Vista Del Mar

Location: 12001 Vista Del Mar,
Los Angeles, CA 90293
Useful Radio Frequencies:
ATIS - 133.8
Clearance Delivery - 121.4 , 327.0

LAX Tower North - 133.9 , 239.3
Ground Control North - 121.65 , 327.0

LAX Tower South - 120.95 , 379.1
Ground Control South - 121.75 . 327.0
For plane photography at LAX, Vista Del Mar is one of the least utilized spotting locations around the airport. It's the most beautiful spot to work from, but also the most frustrating. The section of it that runs perpendicular to LAX has an unobstructed beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean, and not much else. There's no place to eat, hardly a place to sit down, and to make matters worse you can't even see the aircraft you're about to try photographing until they're just about to go over your head. If you come to Vista Del Mar, come with a purpose or come with a lot of patience. Bring both and you'll be richly rewarded.

Below is one view from Vista Del Mar. Please double-click for a close-up and enlarged look.


Vista Del Mar is strictly departure territory. There is no arrival photography here unless wind conditions dictate a reverse pattern, something that happens very rarely. When photographing departures here, unlike Imperial Hill, you don't really need a large lens focal length to begin with. Unless you're trying to photograph commuter aircraft, or aircraft from the rear, 100mm to 200mm will usually do. Depending on the type of shot you're trying to get, you can simple move closer to the departure pattern or farther away as need be. When parked on the western side of Vista Del Mar, do pay attention to where you're walking as the "sidewalk" is narrow and rocky and potentially dangerous if you should lose your balance. Below are examples of what you can expect to see thru your lens, pre-edit. These pictures were only scaled down to "0" quality in Photoshop for faster download speed, and have otherwise not been touched. They're only examples of the image size and relatively closeness you can expect to work with at each focal length, taken from a randomly chosen stationary position on the beach. Your results may vary. They were taken on a full frame body, using a Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM lens.

100mm


200mm


300mm


Post-editing with a little skill and luck, these popular shots provide examples of just what can be achieved from here.







Vista Del Mar's greatest attribute is that, unlike most other spotting locations at LAX, you can photograph from here year round. You can photograph departures from both runway complexes with very little effort. If you don't like the aircraft you're getting on the northern runways, not a problem. Just walk a little to the south and you've got the southern runways to work with, and vice versa. If you're in town to capture registrations and have strong binoculars, take a position along Dockweiler State Beach (the beach that runs parallel to Vista Del Mar) either in your car or along the beach in between the two patterns of departing aircraft, and you should be able to catch all aircraft whether prop or jet leaving LAX. You'll need strong binoculars though. The separation between runways 24L and 25R, the standard departure runways, is approximately 3/4 of a mile long. For this location, if you have access to a radio scanner, it is HIGHLY recommended that you bring it here. Because of the terrain just to the east of the street, you cannot see the aircraft about to depart in front of you. A scanner tuned to the tower frequencies is a tremendous help. If you're not paying attention, and you're aiming for a head-on or underbelly shot, you can very well miss it here. Bring a scanner if you have it, or print out some departure information before you come so you know ahead of time what to expect.


Single-aisle domestic flights account for the bulk of LAX traffic, but we do see a fairly large amount of wide-body international movements here. As noted before, Vista Del Mar is usually only good for photographing departing aircraft. Flights get delayed or canceled, planes are substituted for, and on some days certain flights are not flown at all, but below I've aimed at providing part-guide/part-example of just what kind of activity one can hope to photograph when visiting Vista Del Mar during DAYLIGHT hours. To keep the list down, I've only listed TWIN-isle INTERNATIONAL flights. The list was composed through publicly available airline flight information.

***(Updated July 23, 2010)***
DEPARTURES:
Qantas 09:00AM New York-JFK (A332)
Avianca 11:30AM Bogota (762)
Korean Air 11:40AM Tokyo-Narita (772)
Air Canada 12:25PM Toronto (763)
Korean Air 12:30PM Seoul-Incheon (77W)
Air Tahiti Nui 12:30PM Paris-CDG (A343)
Delta Air Lines 12:40PM Tokyo (A332)
American Airlines 12:45PM Tokyo-Narita (772)
United Airlines 12:45PM London-Heathrow (772)
ANA 12:55PM Tokyo-Narita (77W)
Air Tahiti Nui 01:00PM Papeete (A343)
United Airlines 01:10PM Tokyo-Narita (744)
LAN 01:20PM Lima (763)
Japan Airlines 01:20PM Tokyo-Narita (77W)
China Eastern Airlines 01:30PM Shanghai (A346)
Asiana Airlines 01:40PM Seoul (744)
Cathay Pacific 01:40PM Hong Kong (77W)
El Al 01:45PM Tel Aviv (772)
Singapore Airlines 02:45PM Tokyo-Narita (744)
Lufthansa 02:50PM Frankfurt (744)
Alitalia 03:25PM Rome (772)
Air France 03:30PM Paris-CDG (77W)
China Airlines 03:55PM Taipei (744)
British Airways 04:00PM London-Heathrow (744)
Air Tahiti Nui 04:10PM Papeete (A343)
KLM 04:30PM Amsterdam (74M / 744)
Air New Zealand 04:30PM London-Heathrow (744)
Emirates 04:45PM Dubai (77L)
British Airways 05:35PM London-Heathrow (744)
Virgin Atlantic 05:35PM London-Heathrow (A346)
EVA Air 05:40PM Taipei (77W)
Air Berlin 05:45PM Düsseldorf (A332)
Air France 06:45PM Paris-CDG (772)
Korean Air 06:50PM Sao Paulo (772)
Lufthansa 07:00PM Frankfurt (A346)
Swiss 07:25PM Zurich (A343)
Aeroflot 07:35PM Moscow (A332)
American Airlines 07:55PM London-Heathrow (772)

All runways at LAX see mixed takeoff and departure use. Airborne traffic levels rather than gate location determine which runways will be used by each aircraft. It is not uncommon to see a particular flight number cycle through the multiple runways at LAX for takeoff operations over a span of several days. It is therefore not possible to provide a more accurate listing of what will depart from each runway complex.

