn of the century buildings, & wanted to become a more modern city while obliterating its past. This is around the time a competing city was built nearby, Century City, the "city of the future." You can view photos of skyscrapers being rapidly built as the last remains of Bunker Hill were torn down. Angels Flight ran for 68 years until it was moved. It was shutdown for 31 years until 97. It then saw repeated closures, & didn't begin operating normally again until 2017. It's been horribly mismanaged since its removal. I believe many of the original artifacts from it were also lost or destroyed. The railways system of LA was a mix of underground & above ground cars, just as it is today. The original red car line started underground. Many of these early lines still have hubs that exist, but cannot be used because the city deemed them unnecessary & allowed large skyscrapers to plant their foundations through them. Thankfully, some of the tunnels are being redeveloped for use, with the old Belmont tunnels being fit for underground shopping & dining. These tunnels were part of the red car line. They're now sealed off & tucked away behind condos & a school. LA use to have one of the world's largest urban railway systems, until they began to destroy it in the 60s. It's still being dismantled to this day, sadly. Many homes have been taken under eminent domain for the freeway system. However, entire neighborhoods generally weren't destroyed & their citizens evicted simply to put new buildings on them for the rich. Eminent domain was meant to be used for services benefitting everyone - not the rich exclusively (especially banks). Most areas taken under eminent domain were more modern homes (not that it makes it any better), & not turn of the century historical places. Let alone an entire neighborhood built in LA's early history, including homes owned by Bradbury (of the the Bradbury Building) & other important historical figures. Tearing up the neighborhoods for LAX was just as foolish too. The airport had plenty of commercial land around it for use. Los Angeles, & California in general, have a nasty history of appropriating private property & homes for greedy corporate claims; or taking land that ultimately never even gets used. I'm not aware of anything quite like Bunker Hill where so many amazing bits of history were demolished, but it would be interesting to find out if there's more. I'm sure they exist. It would be akin to the city shutting down Echo Park & destroying all the old homes there. It's sad that the remaining two mansions were intentionally burnt to the ground shortly after being saved.
It's still the *tallest building* by rooftop height in LA at 1,018 ft. The Wilshire Grand Center counts its spire as part of the building height to reach 1,100 ft. But its rooftop is actually 928 ft high. Now in San Francisco the "Sales Force Tower" is indeed the tallest building west of the Mississippi by rooftop height at 1,070 ft. You would have to travel as far east as Chicago before you would even find taller buildings. In Chicago, The *John Hancock Center* at 1,127 ft (1,500 ft with spires) The *Aon Center* at 1,136 ft, *St. Regis Chicago* at 1,198 ft, *Trump International Hotel And Tower* at 1,171 ft (1,388 ft with spire) and finally the *Willis Tower* (Sears Tower) at an impressive 1,450 ft, or 1,729 ft to the top of its spires, are all Chicago buildings that surpass the US Bank Tower, Wilshire Grand Center and even the Sales Force Tower in height. So Chicago has 5 buildings that currently stand taller than any of the top 3 tallest west coast buildings. Although Chicago may soon have 6 buildings in all if the approved *Tribune Tower East Building* begins construction in a few months. It will be 1,422 ft to the roof and would become Chicago's 2nd tallest. 🙂
@@californiamade5608 Mmm...Not likely. The tallest proposed building for the west coast was a 1,107 ft tall tower. But that was proposed back in 2019 and hasn't been pushed by the would be developer. Plus it would then have to go through the approval process if they ever did. Otherwise the tallest building that actually stands any chance of getting built is a 1,066 ft tower that will go up in San Francisco. Everything else is well under a 1,000 ft. So no chance of catching up to Chicago's 5 skyscrapers that stand 1,128 ft and higher.
@@GalaxyFur it was actually 1,108 feet. Also, we never thought San Francisco would have a 1,000 footer but there it is. As time goes on there for sure will be a boost in skyscrapers in California. There’s been many proposed towers that never fell thru that were 1,350 feet. San Francisco also proposed the same height but was reduced (Salesforce Tower) it’s possible for both cities to build a taller tower. Chicago has also been stagnant the same tallest skyscraper for decades.
Been seeing this icon on the 90s films like the Independence day as a kid, and it's part of every film taken shot in LA. Driving through the Hollywood blvd. then passing by the hollywood hills; you see this tower and it really feels you are in LA.
It will always be the tallest building in Los Angeles. Adding a gigantic antenna or spire just to pass the height record is complete BS on the Wilshire Grand Center.
