Things to Do in Los Angeles

One of the world's oldest continuously operating movie studios, Universal Studios Hollywood presents an entertaining mix of thrill rides and live action shows, plus a tram ride. The large California theme park cleverly integrates the shows and rides with behind-the-scenes presentations on movie-making.

Opened in L.A.’s Downtown in 1939 and named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, this Amtrak hub is known as the “Last of the Great Railway Stations” built in America. Serving five major Amtrak trains (running to Seattle, Chicago, San Antonio, New Orleans, San Diego and San Luis Obispo), the station also provides service to Amtrak’s long-distance coach line, as well as L.A.’s local Metro Bus and seven lines of the Metro Rail.

From the outside, the beige stucco, red-roof-tiled building looks like many Spanish-style structures found in the city, but the interior is actually a blend of Dutch Colonial Revival, Mission Revival and Streamline Moderne, three of the most popular architectural styles in L.A. The distinctive station has made appearances in several movies over the years, including the noir classic Union Station, To Live & Die in L.A., Speed, The Way We Were, and Batman re-spin The Dark Knight Rises.

Stand in the footprints of your favorite silver-screen legends in the courtyard of this grand movie palace, formerly known as Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The exotic pagoda theater - complete with temple bells and stone Heaven Dogs from China - has shown movies since 1927. In fact, it's still a studio favorite for star-studded premieres, captivating crowds of all ages.

It's somewhat of a tourist rite of passage to compare your hands and feet with the famous prints set in cement at the entrance court. There are some 160 celebrity squares to discover including R2D2's wheels, Jimmy Durante's nose, Betty Grable's legs, or Whoopi Goldberg's braids. Rumor has it that the tradition was started when silent film star Norma Talmadge accidentally stepped in wet cement the night of the theater's premier of Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings.

In 2013, the theatre teamed up with TCL "The Creative Life", a Chinese electronics manufacturer, to bring the theatre into the 21st century while retaining the 85 year legacy and place in Hollywood history. In addition to a 10-year naming rights contract, this allows TCL to put their stamp on the theatre through upgrades to seats, equipment and more to enhance the movie-goers experience.

Developed by L.A. real estate giants Charles E. Toberman and Sid Grauman, the vaudeville showman and movie-palace mogul behind the nearby Chinese Theatre, this 1922 Egyptian-themed landmark capitalized on the national fervor of British archeologists' early 1920s discoveries of ancient Egyptian tombs and artifacts. The Egyptian Theatre's dramatic entrance courtyard bears huge columns and mock hieroglyphics, similar in feel (if not scale) to the Babylonian design details of its neighbor, the Hollywood & Highland mall complex.

The first Hollywood theater to host a national movie premiere (The Ten Commandments, 1922), the Egyptian became famous for its pre-screening live performances staged by Grauman himself; eventually, the theater became best known for long-term engagements of big box office films like My Fair Lady and Ben-Hur.

The Egyptian -- and Hollywood itself -- began to experience a slow decline in the 1970s, and by the early '90s, the theater's owner, United Artists, opted to let it go. By 1998, though, non-profit cinephile organization American Cinematheque had chosen it as its Eastside home (the Westside branch is the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica), invested over $12 million in its full restoration, and re-launched it as a working movie theater.

These days, screenings at the Egyptian's two theaters (one with 616 seats, the other 78) include American Film Institute events, gala premieres, and double features of movies by the same director. The organization's American Cinematheque Awards are televised here each year and all screenings are open to the public.

On a busy Downtown street corner a half-block from the main plaza of L.A.'s Performing Arts Center and across from the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the Walt Disney Concert Hall's twisted-metal landmark building bursts forth like a strange silver flower. Designed by Frank Gehry, the city's most famous contemporary architect, and acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, the walls and ceiling of the interior are finished with Douglas fir and the floor with oak. Attending a performance in this soaring, swirling sanctum of perfect pitch is a treat for all of your senses.

Founded by Lillian Disney to honor her husband Walt's commitment to arts and culture in L.A., the Concert Hall is home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Master Chorale. The 2,265-seat performance space also hosts an impressive, eclectic array of musicians and singers from around the world. Acts range from the Soweto Gospel Choir to composer Philip Glass and indie rockers Death Cab for Cutie.
Free, self-guided audio tours narrated by John Lithgow and featuring insight from architect Frank Gehry, Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, and more are available, as well as guided group tours that are available every day and last one hour.

