Titled simply “Los Angeles,” this 1928 United States Geological Survey map captures the city at one of the most consequential moments in its transformation from regional center to modern metropolis. Prepared at the detailed 1:24,000 topographical scale, it brings together the scientific precision of federal surveying with the drama of a fast-expanding urban landscape. The USGS, established to study and map the nation’s terrain, resources, and natural hazards, was uniquely suited to record Los Angeles as both a physical environment and an engineered city. Here, streets, railways, parks, waterways, hills, and dense settlement patterns are rendered with clarity, offering a richly layered view of Southern California before the full arrival of freeway culture and postwar sprawl.

The map’s design is especially compelling for the way it balances civic order with rugged terrain. A tight urban grid spreads across Downtown Los Angeles, Westlake, Chinatown, Echo Park, Silver Lake, and Hollywood, while contour lines gather and bend around the surrounding hills, canyons, and parklands. These elevation markings reveal the basin’s distinctive topography: broad, comparatively level developed districts giving way to the Verdugo Mountains, Laurel Canyon, Elysian Park, and Griffith Park. The restrained USGS color scheme emphasizes landform and drainage without overwhelming the eye, allowing major streets such as Sunset Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, and Telegraph Road to emerge as structural lines in the city’s expanding geography.

Historically, the map belongs to a pivotal decade in Los Angeles history. By 1928, the city had already experienced extraordinary population growth, fueled by oil, real estate development, cinema, rail connections, and the powerful mythology of Southern California climate and opportunity. Downtown Los Angeles appears as the civic and commercial heart, with landmarks such as Los Angeles City Hall and the University of Southern California anchoring the urban fabric. Surrounding districts show the outward spread of residential development into neighborhoods that were rapidly gaining distinct identities. The map therefore documents not merely where Los Angeles stood, but how it was organizing itself—through boulevards, rail corridors, subdivisions, parks, and institutional centers.

The surrounding place names evoke a city still intimately connected to its landscape. Hollywood appears not simply as a name associated with motion pictures, but as a district set against hills and canyons that shaped its growth. Silver Lake, Echo Park, MacArthur Park, and Elysian Park punctuate the dense urban pattern with water, open space, and relief. Griffith Park dominates the northern portion as a vast municipal landscape, with the future site of Griffith Observatory lying within a terrain already central to the city’s identity. Pasadena and Burbank situate Los Angeles within a wider metropolitan region, while waterways such as the San Antonio River recall the hydrological systems that underpinned settlement, agriculture, and later urban control.

Transportation is one of the map’s most revealing themes. The Southern Pacific Railroad and Pacific Electric Railway trace the arteries of an earlier Los Angeles, before automobiles and freeways became the defining symbols of movement. These rail lines, together with the major boulevards, show how the city’s neighborhoods and neighboring towns were knitted into a broader regional network. The map is therefore invaluable for understanding land use, commuting patterns, and the early infrastructure of metropolitan growth. Seen today, this 1928 USGS view offers a precise and evocative portrait of Los Angeles on the threshold of modernity: already ambitious, already sprawling, yet still legible as a city shaped by hills, rails, parks, and boulevards.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Los Angeles
• Pasadena
• San Antonio River
• Verdugo Mountains
• Hollywood
• Echo Park
• Silver Lake
• Westlake
• Chinatown
• Griffith Park
• Downtown Los Angeles
• Laurel Canyon
• Burbank
• L.A. State Historic Park
• Sunset Boulevard
• Wilshire Boulevard
• Santa Monica Boulevard
• Telegraph Road
• Los Angeles City Hall
• Griffith Observatory
• University of Southern California / USC
• Elysian Park
• MacArthur Park
• Southern Pacific Railroad
• Pacific Electric Railway

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the United States Geological Survey / USGS.
• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map of Los Angeles, California and the surrounding area.
• Created in 1928.
• The USGS is a scientific agency of the U.S. government, responsible for studying and mapping the natural resources and natural hazards of the United States.
• Shows Los Angeles during a period of rapid early 20th-century growth, as it transitioned from a smaller settlement into a booming metropolis.
• Presents a detailed grid of the city layout, including surrounding neighborhoods, prominent streets, and topographical features.
• Uses contour lines to indicate elevation changes across flat urban areas and surrounding hills.
• Features a color scheme designed to highlight topographical features.
• Provides insight into urban development, land use, growth patterns, and infrastructure changes in Los Angeles during a pivotal period.

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.