Take an Instagram Tour of Los Angeles With Me

Would You Like to Get Some Awesome Photographs for Your Los Angeles Trip?

I’ve lived in Los Angeles for almost 25 years, and I’ve taken thousands of photographs over the years. One of the benefits of having lived in several places around LA is that I’ve gotten to know all the cool spots for taking photographs. Yes, there are the obvious sights like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Santa Monica Pier, and the TCL Chinese Theatre (it’ll always be Graumen’s to me, but whatever).

However, there are so many other cool vantage points of amazing places in Los Angeles, which aren’t always the easiest to see when you’re in a rental car trying to avoid getting t-boned by millions of crazy drivers. You might not even realize that there are vantage points for several famous LA landmarks that make the city look even cooler than it really is (like that photograph above – did you know Downtown LA had that sort of NYC-style canyon?).

If you’re addicted to Instagram or want to make TikToks on Los Angeles during your trip, you need someone who can take you around to all of the spots. You won’t need to get a degree in Los Angeles Road Science in your quest to find everything. For many of these pictures, it almost requires a visit before you visit, just to understand where you need to park and how to get there once you’ve found a place for your car.

This is where I can help you. If you come on my Instagram tour of Los Angeles with me, I’ll show you the coolest places to get shots of Downtown Los Angeles, Chinatown, Griffith Park, the Hollywood Sign, and a few other little treasures that are hidden in the hills. Let’s explore some of the places I can take you on this quick tour of the best Instagram shots in Los Angeles.

Here are some of the places I’ll show you for your Instagram shots:

• Downtown Los Angeles
• Chinatown Gateway Monument
• Angels Point Elysian Park
• Griffith Observatory
• The Hollywood Sign
• Beverly Hills Hotel
• Grand Central Market

The tour is best on clear days, but Lightroom sky presets can usually clean things up if your tour takes place on a hazy day! Here are a few of the places we’ll stop and the shots you can get (I’m happy to take your shots for you, but I’ll also show you the best positions, too, so you can take your shots yourself!).

(note: some of the links here are to websites with which I am an affiliate, and your purchases help fund my website!)

Chinatown, Los Angeles, California

Chinatown is a neighborhood near Downtown Los Angeles with many famous buildings and restaurants with true Chinese food that hasn’t been Americanized (most of the Chinese food you eat in the standard Chinese restaurant in America has been tailored to American tastebuds). The neighborhood has gone through lots of changes in well over a century of existence and has become a popular tourist destination.

Visiting Chinatown for some pictures (including the one above with one of the famous gates that lead into it) also puts you within easy distance of getting the canyon shot you see at the start of this blog, as well as an overlook in a park that provides a stellar view of the entire downtown skyline. When you come on a tour with me, I’ll take you to both of these spots and show you where to point your camera for the best angles.

The Hollywood Sign & Griffith Park Observatory

This shot of the Hollywood Sign was taken from Griffith Park, which is to the east of the sign. When you visit Griffith Park Observatory, you can get a pretty good shot of the Hollywood Sign, as well as some great shots of the observatory and the Los Angeles basin, which extends south, far below the hillside here.

On my tour, I’ll take you to a second spot where you’ll get a much better shot of the Hollywood Sign. There are some options to hike closer to the sign, but my spot doesn’t require a big hike. We’ll drive quite close to it, and you’ll be able to take a picture right underneath it with the sign in the background. We’ll star the tour early, too, so we should get a spot to park without issue!

Final Stop at Grand Central Market

A popular destination for people who live and work in Downtown Los Angeles is the Grand Central Market, which is a huge building of restaurants with every genre of food imaginable. The market has everything from donuts and coffee to sandwiches and Thai food. You can find sweet shops, various ethnic foods, and classic American cheeseburgers.

We’ll conclude our tour of Los Angeles’s best photography spots at the market where you’ll have the freedom to wander around, grab a bite to eat, and continue on with your day as you wish. Alternatively, I can return you to your hotel, motel, B&B, or wherever you’re staying after our final photography stop as long as your place is within five miles of DTLA. I can also drop you off at any DTLA attraction you’d like to visit.

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