Los Angeles

Think of Los Angeles and you are likely to conjure up images of movie stars, Rodeo Drive and maybe even 'Speidi' and the rest of the cast of MTV's 'The Hills'. But peel back the glossy veneer and you will find that the City of Angels is more than just Tinseltown.

No doubt the majority of visitors to Los Angeles are visiting because they want to see where the world's movie blockbusters are produced, and there is every opportunity to immerse oneself in Hollywood. As Los Angeles is such a vast city, spanning some 1,200 sq km, it would be wise to hire a car to best see the array of attractions on offer.

The most popular areas in Los Angeles for tourists to base themselves are Santa Monica, which is on the coast and about 20 minutes from Los Angeles International Airport, and Hollywood, about 22km from LAX. If you plan to travel back and forth between these two spots, be prepared for some heavy traffic both on the freeways and on the city streets - a trip that may be judged to take 30 minutes could take twice that. Taxis are available but generally an expensive option. However, if you don't drive and if you choose your hotel wisely you may be able to navigate the city using public transportation. It is still possible to see LA if you don't want to drive but it takes a bit of effort and planning. For information on public transportation options, visit: www.metro.net.

Los Angeles has all the big name hotel chains, from the basic to the high-end, so there is something to suit all pockets. Be very aware that the cheaper hotels do tend to be in the less desirable parts of town or even just on a dodgy street, which may mean more than just an unpleasant view. But as in any major city in the world keep your wits about you and don't wander through neighbourhoods after dark.

Hollywood
Hollywood is the centre of the entertainment industry and is a good place to start out looking for stars. However, those you will see are likely only going to be on the Walk of Fame and not the people themselves! The Walk of Fame is a series of streets where the footpaths have gold stars bearing the names of more than 2,000 people involved in the movie, television and music industries. The stars, along with Grauman's Chinese Theatre, are a Mecca for tourists from all over the world. This is also a working cinema where world premieres of films are often held, so you may get to see a real star if you catch a movie opening. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce organises the Walk of Fame ceremonies where honourees have their star unveiled in public. For an updated list of upcoming ceremonies, check out: www.hollywoodchamber.net. The site also has a detailed list of the location of all the stars, so you will be able to find your favourite's without any fuss.

Hollywood and Highland is the main thoroughfare in Hollywood and has undergone massive revitalisation in the past decade. What was once a run-down and rather depressing area is now full of life and vitality. Here you will find a good selection of shops and restaurants as you get your first view of the world-famous Hollywood sign. The shopping area is centred on the Kodak Theater, where the Oscar ceremony is held every year (the first Academy Awards were held across the street at the Roosevelt Hotel). The Kodak hosts an eclectic mix of entertainment events from live music to ballet. Guided tours of the theatre are also available. The bridge on the third and fourth levels of the centre give a good photo opportunity for the Hollywood sign.

But the best view of the Hollywood sign will be found a short drive away in the Hollywood Hills. Take the 101 Freeway to Barham Boulevard, take Barham to Lake Hollywood Drive (on the right), follow the road through the residential area around the reservoir, go up the hill by the dog park and you've arrived! You cannot get any closer than this by car and access by foot is also restricted by fences and a security system. This spot is a little difficult to find, which may explain why very few tourists seem to make it up the hill. But it definitely is the best place to see the iconic sign and have your photo taken.

Universal Studios is located in the same area, back down the hill, off the 101 Freeway at Universal City. This theme park has a working studio, with roller-coasters, rides, shops and restaurants. The back-lot tour has been expanded with the new 'King Kong 360 3-D' created by Peter Jackson and also includes Wisteria Lane from 'Desperate Housewives' and the Bates Motel from 'Psycho'. Highlights in Universal are the 'Jurassic Park' ride, which includes an 80-foot raft plunge, and the 'Revenge of The Mummy', where you are catapulted in near darkness at speeds of up to 45mph. The rides in the park are somewhat dated, and the attraction pales in comparison to its sister park in Orlando, but it still makes for a good day out for all the family. Universal Citywalk, which is outside the theme park, is full of shops, restaurants and cinemas. After dark the area is buzzing and is a good place to hang out and people watch.

Paramount and Warner Brothers studios both offer tours of their back lots. They each last about two hours and cost between $40-50 for a behind-the-scenes guided tour of working studios. Warner Brothers has a deluxe option, which takes five hours and includes lunch at the Commissary Fine Dining Room.

You may also want to see a show being filmed and be part of the audience while in Hollywood. A number of shows are filmed in front of a live audience and tickets are available and free. Check out: www.tvtix.com or http://tvtickets.com/. Most of the shows take a hiatus between June and August but some do film all year round. You can also go directly to the shows' websites (Ellen DeGeneres, Dr Phil or 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' for example) where you can get information about getting tickets - book well in advance to avoid disappointment!

While in Hollywood you are likely to be offered a tour of the stars' homes. For about $40 you spend two hours being driven through the residential areas of Beverly Hills, Hollywood and West Hollywood with your tour guide pointing out the current and former homes of stars past and present. You may be lucky enough to see some of the people who live in the houses but more than likely you'll just see their gardener instead! I did see Pat Boone, the singer and actor, while on a tour. He was picking up his letters from his mail box but the only person on the tour that seemed impressed by the sighting was the guide, who promptly jumped from the bus and ran to shake the crooner's hand! At the very least you will get to see some beautiful homes... from the roadside.

