"Grand Theft Auto V: Los Santos," released Sept. 17, is the latest in Rockstar Games' hugely popular franchise, which has previously sold more than 125 million units. Set in a parallel-world Los Angeles called Los Santos, the open-world narrative allows players to explore the city's sights as a contorted fun-house mirror. For a mix of satirical and copyright-related reasons, many names have been changed.
Franklin, one of the primary player-controlled characters, lives in Vespucci Beach, based on Venice Beach.
The Hollywood Sign becomes Vinewood. Below it, locals will spot the peak-towered, 13-story First National Bank building, built in 1928 by the same architecture firm that designed Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
The Hollywood Bowl is geographically transported much closer to downtown in the geography of Los Santos.
The famously pink-and-green Beverly Hills Hotel retains its iconic Mediterranean Revival architecture but not its name along the facade.
This ornate apartment building is a close riff on L.A.'s venerable El Royale in Hancock Park — right down to the shared oversized, illuminated rooftop signs. Its architect, William Douglas Lee, also designed the Chateau Marmont hotel.
Grand Theft Auto's noirish rendition of the Santa Monica Pier, in real-life at least a half-hour drive from downtown L.A., is practically a stroll away on the Los Santos map.
Grauman's Chinese Theatre along Hollywood Blvd. (recently under new management and officially known as the TCL Chinese Theatre) has been re-imagined with the decidedly less-than-sensitive stand-in moniker The Oriental.
In an interview on Sept. 17 with the U.K. Guardian, the game's co-designer Dan Houser mused about L.A.: "It's a fascinating city — it's kind of obsessed with itself."