As a native of Los Angeles, I have experienced many aspects of this large and unique city. If you are thinking about visiting or moving to Los Angeles and/or southern California, I hope I can offer some insights that tourist information may lack.

Los Angeles is a sprawling city. There’s Hollywood, downtown, and the beaches. I have spoken to visitors who were not sure where to stay. It depends on what you like, what accommodations you prefer, and what you want to do. Here’s a brief summary of the different areas of L.A.

West Side
The west side, in my opinion, is a preferable area to stay while in L.A. It’s cleaner with milder weather than Hollywood, but only a 20 minute drive away. Places of interest on the west side include:

Getty Museum, atop the Santa Monica Mountains, overlooks the L.A. basin. Visitors park at the bottom of the mountain and can take a transport similar to a slow moving monorail up to the Getty while viewing the Sepulveda Pass and 405 freeway. The Getty Museum has paintings such as Van Gogh’s Iris and other mostly European art and sculptures. The museum is huge, consisting of several buildings each with multiple stories, so spending a day there is common. The museum entry is free, parking cost around $5.00 but the cafeteria and restaurant can be costly. One cafeteria sandwich and drink could be more than $10.00, so bring some food if you like and picnic in the courtyard.

Beverly Hills – Take a stroll on Rodeo Drive and shop for or browse ridiculously overpriced items. Beverly Hills does have reasonably priced restaurants throughout its grid of relatively pedestrian- friendly streets. Driving up into the Hills one can find gorgeous estates, but many of the mansions are hidden behind huge, vine-covered walls.

Westwood Village, right next to UCLA, offers an array of dining, shops, movie theaters, and free outside entertainment of Friday nights. It’s partly a university town with a professional presence from the Wilshire business district. DeDe Reece’s is a popular spot for 25 cent cookies. Westwood Brewing Company publicizes their brewed beer and California dishes. Eurochow, a new addition to Westwood, offers Italian fare mixed with a Chinese cuisine. Take a walk into UCLA (my alma mater). Often concerts, plays, art exhibits, or book fairs are happening on campus each weekend.

3rd Street Promenade, located a block from the Santa Monica Pier, is a popular destination for locals and out of towners. It’s especially nice during the summer with the ocean breeze cooling the strip of street. It’s an outdoor mall with specialty shops, restaurants, and bars. Street performers from singers to dancers garner audiences day and night. On one end of the promenade is an indoor mall for more shopping.

The Santa Monica Pier attracts couples or families with carnival rides and games. Although you may see people swimming in the ocean, I wouldn’t advise it. If you want to experience the ocean, I’d recommend going north along Pacific Coast Highway (a nice drive) to Malibu or Ventura County or south to Newport Beach which is a very quaint town, but about an hour or so away.

Venice Beach is just south of 3rd Street Promenade. It has some shopping but it’s more for people watching. , Tan, brawny he-men work out on Muscle beach, beautiful women rollerblade, and unusual street performers pepper the boardwalk. Eccentric L.A. natives like to come here for the benefit and amusement of visitors. Occasionally one might see some of the milder gangs hanging out, but buff and tan cops are prevalent.

West Side Notes: If you like Asian food as I do, the corner of Sawtelle and Olympic has very tasty Japanese restaurants and specialty import shops. Century City has another nice mall and the Shubert Theater for plays and musicals.

Hollywood
Lots of visitors flock to Hollywood. It has the Mann Chinese Theater, movie museums and souvenir shops. But for the most part it’s a dirty looking city, plus the stars and movie moguls don’t live near Hollywood Boulevard, the city is more of a symbol for the world. It’s not unusual to see vagrants, prostitutes, or the like in the alleys.

Hollywood is home to the Pantages Theater currently playing the Lion King. Various concert venues like the Hollywood Bowl, Greek Theater, Whiskey, and Paladium are within Hollywood.

Night Life
The night scene is popular with a lot of clubs and bars especially on Sunset Blvd. such as Barfly, Key Club Miagi, Dublins, and countless more. The Hollywood club scene is where you will see the surgically enhanced, “I’m an actress but working as a bartender” crowd. It seems like the Mecca for all those kids wanting to be the next Pamela Anderson or Tom Cruise, attractive but shallow. It is, however, one aspect of experiencing L.A. - like a tourist attraction.

Melrose Avenue
Unique shops and restaurants make Melrose a fun destination. The main strip of Melrose isn’t very long, maybe a mile, but has the trendy retail shops so you can buy those clothes for the Hollywood clubs. Double Rainbow has some good ice cream and their sign casts a rainbow on the sidewalk.

The Valley
This is where I’m from so I have to include this, plus this is where many of the movie industries do their business. Disney, NBC, Warner Brothers and many others have their studios here and are open to visitors.

City Walk, Universal City, located just north of Hollywood, is a place I recommend to tourists. Universal studios is there and has a tram tour and cool rides such as Jurassic Park and E.T. Also, the City Walk has lots of stores and lively restaurants such as Gladstone, Wizards, and Hard Rock Café. The Cineplex Odeon is a multiplex theater and IMAX. During the summer, kids like to play in the water fountain that spurts out from the sidewalk in an outdoor area.

Downtown
I would not recommend staying in downtown, which is somewhat dirty and very crowded, compared to my suburban sensibilities. It’s okay to stay here if you are doing business in downtown, but it’s not tourist friendly. It’s half an hour south from Hollywood and east from the beaches. Olivera Street is considered one of the oldest streets in L.A. and has fantasitc authentic Mexican cuisines and adorable shops.

Downtown does hold the Music Center, Ahmanson Theater/ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Museum of Natural History, Museum of Tolerance, Staples Center (Lakers!) and Convention Center. The locals drive into downtown when attending a play or convention, but are glad to go home.

Final words:

Tourist ask me where are the gangs? If you are interested in seeing all those gangs you may have seen on t.v. they are located south and east of downtown. However, I might add, due to the good economy that past years, this problems seems to have significally decreased from the days of "Colors" and "Boys in the Hood".

Traffic is bad.

Weather is great, brings shorts.

Disneyland is about an hour south of L.A. in Orange County.

The diversity of L.A., the people, cultures, socio-economic classes, really makes this city a great experience.


Recommended: Yes

Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime