LA Space Quest: Santa Monica to SpaceX Self-Guided Audio Tour

Go beyond beaches and movie stars and discover another side of Los Angeles: the city of pilots, engineers, astronauts, and dreamers. This self-guided driving tour begins in Santa Monica and traces more than a century of aerospace history across LA’s Westside and South Bay. Along the way, you’ll explore the worlds of Donald Douglas, Howard Hughes, RAND, Venice’s daredevil flying culture, Marina del Rey, Playa Vista, Sally Ride, and the rise of SpaceX in Hawthorne. You’ll hear surprising stories about the DC-3, wartime camouflage, the Spruce Goose, the Space Shuttle era, and the entrepreneurs who helped push Southern California toward the future. This is a smart, entertaining tour for curious travelers who want an LA experience most visitors miss. If you like aviation, space, history, technology, or simply great hidden stories, this tour offers a fresh way to see the city.