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| City Guide - Los Angeles - Key Attractions | ||
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Key Attractions Downtown El Pueblo de Los Angeles (and Olvera Street) The birthplace of Los Angeles, just north of the financial district with its huge skyscrapers, is now a state historic park. In 1781, Father Junipero Serra, founder of many of California's Spanish missions, and Don Felipe de Neve journeyed north from Mexico and established a pueblo here on the site of a former Indian village. Its name - El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula (The Town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula) - outweighed its small size and it was duly shortened to Los Angeles. The 27 historic adobe buildings date from the early nineteenth century and pay tribute to the city's Spanish heritage. They include the Avila Adobe, the city's oldest home; the Old Plaza Church and the Sepulveda House, which now serves as the El Pueblo Visitor Information Center. The heart of the district is Olvera Street, a lively marketplace with strolling mariachi bands, colourful stalls selling Mexican handicrafts and good Mexican restaurants, some still run by the original families. North Alameda and Spring Streets Tel: (213) 628 1274. Transport: Metro Red Line Union Station/Gateway Transit Center. Opening hours: Daily 1000-1900. Admission: Free. Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Housed in a striking red sandstone building designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, this celebrated art museum showcases the work of leading modern artists. The permanent collection features the likes of Piet Mondrian and Mark Rothko, while changing exhibitions highlight contemporary themes and artists of international renown. Pyramid skylights enhance the bright galleries, while the courtyard sports an attractive fountain. 250 South Grand Avenue Tel: (213) 626 6222. Website: www.moca-la.org Transport: Metro Red Line Pershing Square. Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1100-1700 (until 2000 on Thurs). Admission: US$6. Southwest Museum Los Angeles' first museum, established in 1907, contains one of the foremost collections of Native American art and artefacts in the nation. Enlightening exhibits on tribal life are well laid out and there are fine examples of kachina dolls, native dress and ceremonial costumes, musical instruments, ceramics, weapons and everyday objects. There is also a large display of basketry. The museum lies just north of downtown, on a hillside beyond Dodger Stadium. 234 Museum Drive Tel: (323) 221 2164. Website: www.southwestmuseum.org Transport: Metro Bus 81 or 83. Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1700. Admission: US$5. Hollywood Mann's Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame Mann's Chinese Theater is the most famous of the flamboyant picture palaces that line this stretch of Hollywood Boulevard. Built by showman Sid Graumann in 1927, its exotic oriental façade is crowned by a red pagoda roof. Its main attraction is the forecourt, where the hand and footprints of Hollywood celebrities are imbedded in the cement. The tradition started quite by accident, when actress Constance Talmadge stepped in wet cement at the grand opening. Among the more unusual signatures are Jimmy Durante's nose and the hoof prints from Roy Roger's horse Trigger. The cinema still shows first-run movies, a good way to see its lavish interior. Other Art Deco theatres nearby are worth a look, including Pacific El Capitan, The Egyptian and Pantages. The Hollywood Walk of Fame passes by the front of the theatre. This trail of bronze stars embedded in the paving stones runs 5.5km (3.5 miles) along Hollywood Boulevard between La Brea and Gower Streets, and along Vine Street between Yucca Street and Sunset Boulevard. It honours artists in the film and music industries and the first star imbedded in the pavement in 1960 was that of Joanne Woodward. Today, they number around 2000. 6925 Hollywood Boulevard Tel: (323) 461 3331. Website: www.hollywoodchamber.com Transport: Metro Red Line Hollywood/Highland. Opening hours: Daily 1200-2400. Admission: US$8.50. Universal Studios Hollywood Part film and TV studio, part theme park, Universal Studios is one of the best attractions in Los Angeles. The visit begins with an exciting behind-the-scenes tram tour of film sets, with a simulated earthquake, collapsing bridge, and surprise attacks by the shark from Jaws and by King Kong. Stunt shows, musical entertainment and a variety of thrill rides, such as Back to the Future, make for a fun-filled day of Hollywood at its best. 100 Universal City Plaza Tel: (818) 508 9600. Website: www.universalstudios.com Transport: Metro Red Line Universal City. Opening hours: Daily 0900-1900 (winter); daily 0800-2300 (summer). Admission: US$39. The Westside Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits Smack in the middle of LA, the La Brea Tar Pits hark back to prehistoric times. They have yielded more than four million fossils - one of the largest caches in the world - from the Pleistocene Era, dating back 40,000 years. Inside the museum are the skeletons of long-extinct animals, such as the imperial mammoth, giant sloth, sabre-tooth cat and dire wolf, who became trapped over the centuries in the thick black tar, or 'brea', that seeped up through the ground. Visitors can watch palaeontologists cleaning and cataloguing the fossils and see the excavations from viewing stations beside the tar pits. 5801 Wilshire Boulevard Tel: (323) 934 PAGE/7243. Website: www.tarpits.org Transport: Metro Bus 20, 21, 22 or 217. Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1700. Admission: US$6. Los Angeles County Museum of Art Housed in four main buildings set around a central courtyard, this outstanding collection of art and artefacts forms one of the leading art museums in the United States. In the enormous Ahmanson Building, art, sculpture and decorative arts from Asia, Europe and the Americas are on display. Highlights of the collection include the Indian and Southeast Asian art collection, regarded as the finest in the West; the Western Art galleries and pre-Columbian artefacts from Latin America. There is a special Japanese Pavilion, the striking, modern Robert O Anderson Building and the Bing Theater. 