When the Music Center opened in 1964, it was the epicenter of Los Angeles culture. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion once hosted the Academy Awards, and it's now home to Los Angeles Opera. Big theater shows also take place at the Ahmanson Theatre and the Mark Taper Forum.
The plaza linking those three theaters isn't exactly welcoming though. Set apart from the surrounding streets, the Music Center was a bunker on Bunker Hill. Now it’s been redesigned to be less of a fortress, at a cost of around $40 million.