Hooper Heliport

Hooper Heliport Los Angeles. Downtown in the background. Click to embiggenate. The concrete slab on the top of the building just above the helicopter is heliport. It's a big place, large enough for a dozen helicopters easily.

The New York Times has a story by Geoff Manaugh about the Los Angeles Police helicopter squad.  Looking for pictures, I turn up this one which I thought was real until I looked at the page and realized that it was a screen shot from a video game.

Google Earth view of downtown Los Angeles, Hooper Heliport in the foreground.

Here is a similar view from Google Earth. The difference in apparent composition is presumably due to the radically different perspective derived from different viewpoints.

Inside the cockpit of an LAPD helicopter at night.