Follow the Holiday Trail to LA’s Famous ‘Gingerbread Houses’ – NBC Los Angeles

Gingerbread houses?

Chances are as strong as chewing gum, you’ve encountered one of these cookie classics in recent days, either inside a store window, at a friend’s place, or inside your scented flour-covered kitchen.

You may have visited the “The Science of Gingerbread” exhibit, either in Discovery Cube OC or Discovery Cube LA, and saw an array of edible buildings made of sugar, spices, and a few other nice ingredients, including the all-important candy-bright flourish.

But there are more gingerbread-inspired scenes to see in Southern California, and even if these wonders aren’t put together on a baking sheet and slid in the oven, you can enjoy them from the sidewalk or the street.

Because we’re talking about our neighborhood gingerbread houses, those weird houses that look like they should be covered entirely with candy canes and mint puffs.

But you’ll need a truckload of candy to decorate these adorable residences, because many of the gingerbread houses in Los Angeles stand two stories or more.

Residential Treasures Friends: L.A., a group dedicated to highlighting Southern California’s finest architecture and historicism, has created a playful map, one that celebrates a group of homes that look like they should have been scattered, from base to top tower, in a frost.

Gingerbread Houses and More: 10 Fantasy Homes That Look Like the Candy Confections Holiday Trail Cost $50, and your purchase helps FORT:LA continue to find and highlight the most iconic buildings in our area.

Victorian is the main manifestation of this beautiful style, which means, in general, that this ginger gem is more than 100 years old. The colorful Hale House in the Heritage Square Museum is one stunning example, as is the Doctors House Museum in Glendale.

The lane is self-guided, so you’ll go alone, in your own car, at your own pace.

I call this delightful December picnic a great complement to any storybook house tours you’ve taken around town (yes, storybooks or witches’ houses are something a bit different than a gingerbread house, though… The fictional forms have a lot in common, in terms of spirit).

Whatever your architectural imagination, you’re in a city that has embraced an array of cool and slightly grotesque styles, including one that looks like it could be eaten, if it had a little icing and some brilliantly crafted cinnamon candy.

Find out more about this special holiday trail now, then stock your car with real gingerbread stuff to eat while searching for these awesome lodgings.