Eerie drone photos reveal California’s new stay-at-home landscape

With cases of the coronavirus in California nearing 1,500, state officials called on residents to self-isolate and tried to increase the speed of testing.

Amid some reports that people were gathering with friends or not maintaining the recommended social distance, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday pleaded for residents to avoid unnecessary social contact.

The staff of the Los Angeles Times has been documenting the changing landscape of everyday life. Here are views from on high of the Southland in the time of the coronavirus.

Traffic on the 110 Freeway, heading north out of downtown L.A., is almost nonexistent.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

An aerial view of an empty Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Parking slots create a pattern uninterrupted by cars at Westfield Topanga mall.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

With the Los Angeles Unified School District closed, buses sit idle in a district transportation yard in Gardena.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The basketball courts at the shuttered Roybal Learning Center.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

One table is occupied outside Cal Marketplace in downtown Los Angeles.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Wide stretches of sand are unoccupied on the beach in Santa Monica. The city closed its famed pier.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

California

These 25 powerful images show California’s new reality

Eerie photos and stunning aerial shots show what California looks like under Gov. Newsom’s “stay at home” order.

March 21, 2020