Los Angeles Attractions, Entertainment & Things to Do

Introduction

For the past few decades, Los Angeles has continually tried to reinvent its downtown area, cultivating new businesses, attractions, yuppie lofts, and cultural landmarks to create a core for a city that is in many ways decentralized. Valiant efforts to bring the suburban-bound masses back to the city center -- including the stunning Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and the world's most expensive, but still limited, subway -- have yielded mixed results. The changes may not happen as quickly as the city's movers and shakers might like, but downtown L.A. is keeping its place as the cultural and historic heart of the city, and its pulse is slowly getting stronger.

Hollywood, like much of Los Angeles, is as much an idea as it is a place. Since the 1920s, Hollywood has lured us with its carefully manufactured images promising showbiz glitz and glamour. As visitors, we just want a glimpse of that sexy sophistication, a chance to say, "I was there!" Reality check: the magic of Hollywood takes place, for the most part, on soundstages that are not even in Hollywood anymore and in nondescript film-processing labs and editing bays.

Go to Beverly Hills and look at jewelry-store windows if you want glitz. Hollywood is really a working town. Sure, many of the people involved in the concept of Hollywood -- actors, directors, writers, composers -- are among the highest paid and most celebrated workers in the world. But they'll often refer to their movie, TV, and recording studios as factories where they put in long hours.

West Hollywood is not a place to see things (like museums or movie studios) as much as it is a place to do things -- like go to a nightclub, eat at a world-famous restaurant, or attend an art gallery opening. Since the end of Prohibition, the Sunset Strip has been Hollywood's nighttime playground, where stars headed to such glamorous nightclubs as the Trocadero, the Mocambo, and Ciro's. Las Vegas eclipsed the Strip's glitter in the 1950s, but in the next decade the music industry moved into town, and rock clubs like the Whisky A Go-Go took root. While the trendiest nightclubs are orbiting elsewhere, today's Sunset Strip is still going strong, with club goers lining up outside well-established spots like the Viper Room and House of Blues.

If you only have a day to see L.A., see Beverly Hills. Love it or hate it, it delivers on a dramatic, cinematic scale of wealth and excess. Beverly Hills is the town's biggest movie star, and she always lets those willing to part with a few bills into her year-round party. Just remember to bring your sunscreen, sunglasses… and money for parking.

The desirable, varied communities of Santa Monica, Venice, and Malibu curve along L.A.'s coastline. These high-rent areas hug Santa Monica Bay in an arc, from the ultracasual, ultrarich Malibu to the bohemian-seedy mix of Venice. What they have in common, however, is cleaner air, mild temperatures, often horrific traffic, and an emphasis on the beach-focused lifestyle that many people consider the hallmark of southern California.

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