Shopping
As with most US cities, Los Angeles is a great place to shop. Many tourists head for Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills to see and maybe even buy some of the high-end goods and designer fashions sold there. There are more than 100 shops on a three-block stretch in the centre of Beverly Hills. So if you have the budget you can indulge in Chanel, Tiffany & Co or Yves Saint-Laurent while rubbing shoulders with upper-crust Angelenos. The Beverly Wilshire Hotel, which you should recognise from the movie 'Pretty Woman', is right on the corner of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard.

The Beverly Center is located on La Cienega at the edge of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Here you will find 160 shops including Bloomingdale's and Macy's as well as a cinema complex. But the new kid on the block is The Grove, about five minutes drive from the Beverly Center. This offers an outdoor shopping experience complete with a fountain and a train that makes its way along the shopping street to the Farmers Market. You will also find a good selection of restaurants, as well as cinemas. The Farmers Market has been on the corner of Fairfax and Third since 1934 and is open seven days a week. According to its website James Dean is believed to have eaten breakfast there on the day he died in a car crash in 1955.

My favourite mall in the Los Angeles area is Glendale Galleria, located about 20 minutes drive from Hollywood. This is also a mall that many locals shop in and it has some of the big-name anchor stores (Macy's, JC Penney and Target) as well as Nordstrom, which stocks many of the high-end cosmetics and fragrances that Macy's does not. You will also find all the popular shops such as Abercrombie & Fitch as well as The Gap, Baby Gap and Victoria's Secret. Right next to the Galleria is the newer Americana At Brand. This is another outdoor mall and has a wide selection of shops including H&M, Juicy Couture and Guess Accessories. Here's a tip when visiting these malls - park in the Galleria for free and go back and forth between the two spots. The Americana charges for parking and you need every cent in your pocket when you're shopping!

Eating Out
LA Prime is my favourite place to go in Los Angeles for steak. It's on the 35th floor of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. The hotel has been featured in several television series and movies and is a downtown landmark with its distinctive glass towers. Start out at the BonaVista Lounge, a revolving cocktail lounge, located on the 34th floor of the hotel before heading upstairs to LA Prime. The entrées are not cheap, with a 10oz filet mignon at $48 or grilled lamb chops for $42 - side dishes cost $10 each. There is a stylish yet relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant but no doubt you are paying for the view.

You can't visit Los Angeles without trying Mexican food and there are many eateries offering dishes from south of the border. I recommend El Cholo, located at 1121 S. Western Ave, Los Angeles. The restaurant serves traditional Mexican dishes including green corn tamales, enchiladas and sizzling fajitas. They also make great margaritas!

The Stinking Rose at 55 N La Cienega Blvd, Beverly Hills, claims to "season its garlic with food", and boy is that true. Do not contemplate going to this restaurant if you don't like garlic. But if you do you'll enjoy the experience of Bagna Calda - garlic soaking in a hot tub - oven-roasted garlic cloves great for spreading on bread, or any of the other dishes on the menu including the entrées served with garlic Yukon mashed potatoes. You also have to try the garlic ice-cream or how about a garlic martini?

House of Blues at 8430 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, offers a fun way to spend a few hours on Sunday mornings with its Gospel Brunch. Every other Sunday the House of Blues is filled with the sound of gospel singing and shouts of "Hallelujah!" as people from all around the world enjoy a buffet brunch. Tickets cost around $40 and booking in advance is strongly advised - don't miss the corn muffins with maple butter or the homefried potatoes with peppers and onions.

By the way, many of the bars and restaurants featured in 'The Hills' are located in and around Hollywood. A quick search online will give you a list of these, along with their addresses, if you want to try mingle with Audrina, Lo and Co.

Fancy a hamburger? Then you have to try either In-n-Out or Fat Burger - both favourite hamburger joints with locals in Los Angeles. They serve the basics: hamburger, fries and shakes but both restaurants' servings are generous and a step above the usual fast-food joint.

West Hollywood
West Hollywood's own official website says that the city is "one of the greatest gay friendly vacation destinations" as well as "the pet friendliest city in Southern California", and "Los Angeles' hottest destination for the entertainment industry". All of this is true. The city is a hive of activity and has a huge number of bars, restaurants, clubs and hotels. On the weekends in particular Sunset Strip is a veritable car park as people flock to the area to enjoy some of the night spots including Whiskey A GO-GO, the Viper Room and the House of Blues. Plan to walk the Strip because trying to navigate the streets in a car is painstakingly slow and really not as much fun.

Sports
Los Angeles has plenty to offer the sports fan with professional baseball, basketball, soccer and ice-hockey teams all nearby. However, if you want to watch a professional football game you'll have to travel to either San Francisco or San Diego as LA doesn't have an NFL team. Dodgers Stadium is near downtown LA and is where you can catch a major league baseball game during the season, which runs from April to October.

