Los Angeles is the most misunderstood major city in the world, which is remarkable for a place that has spent a century exporting its own image. The version that visitors expect — Hollywood glamour, beaches, entertainment industry wealth — is real and findable; it is also a thin surface layer over a city of extraordinary cultural complexity, seventy separate municipalities, a history that most of its residents don’t know, and a relationship to geography (mountain, desert, ocean, sprawl) that shapes daily life in ways invisible to anyone passing through quickly.
It rewards time and movement. Seen from a car, window down, it is still one of the great cities of the world.
We first experienced Los Angeles during a very brief stopover. We had just enough time between flights to see something of the city and we took a taxi to Santa Monica beach (obviously watched too much “Bay Watch”). The taxi driver cautioned us about the safety of the area and arranged to pick us up later (unusual but nice of him). As it turned out Santa Monica was underwhelming and although we’ve been back there since, apart from the beach, it’s not a district I would recommend. But there are other great places. Some time later we rode our bikes down the Californian coast and passed right through the beach communities – Santa Monica, Venice and then up through Torrence to Long Beach. Venice beach is good for people watching; South of LA, Huntingdon Beach stood out as a place to spend some time at; North of the city, Malibu.
A Little Background
The area was home to the Tongva people (also called the Gabrieliño) for thousands of years. The Spanish mission at San Gabriel was established in 1771; the pueblo of Los Angeles was founded ten years later, in 1781, by a group of eleven families from northwestern Mexico — a Afro-Hispanic mestizo community, a fact largely absent from the Anglo-American history of the city. American control came in 1848; the arrival of the transcontinental railroad in 1876 and 1885 triggered the land booms that began the city’s expansion.
The movie industry arrived from New York in the 1910s, drawn by the reliable sunshine and the distance from Thomas Edison’s patent enforcement agents. By the 1920s Hollywood was the film capital of the world, and the industry has defined the city’s image globally ever since. The twentieth century brought successive waves of immigration — Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Central American, Southeast Asian — that have made Los Angeles one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse cities on earth. Over 200 languages are spoken in the city’s schools.
What to See and Do
The Getty Center on the hills above Brentwood is one of the finest art museums in the United States — a Richard Meier-designed campus with superb views of the city and the Pacific, housing the Getty’s collection of European paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and photography. Admission is free (parking is US$20). The building, the gardens, and the collection together make this the strongest single attraction in Los Angeles. Tram from the parking structure to the hilltop campus.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) on Wilshire Boulevard is the largest art museum on the West Coast — a somewhat sprawling complex with a strong collection of Asian art, Islamic art, and American painting. The Urban Light installation (202 restored cast-iron street lamps arranged in a grid outside the museum) is one of the most photographed public art works in Los Angeles. Adult approximately US$25; free for LA County residents.
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in downtown LA has one of the finest collections of post-1940 American and international contemporary art — Rothko, de Kooning, Kline, and a strong showing of California artists. Two sites: Grand Avenue and the Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo. Adult approximately US$18.
Venice Beach and the Boardwalk — the beach itself is wide, flat, and pleasant; the boardwalk beside it is a performance space for the city’s most committed eccentrics. Muscle Beach (the outdoor gym that has been here since the 1930s), the skate park, the street performers, and the general atmosphere of a city that does not entirely take itself seriously on weekends. Free. The adjacent Abbot Kinney Boulevard is a strip of independent shops, design studios, and good restaurants.
Griffith Park and the Griffith Observatory — the observatory sits on the southern face of the Santa Monica Mountains, 474 metres above sea level, with an unobstructed view of the Los Angeles basin and, on the clearest days, the ocean. The planetarium shows are excellent (adult approximately US$10); the exterior and grounds are free. The park itself is the largest urban park in the United States with mountain terrain — 17 square kilometres of hiking trails above the city.
The Hollywood Sign is best seen from a distance — the view from Griffith Observatory, from the Hollywood Reservoir trail, or from Mulholland Drive. Getting close to it requires a serious hike; the result is less impressive than the distant view.
Little Tokyo in downtown LA is a compact neighbourhood of Japanese restaurants, shops, and cultural institutions — one of the oldest Japanese American communities in the United States. The Japanese American National Museum (adult approximately US$16) tells the history of Japanese American immigration and, centrally, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the Second World War.
The Grand Central Market on South Broadway in downtown has operated continuously since 1917 — a covered market hall now filled with an excellent and democratic mix of food stalls covering cuisines from across LA’s population. Breakfast here is one of the better ways to start a day in the city.
Santa Monica and the Pier — the beach cities (Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach) form a continuous stretch of Pacific coast to the west and southwest of the city. Santa Monica Pier, with its Pacific Park amusement rides and the terminus of the old Route 66, is the most visited; the beach is wide and clean. The Third Street Promenade (pedestrianised shopping street behind the pier) is less interesting. The beach path running south from Santa Monica to Venice Beach is 7 kilometres of flat, paved cycling and walking path with the Pacific on one side and the city on the other.
Drive Mulholland Drive — the ridge road that runs along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains, with the city on one side and the San Fernando Valley on the other. At night the view is extraordinary.
Getting There
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is one of the busiest airports in the world and, historically, one of the more frustrating to leave. The FlyAway bus service runs from LAX to Union Station in downtown (approximately 45 minutes, US$9.75). The Metro K Line connects LAX (via a free Automated People Mover) to the Metro rail network (US$1.75 per journey). Taxis from LAX to most of the city cost US$50–80 and are subject to significant traffic delays; rideshares are frequently comparable in price and equally affected by traffic.
Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner runs south to San Diego (approximately 3 hours) and north to Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. The Coast Starlight runs north to San Francisco (approximately 12 hours) and Seattle (approximately 35 hours). Union Station in downtown LA is the Amtrak hub and one of the finest train stations in the United States — the 1939 Spanish Colonial Revival building alone is worth seeing.
Cost and Hours
Los Angeles is expensive. Mid-range hotels in Santa Monica, West Hollywood, or Beverly Hills run US$250–400 per night; downtown is somewhat less. The distances involved in the city mean that most visitors accrue significant transport costs. The Getty Center is free; most other major museums cost US$15–25. Getting around without a car is possible but limits what you can realistically see — the Metro covers downtown, Hollywood, Santa Monica, and the Westside adequately; the beach cities and the eastern neighbourhoods are harder without a car.
Allow four days minimum; a week is not excessive for a city of this scale. Los Angeles rewards the visitor who picks a few neighbourhoods and inhabits them rather than the one who tries to see it all from a tour bus.