On the Sunset Strip site of a club formerly known at various times as Filthy McNasty’s or The Central, this rock, punk, metal and indie music club and dive bar was originally opened by actor Johnny Depp in 1993. Later that same year, it achieved a sad brand of fame when actor (and Depp’s friend) River Phoenix died of a drug overdose just outside its doors.

Depp relinquished his partnership in the club in 2004, and today it’s partially owned by Harry Morton, founder of Southern California’s Pink Taco chain of Mexican restaurants and the son of Hard Rock Café founder Peter Morton.

Not as much of a star attraction now as it was in the 1990s, the Viper Room is still known for picky bouncers and a killer sound system; if you’re a true music fan who wants to catch an emerging act or a locally-popular DJ, this is the club for you. Food isn’t served, but drinks at the full bar are reasonably priced ($7-11) for a West Hollywood club.

Located on the I-5 Freeway, 10 minutes south of Downtown L.A., this fortress-like, faux-Mesopotamian complex houses the city's only shopping outlets. (The outlet malls in Camarillo and Ontario both lie outside of Los Angeles County.)

With 115 outlet stores, including Banana Republic, Calvin Klein and Old Navy, the Citadel can be a multi-hour diversion. Several casual/fast food restaurants provide a sense of true Southern California cuisine, with outposts of Ruby's Diner and Hot Dog on a Stick, as well as Maui Style Hawaiian BBQ and Nibi Pho Bistro; the latter reflects the influence of Orange County's Vietnamese population, which is the largest in the country.

The most popular outpost of this unique educational center, the Museum of the American West, was created in 1988 by Western movie star and country recording artist Gene Autry with his friend and fellow Western actor/country singer, Monte Hale, and their wives. Located in Griffith Park just across from the Los Angeles Zoo, the museum, generally referred to as "the Autry," is dedicated to preserving and sharing the complex history and cultural significance of the 19th-century American diaspora and the subsequent boom-growth of the West.

Permanent exhibitions include over 100,000 objects and artifacts from the pioneer and Gold Rush eras (including a full-scale stagecoach and saloon); depictions of the West as a fabled "land of opportunity" alongside an often grittier reality; and screenings of classic Western films, many of which star Autry and Hale themselves. Rotating exhibits have examined the role of women, Jews, blacks, and Chinese railroad workers in the taming of the Wild West, as well as evocative photographs of Native Americans in both historical and modern settings.

It is closed Mondays except Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents' Day. Docent-led tours are generally given on Saturdays at 11:30 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm.

NOTE: The second half of the Autry National Center, the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, is found in one of L.A.'s oldest Eastside neighborhoods, Mount Washington, an approximately 15-minute drive from Griffith Park. Created by newspaper journalist, anthropologist and intrepid traveler Charles Fletcher Lummis, this 1914 museum is now dedicated to the anthropological and archaeological study and preservation of the indigenous people of Arizona, New Mexico, California and more.

Founded in 1964 as the third outpost of an American chain based on a Paris disco, this Whisky-a-Go-Go was the first U.S. club to popularize the use of go-go dancers in suspended cages. The Doors were briefly the house band in the mid-1960s, and ever since, musical acts have included up-and-coming bands that have gone on to be enormously popular in a variety of genres – hard rock, metal, reggae, New Wave, grunge and more.

The Whisky, as it’s locally known, is easy to spot along the Sunset Strip, as there is always a line of patrons out front waiting to get into a show. Remaining true to its roots, the club continues to feature emerging bands rather than headliners. However, as many famous acts can claim the Whisky’s stage as the site of their first gig, it remains a historical landmark on the L.A. rock’n’roll scene.

An all-ages venue not known for its food, The Whisky offers a limited menu including burgers, fries and bar snacks. Only cash is taken at the on-site box office from Monday-Friday.

Who can resist the siren call of a rollercoaster theme park? Six Flags Magic Mountain is all things a roller coaster park should be – dozens of white-knuckle rides, a pleasant ambiance, great food, and friendly staff. Though the lines may be long, Six Flags Magic Mountain earns its reputation as one of the best rollercoaster parks in the country with a great mix of traditional wooden roller coasters (like the APOCALYPSE) and modern cutting edge twisters like “X” and “The Goliath.” Complete with a Kids Rides section that keeps fun at a maximum, Six Flags Magic Mountain is a true theme park for the whole family. Grab the kids, wear close-toed shoes, and get ready to have a ball.

