La Verne, CA
Opened 1947, named for Frank L. Brackett, La Verne aviation pioneer. In the foothills 28 miles east of LAX, with a memorable density-altitude challenge — runways at 1,011ft elevation plus 100°F summer afternoons turn this into a routine 3,000ft DA workout. The Norm's Hangar restaurant on the field has been a fly-in tradition for decades.
On any given Saturday at Chino Airport, more flyable WWII aircraft will start up and taxi than in most museum collections worldwide. The field hosts three major collections in adjacent hangars, and the airshow culture runs so deep that the Chino school district builds field trips around it. Planes of Fame Air Museum was founded in 1957 by Edward T. Maloney — the oldest air museum west of the Mississippi. The collection runs 100+ aircraft spanning WWI through the jet age, with roughly 40 kept airworthy. They fly a Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero, a P-38 Lightning, a P-51 Mustang, an F4U Corsair, and assorted MiGs, Sabres, and warbirds. Tom Cruise's personal P-51 — the one from Top Gun: Maverick — is based here. Monthly "Hangar Talk" events feature flying demos. Yanks Air Museum, founded in 1973 across the field, focuses on American military aircraft with the stated goal of one of every major type. Flying Tigers Aviation Museum, also on the field, focuses on the AVG and the Chinese Air Force in WWII. Together they make Chino the densest collection of operating warbirds on the planet. The annual "Wings, Tracks, and Wheels" airshow runs the first weekend of May.
On the west side of John Wayne Airport sits a tight, beautifully kept collection of WWII machinery that mostly still flies. Founded in 2009 by Major General William Lyon, the museum's aircraft are all in airworthy condition — the star is a B-17G Flying Fortress named "Fuddy Duddy" that appeared in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora! and once carried General Eisenhower as a passenger. Alongside the airplanes (a B-25, an A-26, a C-47, a DC-3) is an unsettling piece of history: a 1939 Mercedes-Benz parade car originally delivered to Adolf Hitler. The docents are often WWII veterans themselves. On the right day, you might catch one of the warbirds taking off.
Originally HOLLYWOODLAND — built 1923 as a real-estate billboard for an Beachwood Canyon housing development. The "LAND" portion was removed in 1949 and the sign restored in 1978. Each letter is 45 feet tall. The sign sits at 1,578ft elevation on Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills. The white letters are 45ft tall and read clearly from any aerial vantage with a southern exposure to the hill.
Tucked under the Verdugo Hills at the east end of the San Fernando Valley, Burbank calls itself the Media Capital of the World — and earns it. Warner Bros. built its 62-acre lot here in 1926 (still 36 sound stages, including one with a two-million-gallon water tank); Walt Disney moved his studio to Buena Vista Street in 1939 on the success of Snow White; NBC's "beautiful downtown Burbank" became a national punchline on Laugh-In. The three sit clustered in the Media District along the LA River. There's an aviation thread too: the airport you fly into was the home of Lockheed's Skunk Works — the U-2 that found the missiles in Cuba was built feet from the runway, before the operation moved up to Palmdale. Comedy, cartoons, blockbusters, and spy planes, all in one valley town.