Every U.S. city has high rises, but not all are created for tourists looking for great views. An L.A. County planner describes ten of his favorite towers for lofty views.
- U.S. Bank Tower, Los Angeles: 1,000 ft., 360-degree view, tallest open-air observation deck in California. The U.S Bank Tower also has the terrifying Skyslide, which is a 45-foot glass chute offering slides at nearly 1,000 feet above the street.
- Wilshire Grand Center, Los Angeles: Tallest building in California and the tenth tallest building in the United States. The Sky Lobby on the 70th floor and a rooftop cocktail lounge feature 360-degree views of the city
- Space Needle, Seattle: The Space Needle has an observation deck at 520 feet and the rotating SkyCity Restaurant at 500 feet. Views of the downtown Seattle skyline, Olympic and Cascade mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay, and surrounding islands.
- Columbia Center, Seattle: Sky View Observatory on the 73rd floor, at nearly 1,000 feet, is the tallest public viewing area in the Pacific Northwest.
- Rockefeller Center, New York City: Top of the Rock Observation Deck is one of New York City’s biggest attractions and provides the most breathtaking views in the city. There are three levels of observation decks to explore at Top of the Rock.
- Other towers Lau describes are: U.S. Bancorp Tower, Portland, OR; Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), Chicago; 875 North Michigan Avenue (formerly John Hancock Center), Chicago; Baltimore World Trade Center, Baltimore; and One World Trade Center, New York City. For more detailed descriptions of all these towers, please see the source article.
FULL STORY: Views from the Top: 10 High-Rises Worth Visiting
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research