Downtown
Los Angeles
Just as you'd imagine, LA's downtown area is framed by freeways rather
than any particular geographic boundary. The Hollywood Fwy lies to the
north, the Harbor Fwy to the west, the Santa Monica Fwy to the south
and a bird's nest of other freeways intertwine beyond the Los Angeles
River to the east. In the thick of all this concrete and congestion,
however, intrepid urbanites will find a number of pockets worth exploring.
Extending eight blocks east to west, the city's Civic Center is America's
largest complex of government buildings after Washington, DC. It contains
the most important of LA's city, county, state and federal office buildings,
including the Criminal Courts Building, where the infamous OJ Simpson
murder trial took place in 1995, and the 1928 City Hall, which served
as the Daily Planet building in the TV show Superman and the police
station in Dragnet. North across Temple St from City Hall is the excellent
LA Children's Museum.
A few blocks east of the Civic Center, El Pueblo de Los Angeles is a
44-acre (18ha) state historic park commemorating the site where the
city was founded in 1781 and preserving many of its earliest buildings.
Its central attraction for most visitors is Olvera Street, a narrow,
block-long passageway that was restored as an open-air Mexican marketplace
in 1930. In addition to its restaurants, Olvera St teems with the shops
and stalls of vendors selling all manner of Mexican crafts, from leather
belts and bags to handmade candles and colorful pi?atas.
Directly across from El Pueblo is Union Station, one of LA's oft-overlooked
architectural treasures. Built in 1939 in Spanish Mission style with
Moorish and Moderne details, it's worth a stop even if you aren't hopping
a train. A few blocks north of the station, the 16 square blocks of
Chinatown comprise the social and cultural nucleus of LA's 200,000 Chinese
residents. Here, the businesses of traditional acupuncturists and herbalists
mingle with scores of restaurants and shops whose inventories vary from
cheap kitsch to exquisite silk clothing, inlaid furniture, antique porcelain
and intricate religious art.
Immediately southeast of the Civic Center is Little Tokyo. First settled
by early Japanese immigrants in the 1880s and thriving by the 1920s,
the neighborhood was effectively decimated by the anti-Japanese hysteria
of the WWII years. Thanks in part to an injection of investment from
the 'old country,' Little Tokyo is again the locus for LA's Japanese
population of nearly a quarter million. Among its streets and outdoor
shopping centers, you'll find sushi bars, bento houses and traditional
Japanese gardens. Housed in a historic Buddhist temple, the Japanese
American National Museum, exhibits objects and art that relate the history
of Japanese emigration to, and life in, the USA.
Just southwest of the Civic Center is the Museum of Contemporary Art,
designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. It houses what is considered
one of the world's most important collection of paintings, sculptures
and photographs from the 1940s to the present. Just west of MOCA is
The Westin Bonaventure hotel, a quintet of cylindrical glass towers
that are instantly recognizable to any regular moviegoer.
South of the Civic Center, LA's Hispanic shopping district is a deliciously
cluttery mix of cheap restaurants, frilly wedding dress shops and blaring
Latin pop. For a shocking contrast to the bustling street scene, step
inside the 1893 Bradbury Building, where a skylit, five-story atrium
is surrounded by Belgian marble, Mexican tiles, ornate French wrought-iron
railings, glazed brick walls, oak paneling and a pair of open-cage elevators.
You've seen it in detail if you've seen the movies Blade Runner or Wolf.
Across the street from the Bradbury, between Broadway and Hill St, Grand
Central Market is LA's oldest (1917) and largest open-air food market.
Hollywood
Los Angeles has built its reputation on the glamour of the movies, and
most visitors want at least a little of its glitz to rub off on them.
Hollywood itself (in northwestern LA) is no longer the movie mecca it
once was, but it certainly holds plenty of historic interest. Take a
walk down Hollywood Blvd and you'll pass by famous sights such as Mann's
(n?e Grauman's) Chinese Theatre, where more than 150 of the glitterati
have left their prints on the sidewalk out the front. Head east along
the Boulevard, stepping on those famous bronze stars, and you'll find
yourself at the Roosevelt Hotel. Soak up a bit of 1930s ambiance: this
is where the first Academy Awards were held in 1928 and where Errol
Flynn, Salvador Dali and F Scott Fitzgerald often propped up the bar.
The corner of Hollywood and Vine was once the heart of off-screen action
for the Industry, but you wouldn't know it now. If you want a memento
of those golden days, the Collectors Book Store on the corner is a treasure
trove of memorabilia. If you don't manage to spot a real star while
you're in Hollywood, drop by the Hollywood Wax Museum or (for real stars'
knickers) Frederick's of Hollywood Lingerie Museum.