I don't understand why US Bank doesn't just install a spire/antenna themselves and take back the title. An 83 foot antenna will take back the title lol
@@m4.hugo.426 because that’s not how it works. In order for a spire to claim height. It has to be designed with the building from the get go. Antennas don’t count towards building height. Spires do, although I disagree strongly. That’s why the Sears Tower (Willis) in Chicago is 1,450 feet to the rooftop but with the antennas it’s 1,729 feet. Those antennas weren’t built with Sears tower. They were later added on
I first learned about this building as a kid, the one that the aliens destroyed in Independence Day it was then known as the First Interstate Bank building back in 1996, it had a capital I on the top of the building where the US Bank logo is now.. this building is like what the twin towers were to NYC ,its a staple to the Los Angeles skyline..
I worked on that, been up on the heliport...88-89 was on the crew that installed the Terrazzo flooring in the lobby.. 12,500 feet...we installed a floor up on the 54 floor too. That Terrazzo job won NTMA 1989 Terrazzo Job of the year 1989 #1'in USA. I heard they changed it when US Bank took over. It's all white now I think.? Anybody? Eric Underwood Class of 81 Downey High school CA
I also worked under Don Corleone of the Corleone family tree. And have to say his son Michael was no joke on taking matters into his own hands and also got his father's blessings by kissing my hand as I called him 'godfather' in italian.
Funny enough, the first season of TALES FROM THE CRYPT contains a shot of The Bank Tower while it was still under construction. ONLY SIN DEEP, starring Lea Thompson, features a street corner shot at the end of the story. As the camera pans from left to right, you can actually see the Tower in the background prior to its completion. The pilot season was probably shot during 1988, since the series first aired in June of 1989 on HBO. So outdoor shots of Los Angeles during '88 would feature the Bank Tower under construction.
I’m surprised they did not mention the yearly YMCA sponsored stair climb in this building. I did it several years ago. You have to complete 75 stories (about 1600 steps.) The record is 8 min and 56 seconds!
i actually did it in 10 minutes back in 2012. good times, the best part was pushing and shoving people to fall down the stairs until they meet others to “catch” them x’D they couldn’t say anything cause i’d zoom up the stairs passing others
@@zqpcydbfoqbdiehdj exactly! That’s what I tell some people from Chicago. Or even nyc who brag about towers. I’m like we got mountain peaks that are way higher than your towers lol.
Oh man this is the most beautiful building in the whole city, I liked it so much to the point that I installed a 4 million dollar car garage in it and I have an office on floor 52!
So sad that OUE skyspace closed over covid. It was awesome to go up to the public viewing area and look around at all the sights, especially on the 4th of July!
Los Angeles may not be known for its skyscrapers but there's no denying that this one is up there with the greats like the late World Trade Center towers, the Sears tower and the Empire State tower.
Now the Wilshire grand building blocks it from being seen from certain angles such as Loyola high school. I wish I could have seen the angle back in the day
CBS is a part of Los Angeles history. The old Columbia Square on Sunset Boulevard and El Centro Avenue in Hollywood was the original west coast CBS radio and television studios of KNX radio and KNXT-TV, which since 1984 has been KCBS-TV. That was at 6121 Sunset Boulevard and is now apartments since 2005. CBS Television City at 7800 West Beverly Boulevard is where All In The Family and many other classic television series were filmed and The Price Is Right and Dancing With The Stars still are filmed. The CBS Radford Avenue Studios in Sherman Oaks have the current KCAL-TV Channel 9 and KCBS-TV Channel 2 and television series in production. Both Hollywood and Sherman Oaks are part of the City of Los Angeles. Columbia Broadcasting System is what the letters CBS stand for and why it had been called Columbia Square. They had their own record label. Columbia Regional Park in the independent City of Torrance, about 20 miles southwest of Downtown Los Angeles, has the KNX radio transmitter to this day, hence the Columbia name for the park.
The actual roof height of the US Bank Tower is about 84 feet higher than that of the Wilshire Grand Center Tower. A spire isn't an inhabitable part of the structure and shouldn't matter.
True the new owner is lame and is Gonna ruin that beautiful building to be something it shouldn’t skyspace should come back and stay like In the other skyscrapers like in New York and Chicago.
@@labased2539 I mean, it’s in a earthquake prone area that’s really the reason why it’s not competing with New York and Chicago. The extra cost of making the skyscraper earthquake proof just isn’t worth it for most developers.
@@AxePlays-hc5dj that’s the thing. You can’t climb it. It’s like trying to climb a metal street light. It’s impossible. The spire is inhabitable for human use. Makes sense why that Spider-Man dude said he climbed Salesforce Tower to seek attention because it was the highest accessible point of any building in CA.
