Los Angeles rewards the curious, a city where world-class museums sit alongside legendary music venues, where you can hike above the Hollywood sign in the morning and watch the sun set over the Pacific from Malibu in the evening.
Los Angeles is a city that rewards effort. The experiences that define it; the hike to the Hollywood Sign, the sunset from the Getty gardens, the first night at the Hollywood Bowl with a picnic and a bottle of wine; require planning, a car, and a willingness to engage with a city that does not organize itself for the tourist's convenience. The payoff is proportional to the investment. Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Sign hike are the essential free experiences in Los Angeles. The Brush Canyon Trail from the Griffith Park parking area is the most direct route to the Sign, a 3.5-mile round trip with approximately 500 feet of elevation gain, manageable for most fitness levels. The Observatory itself, a 1935 Art Deco building on the south slope of Mount Hollywood, offers unobstructed views of the Los Angeles basin, the Hollywood Sign, and on clear days the Pacific. The James Dean connection (Rebel Without a Cause was filmed here in 1955) adds a layer of mythology to a building that would be worth visiting regardless. The best time to arrive is an hour before sunset; the light on the basin as the sun drops behind the Santa Monica Mountains is one of the great views in California. Telescope viewing is available after dark on clear nights. The Getty Center is the other essential cultural experience in Los Angeles, and one of the great museum experiences in the United States. Richard Meier's travertine campus, perched above the 405 in Brentwood, is a work of architecture that manages to be monumental and intimate simultaneously; the relationship between the buildings, the gardens, and the views of the city and the Pacific is extraordinary. The collection is exceptional, particularly the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist holdings, Van Gogh's Irises, Monet's series paintings, the drawings collection. Robert Irwin's Central Garden, a constantly evolving landscape installation, is worth an hour on its own. Admission is free; the tram ride up from the parking structure is part of the experience. The Broad on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles is the most important contemporary art museum in the city; a 120,000-square-foot building designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro that opened in 2015 and houses Eli and Edythe Broad's collection of post-war and contemporary art. The permanent collection includes major works by Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Roy Lichtenstein. Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room (The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away) is the most sought-after experience in the building; timed tickets for the room book out weeks in advance and should be reserved as soon as travel dates are confirmed. General admission is free but also requires advance reservation. Venice Beach and Abbot Kinney Boulevard represent two versions of the same neighborhood, the boardwalk and the boulevard, the spectacle and the refinement. The Venice Boardwalk is one of the great free entertainment experiences in Los Angeles: street performers, bodybuilders at Muscle Beach, skaters at the skate park, and a cast of characters that has been drawing visitors since the 1970s. Abbot Kinney, a few blocks inland, is the more considered version; independent restaurants, design shops, coffee roasters, and boutiques that represent the neighborhood's evolution from bohemian enclave to one of the most desirable commercial streets in the city. The two are best experienced together, on foot, on a weekday afternoon when the crowds are manageable. A day in Malibu is one of the great Los Angeles experiences and requires nothing more than a car and a clear day. The drive up Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica (the Santa Monica Mountains on the right, the Pacific on the left) is one of the great drives in California. El Matador State Beach, approximately thirty-five miles up PCH, is the most dramatic beach in the Los Angeles area: sea stacks, sea caves, and a staircase down to the sand that makes it feel discovered rather than developed. Nobu Malibu on the pier is the right lunch destination; the black cod miso and the view justify the price. The drive back at sunset, with the light on the water, is the best possible end to a day in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Bowl is the defining summer experience in Los Angeles; a 17,500-seat outdoor amphitheater in the Hollywood Hills that has been hosting concerts since 1922. The summer season runs from June through September and covers classical music, jazz, pop, and rock. The picnic culture is central to the experience: most visitors bring food and wine to eat in their seats before the performance, and the Bowl's own marketplace sells everything needed for a complete picnic. The acoustics, shaped by the iconic band shell, are excellent throughout the venue. Tickets range from lawn seats at the top of the bowl to box seats near the stage; the mid-range reserved seats offer the best combination of sound quality and sightlines. Book as early as possible for high-demand performances. Universal Studios Hollywood is the best theme park in Los Angeles for adult visitors; a working studio lot with a theme park built around it. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which opened in 2016, is the most immersive themed environment in the park and one of the best in the country: Hogsmeade village, Butterbeer, and the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride are all executed at the highest level. The Studio Tour (a tram ride through the working backlot) is the most distinctive experience at Universal and genuinely interesting for anyone curious about how films are made. The park is best visited on weekdays when crowds are significantly lighter. The Sunset Strip at night is the experience that connects Los Angeles to its rock and roll mythology. The stretch of Sunset Boulevard between Crescent Heights and Doheny in West Hollywood contains the Roxy Theatre, the Whisky a Go Go, and the Comedy Store; three venues that between them have hosted the Doors, Led Zeppelin, the Ramones, and every significant comedian of the past fifty years. The hotel bars of the Chateau Marmont and the Sunset Tower are the more refined version of the same energy. An evening that begins with dinner on the Strip, moves through a show at the Roxy or a set at the Comedy Store, and ends at the Chateau bar is one of the more complete Los Angeles experiences available.
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