5905 Wilshire Boulevard Tel: (323) 857 6000. Website: www.lacma.org Transport: Metro Bus 20, 21, 22 or 320. Opening hours: Mon, Tues, Thurs 1200-2000, Fri 1200-2100, Sat and Sun 1100-2000. Admission: US$7. Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center This impressive collection of Old Masters, Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings was acquired by the late industrialist Armand Hammer. The permanent collection, shown on a rotating basis, includes works by Constable, Rembrandt Van Gogh and Monet. A highlight is the room full of lithographs by Honoré Daumier. Now run by UCLA, the museum holds special exhibitions and programs. 10899 Wilshire Boulevard Tel: (310) 443 7000. Transport: Metro Bus 20, 21 or 22. Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1100-1900 (until 2100 on Thurs), Sun 1100-1700. Admission: US$4.50. Getty Center The stunning marble building, set into the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, was designed by the world-famous architect Richard Meier. It contains not only J Paul Getty's exquisite art collection, but also a centre for the study of archaeology, culture, art history and humanities. The galleries display paintings, sculpture, photographs, drawings, furniture and more than 100 illuminated manuscripts. Lectures, concerts and educational programmes are held here. The Getty Center is surrounded by beautiful gardens with rare and native plants and trees, while the terrace affords panoramic views. 1200 Getty Center Drive Tel: (310) 440 7300. Website: www.getty.edu Transport: Metro Bus 561 or Big Blue Bus 14. Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1700. Admission: Free. Parking: US$5, reservations required. Museum of Tolerance Allow at least two hours to experience this thought-provoking museum, which focuses on two themes. The Tolerancenter contains high-tech, interactive exhibits that explore racism and bigotry in America through such events as the LA riots of 1992. The main part of the museum is devoted to the Holocaust and visitors take a moving journey from the Jewish ghettos to Hitler's death camps in an hour-long timed tour that moves from stage to stage. Upstairs are archives and a multimedia learning centre. 9786 West Pico Boulevard Tel: (310) 553 8403 or (800) 900 9036. Website: www.wiesenthal.com Opening hours: Mon-Thurs 1000-1600, Fri 1000-1500, Sun 1030-1500. Admission: US$8.50. Transport: Metro Bus 3, Santa Monica Municipal Bus 5 or 7. Beach Cities Santa Monica Santa Monica Boulevard, if followed to its western end - comes out on Santa Monica itself. With its village feel, its cafés, shops and restaurants, it is one of the more people-friendly areas of Los Angeles - it has the only pedestrianised street in the city, for example. It is most famous, however, for its Pier. Jutting into the Pacific Ocean from the wide sandy beach, it is one of the most nostalgic spots in LA. The original fishing pier was built in 1909 and another one for strolling was added in 1921, but by the 1970s both were in a shabby state. A restoration programme rejuvenated the pier, while alongside the old arcades and carousel are a new aquarium and Pacific Park, an amusement park with rides, ferris wheel and a small rollercoaster. During the summer, there is dancing to live music on Thursday nights. A good time to go is towards the end of the day as the sunsets are fabulous, especially at the westernmost point of Sunset Boulevard. Colorado and Ocean Avenues Tel: (310) 458 8900. Transport: Metro Bus 4, 20, 22, 33, 320 or 434. Opening hours (Pacific Park): Sun-Thurs 1000-2200, Fri and Sat 1000-2400 (summer); Sun-Thurs 1000-2100, Fri and Sat 1400-2400 (winter). Admission (Pacific Park): As per individual ride. Venice Beach Further south along the coast is the slightly more bohemian Venice Beach. Its Boardwalk, which is a path alongside the beach, is one of the liveliest places to experience the Angelenos' joie de vivre. Buskers and mime artists, painters and palm readers, rollerbladers and cyclists are all here, hanging out, hustling or cruising through along the white sands, wearing colourful attire or often very little at all. There are plenty of shops, stalls and cafés. A favourite spot is Muscle Beach, where male and female weight lifters flex their pecs in the sun. Marine Street to the Venice Pier Tel: (310) 392 4687, ext 6. Transport: Metro Bus 33. Website: www.westland.net/venice Pasadena Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens Unless it is bright and early on a weekend, it is virtually impossible to fit everything on this magnificent estate in one visit. The former home of railroad tycoon Henry E Huntington is filled with French porcelain and tapestries, American paintings, and one of the country's finest collections of British and French art from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among the masterpieces are Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy and Sir Thomas Lawrence's Pinkie. Among the four million items in the Library are rare books and manuscripts, such as a Gutenberg Bible, an early fifteenth-century manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and early editions of Shakespeare. Visitors should save some time to stroll in the beautiful Botanical Gardens, whose 81 hectares (200 acres) include a Japanese garden, desert garden, rose garden and changing landscapes. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino Tel: (626) 405 2100. Website: www.huntington.org Transport: Metro Bus 401 or 402 from downtown to Pasadena, then 177 from California Street. Opening hours: Tues-Fri 1200-1630, Sat and Sun 1030-1630. Admission: US$7.50. Norton Simon Museum This world-renowned collection of European art ranges from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. There are paintings by Rembrandt, Picasso and the Impressionists, an impressive collection of Degas sculptures and leading works by Rodin. The sculptures from Southeast Asia and India, spanning 2000 years, are another highlight. 411 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena Tel: (626) 449 6840. Website: www.nortonsimon.org Transport: Metro Bus 401 or 402 from downtown to Pasadena, then 177 from California Street. Opening hours: Thurs-Sun 1200-1800. Admission: US$4. |
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