There are two species of Redwoods both extremely impressive in their own way. You are probably thinking of Coastal Redwoods which are the species in Redwood National Park in northern California. The nearest of these to LA I believe are around Monterrey Bay. The other species is the giant redwood which can be seen in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park a few hours drive from LA in the Sierra Nevada’s.

Yep, if you want to see them in their natural surroundings, the nearest Coast Redwoods are up around Monterey and Santa Cruz, the nearest Sequoias are up in the southern Sierra Nevada. Both are well worth the trip — Coast Redwoods are the tallest trees on Earth, Sequoias are the biggest trees on Earth, both can live thousands of years. If you can only do one, and you want to minimize your drive from LA, go for the Sequoias — the biggest and most impressive Sequoias anywhere are in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, not far from Fresno. For the really tall Coast Redwood groves you need to go up all the way up around Mendocino and Eureka. Both trees, but mostly Coast Redwoods, can be found in some city parks, arboretums, etc, around LA, where they’ve been planted and tended. They’re runts compared to the ones up in their natural habitat but still impressive trees. For example go to the bird sanctuary in Griffith Park near the Greek Theater, look for the very straight trees with stringy bark that look kind of like cedar trees — Coast Redwoods. Or go to the LA Zoo or the Huntington Gardens and their brochures or employees can tell you where to see some Coast Redwoods.

There are a few redwoods in the Los Angeles area. Check out my website here:
http://eolcmrwood.weebly.com/los-angeles-redwood-trees—google-map.html