This 57,000 square-foot outdoor mall in L.A.'s condensed Mid-City neighborhood draws crowds of tourists and locals every day of the year. Opened in 2002 and designed to look like a city within a city, its meandering layout features faux-Art Deco facades, stone-paved pathways, several restaurants and cafes, a shiny double-decker streetcar, and a whimsically animated fountain beside a grassy park. Since 2010, the entertainment tabloid show Extra has been filmed here, providing visitors a chance to see both a TV production and host Mario Lopez in action.

Surrounded by a shopping district full of independent boutiques and restaurants, and only about a mile from the famous Beverly Center, The Grove's popularity can be ironically attributed to its location. The mall sprawls adjacent to two other major attractions, CBS Television City (where visitors line up to see tapings of TV shows like Dancing With the Stars and American Idol) and the Original Farmer's Market. The latter, a city fixture since 1934, is a friendly warren of food stalls and sit-down eateries, gourmet provision and souvenir shops, and some of the best people-watching in Los Angeles; the Farmer's Market is one of the few places in town where you'll see old men in Greek fishing caps playing backgammon, an extended Korean family, and a surly pack of teenage hipsters in the same glance.

The Grove offers shopping and eating opportunities for visitors from all ages, as can be seen with the enormous, pink American Girl Place; a small Nordstrom's with a wildly popular shoe department; a glitzy 14-screen movie theatre; a huge Banana Republic; an even bigger Barnes & Noble; a swanky cocktail bar scene at The Whisper Lounge; gleaming outposts of Maggiano's Little Italy and The Cheesecake Factory; local chain Umami Burger and UK chef Gordon Ramsay's Fat Cow; and an Apple store that attracts TV and movie celebrities to its second-floor Genius Bar.

The Christmas season is especially festive at The Grove, which begins shortly before Thanksgiving. Here you'll find Santa in his North Pole house, an ongoing series of holiday concerts, a twinkling display of nighttime lights, and, trimmed to the hilt, the city's largest Christmas tree.

A commercial fixture in Santa Monica since the 1960s, this three-block-long pedestrian mall (centered on the three blocks of Third Street between Wilshire Boulevard and Broadway) was re-designed in 1989 and officially named the Third Street Promenade. Only two blocks east of the amusements of the Santa Monica Pier, the cliff-top walking path at Palisades Park, and the Pacific Ocean, the Promenade is one of the most popular tourist destinations on L.A.'s Westside.

Originally host to a variety of local and family-owned businesses, the stores here currently tend towards large national chains like Anthropologie, Banana Republic and H&M. A magnet for street performers, the Promenade is often clustered with crowds enjoying live music, puppet shows and more. The area is also well known for its nightlife and has several movie theaters, a few music clubs, a large handful of bars and a slew of local eateries. Bordered at Broadway by the upscale and outdoor Santa Monica Place Mall, the Promenade's commercial influence has also spread a couple of blocks to the east and west of Third Street, creating the most condensed shopping and entertainment district in Santa Monica.

The Promenade is surrounded by inexpensive public parking lots, but available spaces tend to become scarce as the day progresses. Wednesdays and Saturdays are especially busy, this is when America's largest and oldest certified organic farmers' market is held on Arizona Avenue between 2nd and 4th streets.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Dennis Rodman and Shaquille O’Neal are just five of the celebrated basketball players who have worn the purple and gold of a Los Angeles Lakers jersey. Today’s lauded star, Kobe Bryant, led the Lakers to three national championships in a row from 2000 to 2002, and again in 2009 and 2010.

Needless to say, the NBA team is one of the country’s most worshipped, and catching a game at the Staples Center is an LA must-do. If you’re not a sports fan, keep your eyes open for the A-list stars who frequent the floor seats – particularly Jack Nicholson, who has had season tickets since the 1970s. You may also see Tom Cruise, Snoop Dog, Jack Black, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz.

Tucked into the plaza of a Century City office complex, this 10,000-square-foot streamlined building is the only museum in Los Angeles dedicated to both digital and traditional print photography. Run by the Annenberg Foundation, a longtime patron of American arts and culture, both admission and docent-led tours at the Space are free to the public.

Open since 2008, exhibits have included images from rock 'n' roll history, dissertations on beauty culture, stories of war, and career retrospectives of famous photographers. Works are displayed on high-resolution, state-of-the-art glass screens, and table-mounted "surface" screen allow visitors to interact with photos, zoom in and out on their details.