The City of Los Angeles, California is a famous home for celebrities, traffic jams, and earthquakes. Looking down on the life of the city, sky scrapers stand in defiance of the tremors that rock the seismic area they are built on. If you take a trip outside the city limits and look back at Los Angeles, you’ll see a sprawling metropolis of buildings. Jutting up from that mass of life, seven sky scrapers dominate the city skyline. This is their story, starting with the tallest:

U.S. Bank Tower: The 73-story, 1018-foot tower was completed in 1989 to the construction design of Henry Cobb. This $350 million tower was built as part of a $1 billion project dedicated to rebuilding the Los Angeles Central Library after two fires in 1986. In return for funding to rebuild the library, the City of Los Angeles authorized the tower developers to construct what is now the tallest building in California. The rooftop helipad is surrounded by lights that glow in different colors depending on the sports event or holiday being celebrated. The tower structure is a semi-cylindrical mass of glass windows and concrete levels that step in at the upper levels until meeting at a concrete crown. The tower is reportedly built to withstand seismic shocks up to 8.3 on the Richter scale and, until construction of the Taipei 101, was the world’s tallest structure built in an area with consistent seismic activity. photo credit: brionv

The Aon Center: Built in 1973, the 858-foot Aon Center is a massive rectangular structure of black glass interrupted only by the white lines that create a border along the corners and upper edge. The tower contains more than 1 million rent-able square feet of office space and was the tallest building in the city until the completion of the US Bank tower. More than 30 elevators service the tower’s 62 stories, including those damaged during a 4-hour, $50 million fire that raged through 5 floors in 1988. The current structure is restored to pristine condition and displays the “Aon” logo at the building’s highest point. photo credit: SkilliShots

Two California Plaza: Designed by a team at Arthur Erickson, the 750-foot tall tower was completed in 1992 after more than ten years of construction. The tower and its sister, One California Plaza, stand together on city-owned property. The City of Los Angeles drives a hard bargain with developers and, just as the developers of the US Bank tower built the city a library, so the builders of California Plaza spent more than $20 million to construct a home for the new LA Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). The tower has 54 floors and is recognizable against the skyline by its bright blue and steel exterior skin stretched over a rectangular structure that has a corner smoothed away into a gentle curve. photo credit: SkilliShots

The Gas Company Tower: Built as the US Bank Tower’s little sister, the 50-story, 1.3 million square-foot tower is by no means small. Referred to by locals as “the ship” for how similar the uppermost portion of the building resembles a ship’s bow, the Gas Company tower is visually constructed like a multi-spiked torch from which a wide blue flame streams upward. Unlike many structures, which display the logo of the building’s “anchor tenant” at most, the Gas Company tower was designed and built to meet the visual and structural needs of the Southern California Gas Company. The tower’s atypical design features and size make it an easily-recognized part of the Los Angeles skyline. photo credit: Nitro101

Bank of America Plaza: If you know what a citrus zester is then you’ll understand what I mean when I say that this 55-story tower looks like somebody took a gigantic rectangular block of concrete and ran a zester down the sides to make dark gouges. Built in 1974 for it’s namesake tenant, the tower was designed by the firm of Albert C. Martin to be a self-sustaining for up to 10 days in the event of a major disaster. This type of careful design might seem excessive until it is gauged against the slew of construction innovations brought about by architects designing structures that would survive the seismic dangers of Lost Angeles. photo credit: stuckinsuburbia4

The 777 Tower: With its 52 stories of gleaming sculpted white metal and glass, the 777 Tower reflects the sun from its exterior like a 725-foot 3-layer cake. Designed by Cesar Pelli and completed in 1991, the tower displays the same honeycomb-like design of inlaid windows and stepped construction. The 777 is only the 6th tallest building in Los Angeles but is one of the most famous because of its bright color and distinctive design. photo credit: RodneyRamsey

Wells Fargo Tower: Built in 1983, the 54-story tower is the granite-clad big sibling to the smaller KPMG tower. Together, they comprise the Wells Fargo Center. The tower has four flat walls of granite and glass but has the sharp angles of a trapezoid instead of the square or rounded edges so common in skyscrapers. Like many of the buildings that create Los Angeles’ dramatic skyline, the Wells Fargo Tower is surrounded by landscaped areas and pleasant walking spaces. photo credit: stevendamron

As commerce has inflated the need for office space, the City of Los Angeles has seen a dramatic increase in high-rise buildings constructed in the downtown area. With little room to expand outward, the only recent option for developers has been to expand upward. At great expense and with much effort, the Los Angeles skyline has been forever altered by the massive structures that occupy the downtown area.