I consider Vista Del Mar a sort of "secondary" spotting location at LAX. If its your first time vising the area, this is a location that should be done in conjunction with another, Imperial Hill for example which is just up Imperial Highway, and not by itself. If you're short on time, and want to capture as many aircraft as you can, you'll probably do better focusing on arrivals rather than departures, especially if you're after international airlines. Not all arriving international flights depart during daylight hours, Qantas Airways being one example. All of its flights depart close to midnight. Because of this disparity in flight activities, this is a place you come to with a purpose or a lot of patience. For a first introduction to airplane spotting and photography at LAX, you'll have a much more productive and enjoyable time using one of the other top 4 locations listed on my spotting guide. Try this location if you have a few days to play with, and/or you want a different experience. With that said, I'm not going to provide a hotel recommendation to this location as I don't think it warrants it alone.


Running parallel to Dockweiler State Beach, Vista Del Mar offers a beautiful 180' unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean as far as the eye can see. On clear days you can make out Malibu to the north, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the south, with all the coastal landmarks like the Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach piers along the way. It's a great location to go for a jog or a bike ride, or to see a sunset. Getting down to the beach is easy to do. Spaced approximately half a mile apart, there are dual paved walkways that provide easy access to it. DO NOT climb or jump down the rocky embankments. No shot is worth risking personal injury.

As noted before, there is not much else on the street aside from the beach. If you're looking for somewhere to grab a bite to eat, you won't find one here. Bring something with you, or you'll have to head off site. Options include the Subway and 7-Eleven located a few minutes' drive to the east on Imperial Highway, the In-N-Out burger on Sepulveda Blvd, or countless other restaurants in the surrounding area. You'll need to do a little bit of research, or ask one of the locals, if you have a particular craving. For those needing access to quick cash, the 7-Eleven has a Citibank automated teller machine just to the left of the entrance, or a quick drive to Sepulveda Boulevard will yield branches for all the major US banks including Bank of America, Citibank, Wachovia, Chase and Wells Fargo amongst others.

Going to the restrooms can be a tricky problem here. The beach does have restroom facilities located approximately half a mile apart from each other that are easy to find and free to use. During the day, the beach is constantly patrolled by police and life guard personnel, and the restrooms are safe places to go if you need. However, I STRONGLY urge you to use caution if you need to use these facilities in the late evening, or at night. Because of the location, illegal criminal activities have been known to occur here very late in the day. If it's late and you need to go, exercise caution. If you can hold it in, I recommend you go somewhere else. Alternatives include the Embassy Suites, the Flight Path Learning Center Museum or the In-N-Out Burger just to the east of the hill. The restrooms are just to the east of the check-in counters, just to the right of the entrance and just to the east of the cashiers respectively. Public restrooms are not available at Subway or 7-Eleven. It's possible one of the other restaurants in the area will have restrooms readily available, but most places encourage a purchase before use.



Getting to Vista Del Mar is easiest with a car. It is possible to walk to it using Imperial Highway or Westchester Parkway from the hotels that line Century Boulevard, which both run east to west along the perimeter of the airport, but that walk is going to take you almost 45 minutes to complete. A car is strongly recommended. This location is easiest and best to use during the weekdays. Avoid the weekends if possible, as finding parking along the street can be next to impossible with the large amounts of people that head to the beach. There is parking down on the beach, but it carries a fee and is not really necessary during the weekdays. Just find a spot along the street from where you'd like to photograph from, or park somewhere and walk to where you'd like to be. Once again, exercise caution when walking on the narrow western side of the street. During the weekdays, the somewhat remoteness of the location assures you a small amount of traffic to deal with and a pristine enjoyment of the environment. Be sure to park close to the shoulder however as this particular long stretch of street does see large amounts of speeding motorist, and you don't want any accidental damage to your car. Always use EXTREME CAUTION if crossing the street from one side to the other. There is no limit to how long you can park along the street during the day, just be sure to pay attention to the street signs as not all stretches are marked for parking.


I personally do not recommend going into the water at Dockweiler State Beach. Just to the south of Imperial Highway lies the Hyperion Sewage Disposal Plant, and a Chevron Oil Refinery. Just to the north lies the Westchester Storm Drain. While the water won't make you sick, it's just not the cleanest you can find in LA. If you're looking for some fun in the sun, most other beaches along the coast will do.


One last note to the locals, if you have small children and would like a nice park to take them to, Vista Del Mar has just the answer. On the eastern side of the street lies a small park that sits just underneath the departure pattern for runway 24L. While the location is a bit awkward to do photography from (you're too far from the south runways and right underneath the north's), its got benches and tables and offers a nice view of the sea. All in all, it's a nice place for both kids and parents to go.