Fans of soccer can see the LA Galaxy play at The Home Depot Center in Carson about 30 minutes from Hollywood. It is also the training headquarters for the US men's and women's national teams as well as the site of the David Beckham Academy. The season runs from March until November.

Hockey fans won't be left out in the cold either with the LA Kings playing their games at the Staples Center from September until April.

The NBA regular season runs from November to April and Los Angeles has the Lakers, Clippers and the as well as the WNBA Sparks. These teams play home games at the Staples Center in downtown LA. Court-side tickets can be expensive but if you want to see the Lakers play, check out their schedule to see when they are playing 'away' to the Clippers. As such these tickets are usually cheaper as it is a Clippers home game yet you still get to see the NBA champs, just for a few dollars less.

Los Angeles magazine is a good place to find out what's on and happening in the city, you can check it out on their website or pick up a copy when you are in LA. www.lamag.com

Beaches
Being in Southern California means there are plenty of golden beaches for the sun-worshipper to avail of. Some of the most popular and easily accessible are Santa Monica and Venice Beach, although these are best for people watching more so than sunbathing. Santa Monica has a pier that is hugely popular with locals and tourists alike, so be prepared for crowds at the weekends and during holidays. It has a paved pathway stretching along the beach, which cyclists and skaters readily avail of. The Santa Monica Pier has a small amusement park and an aquarium and is full of entertainers and vendors.

Not far from Santa Monica is Venice Beach, which has more of a hippy feel about it with its boardwalk and old-fashioned buildings. The city was designed in the early 1900s to resemble Venice, Italy, but that never fully materialised. However, six canals do remain and are bordered by some beautiful homes. This is also where you will find Muscle Beach, where you can see bodybuilders strutting their stuff and flexing their muscles until your eyes water. Arnold Schwarzenegger is perhaps one of the best known body builders that used to frequent Muscle Beach before becoming a movie star and eventually governor of California. Body building events are regularly held here and are generally free to the public.

A good reference for beaches in the area is The Los Angeles Times 'Best LA Beaches' list: http://travel.latimes.com/destinations/los-angeles/clm/activities/best-beaches.

City of Angels Culture
The city of Los Angeles was originally part of Mexico until it was purchased, along with the rest of California, at the end of the Mexican-American War and then became part of the United States. The city is home to a diverse mix of nationalities and cultures, not just Spanish-speaking.

In the centre of Los Angeles you will find El Pueblo De Los Angeles, which is a historical monument near the original site of the first town that became modern LA. It includes museums highlighting the city firefighters' history as well as those marking the contribution of the Chinese, Italian and Mexican cultures. Olvera Street is full of restaurants and shops packed with knick-knacks and goods from Mexico.

Not far from Olvera Street you will find Chinatown, which was officially designated in 1938. It's a dizzy mix of restaurants, shops, stalls, herbal stores, churches and temples. Don't expect to find Szechuan chicken a la your local Chinese restaurant: this is all authentic style food, so think more of chiu chow seafood porridge, guotie and xiaolongbao.

Museums
But much of the rich culture is overlooked by tourists who see Los Angeles just as the entertainment capital of the world. There are dozens of museums throughout the city that are well worth experiencing. The Museum of Tolerance is at the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Pico Boulevard, and was named after the Nazi hunter. The idea behind this museum is to not only to highlight the Holocaust but also to "promote tolerance and understanding". It does this through a series of interactive exhibits that challenge participants to see their own prejudices, which most of us are entirely unaware of. The museum also has exhibits from the Holocaust and survivors who share their stories with visitors. It is an enlightening experience.

The La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum is located on Wilshire Boulevard on the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles. It gives visitors the opportunity to see fossils from the Ice Age being cleaned and repaired and the park outside the museum features life-size replicas of some extinct mammals.

Further along Museum Row on the Miracle Mile you will find the Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art. Featuring over 100,000 objects, it is the largest art museum in the western US. It includes Asian, Latin-American art as well as pieces by Damien Hirst and Jean-Michel Basquiat. And what would Los Angeles, the home of California's first freeway, be without a museum celebrating the car. The Petersen Automotive Museum is at the end of Museum Row and explores the evolution of the automobile and its impact on culture. Newshounds may also recall that rapper Notorious B.I.G was shot dead in his SUV just yards from the museum and just minutes after he had left a party there in 1997.

Heading back through Hollywood and towards Glendale you will find Griffith Park. It has more than 4,200 acres of parkland, and has a wide variety of attractions including horse-riding, hiking, the LA Zoo, the Griffith Observatory and the Museum of The American West, a.k.a, the Gene Autry Museum. It was set up in 1988 by recording artist and cowboy movie star Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy, probably best known for his song 'Back in the Saddle Again'. He wanted to explore and share the story of the American West and that's what the museum does through its various exhibits and its 21,000 related artefacts.

All-in-all I say "Hooray For Hollywood", but Los Angeles has so much more to offer the tourist than Tinseltown and it would be a pity to miss all that the City of Angels has by focusing on just that aspect. Whether you have a couple of days or a few weeks to spend here you won't be stuck for something to do.

Fiona Hearst

For more on Los Angeles, visit: http://discoverlosangeles.com.

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