Equipped with a camera, a passion for digging into Los Angeles’ rich history and sometimes a skateboard, alternative tour guide Tom Carroll travels the City of Angels, revealing its hidden stories through his awesome YouTube channel, Tom Explores LA.

Building on his brilliantly shot series, Tom has stepped things up in the tech game to present his first 360-degree virtual reality video.

With the aid of archive images and video that appear on the Los Angeles River’s concrete walls, he presents his argument that the confluence of the river and the Arroyo Seco is the birthplace of modern LA.

In the 18th Century, 12 Spanish explorers made their way up through Mexico to California to this spot, just east of where the Southbound 5 Freeway merges onto the 110 into Downtown. Later, it became site of the first piece of LA’s infrastructure – a dam on the LA river which gave birth to the city we know today.

Check out more from Tom Explores LA.

To view the video correctly, you’ll need a browser that supports VR, like Chrome, or a VR viewer.