@puhahaha77 sorry. But that’s just wrong. I disagree. When I went to the rooftop bar on top of Wilshire Grand (Spire 73) I was eye level with Aon Center which tops out at 856 feet. The building itself only reaches a full height of 934 feet. Leaving it to become the third tallest tower in California, minus the 295 foot spire. There’s many points in LA where you can’t even see it. Including the new 6th street bridge. It’s obstructed by Aon Center. Just because CTBUH (council on tall buildings and urban habitat) counts the spires, doesn’t mean we, who criticizes spires, have too. Spires are not a true way to count a buildings height. Only what’s habitable. That’s the only fair way to say it. There’s a reason they made such “rule” because of the ongoing debate around the world much like when Sears Tower was surpassed by the twin Patrona Towers, who’s spire only surpassed it. Architecturally speaking. Wilshire Grand is the 3rd tallest in California. It’s mind boggling to claim such status with a 295 foot pole. Many Angelinos will say the US bank is still tallest in LA.
The Central Library fire of 1986 did not cause the building to "burn down" as Desmond claims however hundreds of thousands of books were damaged or destroyed.
I used to have the best view of that building when I lived in Boyle Heights, I miss the view, not LA. Skid row was way too close for comfort. I can't even imagine how it is now.
I’ve taken many selfies standing next to that tower during my recent visits to LA. By far one of the most iconic buildings of the city… Also, a dark fact about the U.S. Bank Tower’s history is that it was discovered to have been among the original targets of the 9/11 attacks. Even after 9/11, the main architect of the attacks continued to plan another hijacking of a plane and have it flown into what was believed to have been the U.S. Bank Tower, then known as the Library Tower. Luckily both plans never came to be.
If what you wrote is correct, then it is cause to mention another fact about the building. The new owner of the property is Silverstein Partners who also owned WTC in NYC.
It was mentioned by Bush in 2002 which incorrectly referred the building as liberty tower rather than library tower. Another building was also mentioned which was the tallest building in Chicago, the willis tower.
I own two offices in this building. Each time I go here I park my flying deluxo on the roof sometimes I even parachute down just for the thrills and fun of it.
According to the LA Timese article titled "At top of L.A.'s tallest skyscrapers, diverse firms get great views', the Top floor is occupied by a Japanese porn company.
NO NO NO!!! STILL THE TALLEST!! that stick antenna on the Wilshire doesn’t count. Screw that!!! People don’t let that be a thing ! US Tower is the tallest!!
YOU ARE WRONG BECAUSE THIS IS STILL THE TALLEST TOWER IN LOS ANGELES, THAT GRAND TOWER HOTEL HAS OVER 900 FEET OF STRUCTURE, PLUS THE ANTENNA THAT MAKES IT TALLER JUST THE ANTENNA! THE US BANK TOWER IS STILL THE TALLEST BUILDING IN LOS ANGELES, UNTIL THEY MAKE A TALLER STRUCTURE THAT CAN SURPASS IT!!
@@noahshields507 You should see the earthquake SHOCKS they built into that building . I worked on it in 88-89... Around street level and below the building has these huge shock absorbers built into it...the building actually sways! All the time.. no kidding
@@julianbluefeather8491 Hi Julian. Just so you know...The Shock absorbers were already built into the building when I started working on the building. I was on the crew that installed the Lobby floor... Terrazzo worker.... Marble Mosaic flooring ...✌️❤️🇺🇸
Who gives a hell I wanna see coverage of meth monsters, fentanyl zombies, and black people NOT doing smash and grabs or assaulting innocent Asian people.
I live in downtown L. A. and to tell how your at the U. S. Bank Tower is to look for the crowd of homeless people doing illegal drugs in front of the Central Public Library with all the police inside ignoring everything going on both outside AND inside of the library and look across the street and you will see it.
the Main Library is a practical choice of location for vagrants using intoxicants. Spacious, well maintained bathrooms open to the public are right inside.
I once saw a middle-aged white man start punching the air and suddenly an attack helicopter appeared out of thin air. That tower always had some interesting random events
No wonder youtube recommend me this because I watch too much GTA V contents. That moment I watch half of the video and starting to recognize it's the Maze Bank HAHA!
..... I worked at Sky Rider a company that maintained, repaired, rented, and sold material hoists, man lifts, and swing stages ... (Think of window washers and they use swing stages) ..... Anyway, the lead man and I built a price of equipment that pivoted 360 degrees, had a hydraulic ram that raised the boom, and a hoist, that enabled the window crew to install windows in the top 1/3 of the building... ... I was on top many times... And even saw deep in the 'basement' where there are giant earth quake devices, which absorbed earth quake, and keep the building from breaking apart... ... I've been suspended off the sides of many high rise buildings in Los Angeles while certifying the powered suspended scaffolding that is used by window washers, sign maintainance, and exterior building maintenance crews ... I'll never forget that experience .....