Disneyland
Does anyone go to Los Angeles and not visit Disneyland ® Apparently
the happiest place on earth (though the hordes of screaming children
and parents at their wits' end may make you doubt it), Disneyland is
a masterpiece of picture-perfect choreography - even the litter bins
are themed. The park is divided into four different lands: Adventureland
has a jungle theme and features Indiana Jones and the Forbidden Eye;
Frontierland celebrates the myth of the Wild West; Fantasyland devotes
itself to Disney's favorite characters; and Tomorrowland is (you guessed
it) all about the future. In summer, you'll spend the better part of
your visit to Disneyland queuing - one of the best ways to avoid this
is to come in the evening when the kiddies are in bed. Uncle Walt's
wonderland is in Anaheim, half an hour's drive south of downtown LA;
you can get there by bus, hotel shuttle or by car on I-5.
On 55 acres (22 ha) next door, Disney's California Adventure, which
opened in February 2001, is an idealized adventure ride of the Golden
State.
Universal City
To lift your chances of running into a living, working actor, visit
Universal City, home of the very-much functional Universal Studios and
one of LA's biggest theme parks. The studios were built in 1912, and
formal public tours have been running since 1964. Catch a tram on the
Backlot Tour to see the locations of several famous movies and TV shows,
or spend your bucks on one of the many movie-related rides. Universal
also features special effects displays, musical-comedy revues and an
animal actors stage. The studio's eight restaurants are prime star-spotting
territory. Universal is in the San Fernando Valley, north of the city.
Beverly Hills
No star-studded tour would be complete without a visit to Beverly Hills,
home to the rich and famous. Just west of Hollywood, this city-within-a-city
flaunts its wealth with opulent manors on manicured grounds and shopping
streets overflowing with designer labels. The Hills' Golden Triangle
is bisected by that locus of conspicuous consumption, Rodeo Drive, where
retailers such as Tiffany, Armani and Vuitton flog their wares.
North Beverly Hills is the epicenter of luxury living, home to the likes
of Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty and Harrison Ford. For all the latest
on who lives where, pick up a 'Star Home Map' from a street-corner vendor.
If your desire to look over strangers' fences isn't sated by Beverly
Hills, extend your trip to that other famous neighborhood, Bel Air,
in western LA, or the slightly less lively (but nonetheless star-studded)
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, final resting place of Rudolph Valentino,
Jayne Mansfield and Cecil B De Mille.
Malibu
Los Angeles' beaches have a lot of hype to live up to, and in most cases
they don't quite make it. Immortalized by the Beach Boys, Beach Blanket
Bingo and Baywatch as miles of golden sand awash with babes of both
sexes, in reality the city's beaches are often polluted and sparsely
populated. Nonetheless, some of them are definitely worth a look. Malibu
is the archetypal Southern California babe beach and your best bet for
sunning and swimming. West of the city, Malibu's beaches are backed
by the rugged mountains of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation
Area. It can be quite difficult to find a stretch of sand, as much of
the shoreline is privately owned, but there are some very pleasant state
beaches.
Santa Monica
Just north of the airport, Santa Monica is one of the city's most appealing
neighborhoods. Although the beach only comes to life on the hottest
summer days, the surrounding area is a very pleasant place to spend
an afternoon. The heart of Santa Monica is the 3rd St Promenade, a lively
pedestrian mall packed with buskers, movie theaters, bars and cafes.
The Santa Monica pier, built between 1909 and 1916, is the oldest pleasure
pier on the West Coast. It has plenty of old-world carnival attractions,
including a 1920s carousel, and seafood restaurants. The neighborhood
is also home to some excellent museums of modern art.
Venice
Venice pretty much sums up the LA lifestyle. The beach's Ocean Front
Walk is a human circus of jugglers and acrobats, tarot readers, jug-band
musicians, pick-up basketballers, oiled-up fitness freaks and petition
circulators. A hundred years ago, this place was just swampland, until
an enterprising cigarette tycoon turned it into a network of gondola-poled
canals and dubbed it the 'Playland of the Pacific.' Most of the canals
have now been paved over, but the playland atmosphere is hanging in
there. It's a great place to shop and an even better place to down a
freshly-squeezed juice while the human tide washes over you.
Getty Center
Contrary to popular belief, LA does have an intellectual, refined side.
When you're shopped, glitzed, tanned and rollercoastered out, head for
some of the best museums in the USA. Top of the list has to be the John
Paul Getty collection of museums. The original Getty gallery, in a replica
of an AD 79 Pompeiian villa on the Pacific Coast Hwy just west of Santa
Monica, is undergoing extensive remodeling and will reopen as the Getty
Villa. The Villa will house the Greek and Roman sculpture collections,
which comprise only a fraction of one of the world's most valuable art
collections (around US$3 billion worth). The museum's European and photography
and numerous other collections are now on display at the stunning new
110-acre (45ha) Getty Center in the Santa Monica mountains. Admission
is free, making this one of the best bargains in town.
Other museums worth a look include downtown's Museum of Contemporary
Art, which houses one of the world's best collections of modern art.
The Museum of Tolerance, just south of Beverly Hills, presents a gut-wrenching
look at some of the more appalling examples of human behavior. Its interactive,
high-tech exhibits focus on the oppression of blacks in America and
the Jewish Holocaust. At the other end of the spectrum, the Max Factor
Beauty Museum in Hollywood lauds the cosmetics industry's role in creating
many an LA beauty. |
