Taking wing over the City of Angels reveals much more than the secrets of Hollywood’s famous back lots. Three days a week, stardom seekers line up early in a nondescript Burbank warehouse district – home to Central Casting, which helps aspiring actors land background roles. L.A. might be best known as a TV and film capital, but it’s also home to the birth of surfing and skateboarding, which started in a Santa Monica neighborhood known as Dogtown. By air, viewers also can discover the hiding-in-plain-sight history of the city’s first big industry: oil. One working oil derrick is tucked into Cardiff Tower, and another is covered under a colorful wooden structure right next door to Beverly Hills High School.

• Toby Beach

• Jim Conrad