A city pack for the Moonlit Atlas book

Los Angeles

Here the city runs down to the sea, so this set starts at the water: the Pacific in the tray, a pier with a Ferris wheel on the sand, palms on the bluff, and Griffith Observatory up on the brown hills. Put it in your Moonlit Atlas, press the brass button, and LA stands up as the sun goes down.

The Moonlit Atlas book, closed: 8.1 × 6.7 × 2.5 in. With this pack, Los Angeles is what folds flat inside it. Scroll to open it before the sun sets.

Press the brass button. Two torsion springs lift the lid, a gear damper keeps it slow, and three rows of the city stand up with it, upright at 90°.

Los Angeles starts at the ocean, so this one does too. The Pacific fills the tray: white surf, a sailboat, and a strip of sand under striped umbrellas.

One step back, the beach. A pastel lifeguard tower on stilts, the Santa Monica Pier on dark pilings with its roller coaster and a Ferris wheel in red, yellow and blue, and a turquoise convertible on the coast road.

Then the city climbs the bluff: a zig-zag stair up the sandstone to palms and terracotta roofs, the Capitol Records stack, and the steel sails of the Disney Hall.

At the top, the brown Hollywood Hills with Griffith Observatory on the ridge, and downtown's towers standing in the dusk behind.

The sun is down. Windows glow from the lifeguard tower up to the observatory and the towers, and a light burns on the Capitol Records spire. They glow in the dark: no batteries, no wires.

The beach comes first

Most cities keep their water behind them. Los Angeles runs straight down to it: the bluffs at Santa Monica drop to the sand, and the pier walks out over the surf. So this set is built from the ocean up. The Pacific lies in the tray, nearest your hand, the beach stands right behind it, and the city climbs away from the water to the hills at the back.

The PacificSurf, a sailboat and three beach umbrellas, on the plate in the tray.
The beachThe lifeguard tower, the pier with its coaster and Ferris wheel, and a convertible.
The bluffThe stair, palms and Spanish-revival houses, the Capitol Records stack and the Disney Hall.
The hillsThe Hollywood Hills, Griffith Observatory and downtown's towers.

The four pieces of the Los Angeles set out of the book, seen from the front right: in front, the blue ocean plate with white surf, a white sailboat and three striped umbrellas; behind it the sandy beach row with a pale blue lifeguard tower on stilts, a dark brown pier with an orange and violet coaster, a Ferris wheel with red, yellow and blue cars and a turquoise convertible; then the sandstone bluff with a white zig-zag stair, palms, terracotta roofs, a round white tower on a coral block and pale grey curved sails; at the back the brown hills with the white observatory and its black domes, and tall blue, grey and sand towers — The four pieces of the set out of the book, in the order they stand: the ocean nearest you, the hills at the back.

Up close

A day at the beach, on your shelf

Close-up of the beach row: a pale blue and pink lifeguard cabin on white stilts with a ramp, a dark brown pier on square pilings carrying an orange coaster frame with a violet track, a grey Ferris wheel with red, yellow and blue cars, and a turquoise open-top convertible parked under the pier, with the sandstone bluff wall behind — The beach row up close: the lifeguard tower on its stilts, the coaster and the Ferris wheel out on the pier, the convertible parked in the shade below.

The middle row: a round tower of stacked cream discs with a thin spire on a coral block, pale grey curved sails, palms and white houses with terracotta roofs on top of a tan and brown sandstone wall, with a white zig-zag stair at its right end — The bluff: the Capitol Records stack on its coral podium, the Disney Hall's sails, and the stair climbing up from the sand.

The back row against the dark indigo sky panel and cream moon: a white building with one large and two small black domes on a brown hill with an olive band, and a cluster of steel-blue, grey and sand-coloured towers with pale windows, palms in front — Griffith Observatory on the brown hills, downtown's towers beside it, under the moon.

Drag to turn the book. Tap a number for its story.

11 landmarks, from the surf to the observatory

Walk the set the way the film did, from the water up. Pick a landmark to see where it stands and what the model shows.

Already have the book?

New York off, Los Angeles on

Your book came with New York. Each row clicks onto its frame with two magnets and two V-keys. Lift it straight up and it comes free.

Once New York's three rows are off, lift its harbor plate out of the tray.

Drop in the Los Angeles plate: the Pacific, with its surf, a sailboat and the beach umbrellas.

Set the Los Angeles rows on, back to front. The grooves slide over the keys and the magnets pull each row home. New York goes back on the same way whenever you want it.

What's in the Los Angeles pack

The set

Three building rows and an ocean plate that drop into your book and click onto its frames with magnets. No batteries: after a lamp has charged them, the windows and the light on the Capitol Records spire glow brightest for 30 to 60 minutes.

Weight: about 5.0 oz 141 g
Made from: PLA
Building depth: up to 0.47 in, so the rows fold flat 12 mm

The closed Moonlit Atlas book: navy cover, cream page block and a brass button

Add-on: needs the Moonlit Atlas book

Los Angeles needs a book to stand in

This pack is the city only. It stands up inside the Moonlit Atlas book, which is sold separately and comes with New York. The rows click onto the book's frames, so Los Angeles swaps with New York or any other city set in seconds.

See the Moonlit Atlas book