Drawing on the illustrious history of the great panorama paintings of the 18th and 19th centuries, The Velaslavasay Panorama is an exhibition hall, theatre and garden dedicated to the production and presentation of unusual visual experiences, including those of the 360-degree variety.  The Velaslavasay Panorama panoramic exhibition encircles the spectator within a fully enveloping atmosphere; a vast painting of a continuous surrounding landscape, accompanied by sound stimulation and three-dimensional elements, affords the viewer an opportunity to experience a complete sensory phenomenon.

Historically, the panorama was an immersive 360-degree painted environment, often including a three-dimensional faux terrain in the foreground of the painting to enhance the illusion of depth and simulated reality.  An early ancestor of the motion picture, the captivated public would visit these paintings-in-the-round as an entertainment or novelty, much along the same lines as the cinema is seen today. 

Located in Univestiy Park in the West Adams Historic District, The Velaslavasay Panorama presents to the community an art form that has been nearly lost due to the technological advancements of our time and the multitudinous variety of ways in which the public consumes mass entertainment.

In the midst of an urban expanse, the blossoming gardens of The Velaslavasay Panorama offer an oasis of lush, tropical foliage and an escape from the city's everyday toils. The ever-evolving grounds are on view to astonish and educate the public.

Central features of the garden are the variety of intoxicating flora, carnivorous plant life, and poisonous euphorbia within the garden's exquisitely wrought gazebo - a cozy, shady refuge and vantage point from which to observe the immensity of the Panorama's thriving greenery.

The Pavilion of the Verdant Dream is a mist and meditation grotto which guests can enclose themselves in on scorching LA afternoons. The Pavilion's design draws inspiration from garden scenes described in traditional Chinese Opera, which the Velaslavasay held a series of in 2011, entitled Pursuing the Verdant Dream.

Also, the Isle of Penglai is a central waterfall reminiscent of the island home of the Eight Immortals from Chinese folklore.  Including exotic banana tress and a collection of fine succulents, the grounds are a calmative pleasure for the sense as well as a delight to behold.