Los Angeles tourist information
Without a chauffeur, too. Using LA’s efficient public transportation system, visitors can tour ALL over the city. The state-of-the-art subway (not one of those 100-year-old monsters) connects Downtown with Hollywood and Universal City. Metro Rail takes MTA bus or rail car riders from Downtown to Long Beach (think Queen Mary). The fast-and-furious Wilshire Boulevard Metro Rapid Bus rushes from Downtown, past Museum Row, through the center of Beverly Hills and on to Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean. And the new Metro Rail Gold Line, Which take people from Downtown to Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, opened in Summer 2003.
From lovingly restored haciendas to the super-charged 21st century glow of Frank Gehry’s Disney Concert Hall, LA has amassed an amazingly rich and varied architectural heritage in 200+ years: the fussed-over Victorians on Carroll Avenue, the streamline moderne/Spanish mission romance of Union Station, the quirky Watts Towers, Adamson House (the ultimate Malibu beach home), the castle-on-the hill grandeur of the Getty Center and the serene new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. And that’s just for starters.
What sometimes gets lost in the hustle bustle of cruise ship passengers rushing from plane to ship is the simplest of realities: LA IS a port of call, not just a point of connection. As the busiest passenger port of call on the West Coast, all those arrivals and departures can be turned into an extra excursion. The Cruise LA program offers discounts at area hotels for pre- and post- hotel stays, discounts to attractions, and plenty of tips on how to add a tour of Hollywood or Universal Studios Hollywood to stave off that post-Acapulco letdown. Or, visitors can enjoy the quaint port town of San Pedro, one of LA’s hidden gems with maritime and marine museums and great restaurants.
LA practically invented theme parks (Universal Studios Hollywood, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm). That’s just the beginning. The true test of a family-friendly place is: would parents enjoy themselves with or without the children? In LA, the answer is yes. The Getty Center is super kid-friendly -- a gallery to try on costumes just like in the paintings and spacious intriguing gardens to run off energy. The George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries is a hit with all dinosaur-philes. The Petersen Automotive Museum is a favorite for those who only dream of the day that they will have a driver’s license. The LA Zoo is definitely an all-dayer for all generations, with the Red Ape Rainforest high on everyone’s list.
Warm winters, low humidity summers – LA is blessed with absolutely perfect outdoor weather. What to do? No need to bring equipment: rent a kayak in Marina del Rey, roller skates on the Venice Boardwalk, bikes to pedal the much-loved cycling/jogging/skating path that winds past 22 miles of prime oceanfront glory. Griffith Park (the largest city park in the U.S.) is sooooo accessible for hiking, jogging, golf, and horseback riding. And lounging by the hotel pool (year-round) counts, doesn’t it?
LA boasts many magnificent museums with masterpieces (Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso) to rival the best collections in Europe: the acropolis-like Getty Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (especially strong in English painters) and the Norton Simon Museum. But that’s only part of the story. Several of LA’s museums pay homage to California culture: Museum of the American West (honoring both the real and reel-life cowboys of the Southwest), Petersen Automotive Museum (reveling in LA’s car culture), Frederick’s of Hollywood Celebrity Lingerie Hall of Fame and Museum of Neon Art.
Little Tokyo, Chinatown -- LA's deeply rooted ethnic communities thrive not only in cafes, bars, restaurants and unusual shops and boutiques, but in some unexpected places as well. Fairfax Avenue’s Little Ethiopia is the first-ever officially designated African community in the U.S. Sprawling Koreatown is the largest Korean community outside of Korea. LA is also home to Little India, Filipinotown and Little Armenia. Dinner? The choices are dazzling: Brazilian churrascaria, Indian tandoori, Salvadoran pupusas, Vietnamese spring rolls, Oaxacan tamales, even fish and chips at an English pub.
The versatile and techno-advanced Los Angeles Convention Center, with its dynamic architecture and handy Downtown location is reason enough to select LA as a meeting destination. But wait! In LA there’s always that show biz angle -- and the Convention Center doesn’t disappoint. Meeting- and convention-goers love the extra electricity that comes with sauntering through the same halls, out the same doors that they remember from “West Wing,” “Austin Powers,” “Star Trek Voyager” and dozens of TV commercials. And with two or three productions a month filming in and around the center, attendees often get that once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Hollywood in action.
Want to know what the rest of the country will be mad for next season? Take a stroll through LA’s hippest shopping districts where the latest trends are in the windows, on the racks and sashaying down the sidewalk to the nearest Starbucks. From the adventurous boutiques on Third Street and Beverly Drive to the counter-culture hipness of the Venice Boardwalk to the celebrity magnets (Fred Segal, Tracey Ross) that dot the city, Angelenos treat personal style as a birthright.
“Movie Palace.” The words conjure up fabulously extravagant movie houses. It’s only natural that the home of the movie industry should have a sentimental attachment to these grande dames. From the razzle dazzle of Downtown (Palace, Mayan, Orpheum) to San Pedro’s Warner Grand and, of course, Grauman’s Chinese -- all these ladies are open for tours and/or movies. Disney restored Hollywood’s El Capitan (where the curtain alone is worth the price of admission) and American Cinematheque (specializing in tributes and retrospectives) has brought the exotic Egyptian back to life. The tradition continues with Universal Studios Cinema (a mega-plex right next door to the studio itself!) and ArcLight, part of the Cinerama Dome complex, that is strictly a 21th century movie-going experience with assigned seats, ushers, limited previews, no pre-show ads, a cafe and a jazzy lobby gift shop.
Los Angeles aerial map
Please click on any icon on the Los Angeles aerial tourist map, to find close by places, offering hotels and tourist information. You can zoom in and zoom out our touristical map as well as switch between satelite and map view of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles weather forecast
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