The Los Angeles Temple is the first temple built in California, and is the tenth temple built of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
The Los Angeles Temple is on a hill, on the highest point between Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. The temple can even be seen from Catalina island and ships twenty five miles out at sea.
At the time the Los Angeles Temple was the built it was the largest temple of The Church but with the additions of the Salt Lake Temple, it is no longer that biggest.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints bought the land from comedy film legend Harold Lloyd in 1937. The land has served the Temple, a mission home, a meeting house, a family history center, a temple clothing building and lodging for patrons.
President Heber J. Grant announced The Church of Jesus Christ had bought the property in 1937, but the ground breaking wasn’t done until 1951 by David O. McKay
The building of the temple was delayed because of World War II.
David O. MaKay asked for donation from the members of the Los Angeles Temple area. They needed to raise 1 Million dollars to build the temple. The members of Los Angeles came through in a big way and 1.6 million was raised in only three months.
The temple was designed to seat 200 people per session, but was enlarged to seat 300 patrons per session. This addition made the Los Angeles California the biggest temple built in the twentieth century.
The spire on the Los Angeles Temple is 257 feet high and that makes is 47 feet taller than the Salt Lake Temples tallest spire.
There was a lot of interest in seeing inside the Los Angels Temple. During the open house in 1956 there were almost 700,000 people who walked through the temple.
The angel Moroni Statue on the Los Angeles Temple was done by Millard F. Malin. The angel Moroni was done with Native American features, wears a Mayan Style cloak, carries the gold plates with his left arm.
The Angel Moroni statue was originally installed facing south east and was changed by the request of the Prophet David O. Mckay.
In the 1966 Batman Movie you can briefly see the Los Angeles Temple in one of the shots, it was filmed in Westwood.
The Los Angels Temple was dedicated March 11 to 14, 1956 by President David O. McKay.
References:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/los-angeles-california-temple/