How in the world does Los Angeles – global creative capitol, home of one imaginative industry after the next – manage to possess such a flat, drab and stunted skyline?
Why is it that cities from New York to Shanghai, Dubai to London and Kuala Lumpur to Atlanta can throw up iconic skyscrapers like so many murals, while L.A.’s boxy tops look more like the Appalachians after strip-mining?
The answer? Blame well-meaning text inserted in 1974 into the Los Angeles Municipal Code.
That text – Sec. 57.118.12 of the Code – is titled, “Emergency Helicopter Landing Facility.” The text begins: “Each building shall have a rooftop emergency helicopter landing facility in a location approved by the [Fire] Chief.” The Code further mandates these helipads be 50′x50′ and include a 25′ safety buffer as well.
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