La La Land // 10 Year Anniversary + Vinyl Soundtrack, Score & Box Set!

- August 23, 2026

La La Land represents the importance of believing that the city of stars really is shining just for you, and that no dream is too big or too far away to reach. It serves as a reminder that if you pour yourself into the art you make, other people will inevitably feel that passion and connect with it. There is such a specific integrity in the pursuit of creating something long before anyone else notices it, or even with the chance that no one ever will, and this film honors that act beautifully.

It also focuses on the importance of the people that come into your life for a brief period of time to inspire and guide you into the next stage of the person you're becoming - even if they aren't meant to stay forever. Their influence still will always linger though, and the mark they leave becomes a formative part of your own journey. La La Land is a love story, but it's also ultimately a portrait of two people chasing their dreams and learning how to build a life alongside one another, even when their paths don't perfectly align.

La La Land stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as Mia and Sebastian - one an aspiring actress, the other a jazz musician - both searching for their big breaks in Hollywood. The film follows them through a year of their lives together, capturing a deep love that existed only for a brief moment in time but taught them indelible lessons they carry forever, even when life took them in different directions.

This has long been one of my favorite film soundtracks, and it has inspired me in countless ways, especially in how it brings the qualities of classic Hollywood musicals into a modern setting. The story told through the music has continued to stay with me year after year.

Alongside the ten‑year anniversary celebration this year, and with the film returning to theaters this month, it felt like the perfect time to finally write about La La Land in depth. I would also be remiss not to highlight my very special vinyl collection for this soundtrack, along with a few other meaningful pieces I've collected over the years.

One of the earliest records in my collection was the standard black variant of the soundtrack, which I added in early 2017. Not long after, sometime in 2018, my dad found one of the most treasured items in my entire collection at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square; the limited and numbered Complete Musical Experience box set. It features a stunning translucent blue variant of the soundtrack, as well as a black 2LP pressing of the film's score. At the time, I believe this was the only way to own these versions on vinyl, though both have since been released individually outside of the box set. Both the soundtrack and score were composed and orchestrated by Justin Hurwitz, whose work brings the story and heart of this film to life in such a magical way.

This is the only box set I own, and I love how thoughtfully it is all designed and put together. Inside are also two beautiful art prints, a full‑color hardcover book filled with film stills and lyrics, as well as a CD version of the soundtrack too. La La Land is notoriously a very aesthetically stunning film, and the way all of the visuals were translated into these physical music releases are unmatched.

Alongside all of the music and film memories tied to this story, I've also been lucky enough to visit many of the most iconic La La Land filming locations throughout Los Angeles on my three trips there. There are so many highlights that deserve their own separate post, but a few stand out at the forefront of my mind. One of my favorites is the "You Are The Star" mural right off Hollywood Blvd, which is a visual that carries so much metaphorical weight in Mia's arc. It isn't in the best of condition these days, but when I saw it for the first time in 2017, it looked just as it did in the film. Much of the film was also shot right next to the Omni Hotel in Downtown LA, where we stay every time we visit. The historic Angels Flight is actually attached to their courtyard, which was a featured in the montage of Sebastian and Mia falling in love, as well as Grand Central Market at the bottom of the train station was used in a scene too.

Griffith Observatory is obviously an essential stop for anyone visiting Los Angeles, but it is impossible to go there without feeling the echoes of some of La La Land's most magical scenes. The Rebel Without A Cause connection further deepens the depth of cinematic history that took place there. The view of the city and the Hollywood Sign is so breathtaking, as well.

On my most recent trip last summer, my family and I ate at Smoke House in Burbank, where they filmed Sebastian's scenes as the Christmas‑time pianist. In some ways it actually looked quite different in person, maybe because there isn't actually a piano set up in the middle of the room and it was middle of summer so it wasn't decorated for the holidays, but to be in the actual room where those scenes were shot was surreal. There are still so many locations I still want to visit, at the top of my list is the Hermosa Beach pier where Sebastian sings "City of Stars" and the Warner Brothers Studios Lot, as well.

This soundtrack is also on constant repeat whenever I'm in LA, and it holds so many memories for me. I've watched this movie every single year since its release, easily more than any other in my life. What stands out to me the most is the way the story feels like it grows with me each time I revisit it, I am constantly finding new meaning in the story it tells.

The last anecdote I want to share related to La La Land isn't a filming location, but deserves a special shoutout; The Larry Edmunds Bookshop on Hollywood Blvd. Featured throughout these photos is my copy of the final draft of the script, written and directed by Damien Chazelle, which I bought at this incredible gem of a store. I'd heard about it online before our 2024 trip and was immediately drawn to their extensive Hollywood memorabilia and the unique selection of scripts they print and sell. I went in hoping to find La La Land, but didn't see it on the shelf. When I asked the owner, he found an extra copy he had printed but hadn't put out yet - and when I saw the date on the final 2015 draft was August 10, my birthday, I knew it was meant to be! It's one of the most treasured pieces in my collection, and I love reading through it and seeing the extra details and context that aren't necessarily shown on screen. The final page especially always makes me emotional!

La La Land is such a beautiful love letter to Los Angeles, the fools who dream, and the long lineage of movie history that lives within the city. It's one of my favorite places in the world and the way the film captures the spirit of it feels so true to all of the reasons it is so special. Through making this film, everyone involved added another layer to its ever-evolving mythology.

The way they capture the mission that so many artists hold when they move to LA with the hopes of making something of themselves, as well as what it means to hold onto the dream of someone in the crowd being there to see the potential in you to help step into the life you've always imagined is deeply moving. La La Land captures so much of what it means to have an unwavering belief in yourself and your art long before anyone else takes notice of it. To be able to hold onto that dream despite any setbacks, or devoid of what anyone else tells you, is such a specific type of courage that lies at the heart of this story.