US Bank Tower

This is the tallest building on the west coast. It’s the 11^th tallest building in the US and in the top 70 tallest buildings in the world. Given that it’s the tallest building in LA and the whole west coast, you’d think it would be a bit nicer. It’s a dated building with a very depressing lobby and no sky deck at the top to take in the view. All of that is apparently changing next year though as this building is getting a huge makeover which is set to include aforementioned lobby and a restaurant on the top floor with, you guessed it, a sky deck. It should be done just in time to see it’s title disappear as the Wilshire grand tower will be the new tallest building in the west when it’s finished.

From Monday to Friday 9 – 5, I call this home.
PROS:
— Interesting looking architecture
— Full of natural lighting
— I also guess it’s pretty neat seeing my own work tower in famous movie scenes
CONS:
— Small office space
— Poor circulation… the air is either ridiculously hot or freezing cold
— Unhelpful security
The US bank tower is currently going through a big remodel, so it’s annoying that there’s only one entrance right now and a lot of the space is being blocked off.
Apparently they’re trying to add an observation deck and restaurant open for the public, but I personally don’t think it’s necessary… one of the things I liked about my tower was its exclusivity :(
Welp…time to get back to work!

The tower is a nice landmark. Central and conveniently located, however, the inside is outdated. Poor air circulation.

Just stopping by to give a shout-​out to the building I have to be in everyday. Yay for working in the tallest building and landmark of LA? We kind of have this love /​hate relationship.
Don’t know much about the tower’s history but I can tell you that if you work in the building or anywhere nearby, you should park your car in the parking lot at 808 Olive. It’s only $ 5 all day and they have a shuttle system that drops you off just a block away. Hope that saves you some $!

I agree with John when he says that there is a lot of history with this tower. When build in the late 80s it was open as the Library Tower. The reason is was named the Library tower is for a couple of reasons. The first reason being right across from the beutiful Los Angeles Public Library. The second reason is because the Library building actually saved the Library across the street. When the Library tower was going to be build, there was plans to tear down the library because it was old, lack of funding etc. However the Library Tower saved it (thank god).
The Library Building (aka US Bank Tower) is probably my favorite building in the world for a couple of reasons.
Architecture design: The city of Los Angeles has a lot of limits to how a building can be build. First of all, for now, they all must have a flat roof to accomodate a helipad (I don’t know the reason). So this limits architects when it comes to designing a building. This is one of the reasons you dont see antenas in building, as apose to NYC and Chicago. However the architect for this building innovated and made this building a peace of art. It makes me feel like this building is the queen of LA, it even has a crown on the top to remind us about it.
I can write a 300 page book about how beutiful this building is, and the meaning that brings to me. I can write poetry about also, all in all, one of my favorite buildingd.

There’s a lot not to love about the Library Tower. First, it’s officially called the U.S. Bank Tower, which is awful. And it used to be called the First Interstate Bank World Center, which was confusing because there was also a First Interstate Tower that was a completely different building. As an adolescent, I always referred to it as the First Interstate Building, which it never really was.
But there’s also a lot to like about it. It’s the tallest US building west of the Mississippi. That’s not really an accomplishment per se, but it was pretty neat being a Southern California native in the late ‘80s and being able to be proud of something as ridiculous as a skyscraper.
As far as skyscrapers go, it looks pretty interesting. It could be better, but it could be much worse. (There are far uglier buildings downtown, so I’m giving the architects a free pass on this one.) I love the fact that you can identify when a movie that is set in L.A. was filmed by whether the skyline includes the Library Tower. If there’s no Library Tower, the skyline shots were done before 1989.
A friend and I tried to get to the top of it once in the early 2000s. This was before September 11, so security wasn’t that big a deal. We were able to get more than halfway up, but there are separate elevators that go all the way to the top, and we couldn’t sneak past the security guard into these elevators. Before he escorted us out, we were able to walk down a hallway and get a pretty amazing view through some corporate office’s glass walls.
People who like to make fun of George W. Bush might also remember that he misidentified the Library Tower when he broke the «news» that federal agents had foiled a terrorist plot to bomb the building. The problem with that story was that the supposed foiling took place two years before Bush made the announcement, which conveniently coincided with a drop in Bush’s approval ratings. In order to continue to scare Americans about the ever looming terrorist threat and simultaneously bolster his job-​approval rating, he trotted out old information and pretended it was timely. But the better part of the story is that Bush misread the teleprompter and called it «the Liberty Tower in Los Angeles.» I remember either listening to the press conference on the radio or watching it on TV and asking myself, «What the heck is the Liberty Tower?» Leave it to our most illustrious village idiot to make up a patriotic-​sounding name for a building named after a public library.
It’s kind of neat how they change the lights for the holidays and to support L.A. sports teams. I also like the closeup of the Library Tower in the introduction (or is it the closing credits?) of The Tavis Smiley Show.