Barnsdall Art Park

Los Feliz & Griffith Park


This promontory of a park, with views northwest to the Hollywood sign and northeast to the Griffith Observatory, makes a fine urban sunbathing spot. The crown jewel, however, is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House, a prime example of Wright’s California Romanza style.

Commissioned in 1919 by oil heiress, radical feminist and all-round bohemian Aline Barnsdall, the building's walls, carpets and furniture are awash in abstract hollyhocks, her favorite flower.

Barnsdall donated the house and grounds to the city of LA with the proviso that they become a public park.

In the early fall, classic films are screened weekly at twilight on the western lawn of Hollyhock House; see the website for screening details.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Los Feliz & Griffith Park attractions

1. Hollyhock House

0.03 MILES

Oil heiress Aline Barnsdall commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design this hilltop arts complex and residence in 1919. With its central courtyard, porches…

2. Griffith Observatory

1.27 MILES

With eyes on both the galaxy above and palm-flanked boulevards below, the Griffith Observatory hovers above LA like a hulking spacecraft. This is one of…

3. Sunset Bronson Studios

1.4 MILES

Jack Warner founded Sunset Bronson in 1919, building his studio on old farmland. It was here that Warner and Zanuck shot Rin Tin Tin (1924), the film's…

4. Sunset Gower Studios

1.65 MILES

When Nestor Film Company moved to the corner of Sunset and Gower in 1911 it became the Sunset Gower Studios, which birthed Columbia Pictures when the Cohn…

5. Hollywood Forever Cemetery

1.67 MILES

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6. Pantages Theatre

1.86 MILES

Scottish architect Benjamin Marcus Priteca designed this 1930 survivor, the last theater commissioned by Greek-born theater magnate Alexander Pantages…

7. Neutra VDL House

1.9 MILES

Built in 1932, burnt to a crisp in 1963 then subsequently rebuilt, the light-washed former home and laboratory of modernist architect Richard Neutra is a…

8. Capitol Records Tower

1.9 MILES

You’ll have no trouble recognizing this iconic 1956 tower, one of LA’s great mid-century buildings. Designed by Welton Becket, it resembles a stack of…