California has serious design guidelines on high rise construction for its major downtowns and may never want to compete with the NYC’s, Chicago’s and Miami’s of the world on the supertall and general high rise building front. What CA values/deems important are mountain/hills/beaches/bays and how the cities interact with those visually and aesthetically. If you ever visit here, there are almost "0" high rises on the entire coast.** Unlike many other places in the world where high rises are THE defining feature and are the things that people prize on visuals and postcards (NY, CHI, Florida, Brasil, China, etc), California sells the world on its natural beauty for visuals and notoriety and builds from there to keep these valuable assets in sight and prominence.
Both Los Angeles and San Francisco practice skyline sculpting where in Los Angeles, our planning commission shapes the skyline to mimic the San Gabriel Mountains, the Hollywood Hills, and other natural formations that are viewed from specific vantage points. San Francisco does it to mimic the rolling hills around the bay and lately, the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge… Transbay area plans have Salesforce tower as a new centralized peak in SF’s skyline with everything tapering down from there. San Diego and San Jose might never have tall skylines and will keep their FAA height restrictions using the immediate excuse that their airports are so close. The bigger issue aesthetically is that San Diego's backdrop mountains are so short and San Jose is surrounded by low rolling hills. They won't be too inclined in the near future to replace the airports to break their height barriers for taller buildings anytime soon.
Untitled by
Hugh B, on Flickr
^^Los Angeles viewed from the Southwest is meant to mimic the San Gabriel Mountain backdrop with one central peak and multiple smaller peaks. The gap between the financial district and South Park would be where we would see a new super tall peak in the future and a true new tallest building, then they would taper down from there. Its already beginning to fill in as LA just broke ground on a new 760 footer in that gap last week and has another 800+ footer proposed the next block over.
[IMG]
Untitled by
Hugh B, on Flickr[/IMG]
^^LA as viewed from its most famous angles from the North west... from the Hollywood Hills, is meant to mimic the hills from this view. If you notice in the foreground there is a bit of the hollywood hills in the shot and everything (hills/skyline) is higher/taller on the left/North and gently sloped down as it goes to the right/south in the shot. In other images, if you zoom back a bit more, you will see this sculpt even more defined. From this angle, the skyline is more elongated and gently sloping, like the hills as they cascade from peak into the basin.
[IMG]
Untitled by
Hugh B, on Flickr[/IMG]
^^From the East, its a central peak skyline. Notice how The Grand on the right fits the slope quite well. Onni Times Mirror and Tribune tower will fill this gap and slope. Tribune tower in this case was requested to be taller by planning commission, whereas the Grand was asked to be shorter as its on Bunker Hill with a higher elevation
[IMG]
Untitled by
Hugh B, on Flickr[/IMG]
^^From directly north, it is another central peak skyline theme. The gap between city hall on the left and the skyline will be filled with multiple 40/60+ story residential towers from Onni times mirror, Hill st, Cresent Heights, Tribune and others to further enhance the slope down… even the Wilshire Grand's curved roof contributes to this central peak aesthetic from multiple views
Every building gets considered in how it will look on the skyline from various points. Some get upsized by request of the planning commission, some get downsized by request.
Until the Core Values of California shift, it will always be slower on tall high rise development for the foreseeable future as Natural beauty is still King/Queen here!! 
**San Diego's high rises, although look like they are on the coast/beach, are actually on a protected bay... Somewhat similar rule with Long Beach but the California Coastal Commission has given them the only exemption to have high rises that close to direct ocean front, but its still on a protected bay barring any new high-rises east of Shoreline/Alamitos Ave. **
Threaded Mode