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in Los Angeles
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ArcLight Cinemas
6360 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Theater & Entertainment
Historic Cinerama Dome that’s been expanded into a swish, ultra-high-tech multiplex.
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Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Ave.
Santa Monica
CA
Sight
Museums & Galleries
Former trolley station housing a clutch of galleries and the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
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Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Posher-than-posh city on LA’s Westside known as a playground of celebs and the mega-rich.
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Disneyland
1313 S. Disneyland Dr.
Anaheim
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
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Ever-iconic theme park opened by Walt Disney in 1955.
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Getty Center
1200 Getty Center Dr.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Museums & Galleries
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Besides housing world-famous collections, the Getty’s stunning grounds are works of art in themselves.
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Getty Villa Malibu
17985 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Pacific Palisades
CA
Sight
Museums & Galleries
true
World-class collection of antiquities housed in a replica Roman villa with stunning views.
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Griffith Park and Observatory
4730 Crystal Springs Dr.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Sprawling park famous for its Observatory, wild forestland, and sweeping views.
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Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Museums & Galleries
UCLA museum with superlative fine and contemporary art collections.
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Hollyhock House
4800 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Museums & Galleries
Frank Lloyd Wright’s first West Coast project, a hollyhock-themed house in “California Romanza” style.
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Hollywood Bowl
2301 N. Highland Ave.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Theater & Entertainment
Outdoor amphitheater music venue that hosts everything from rock concerts to the LA Philharmonic.
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Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Legendary strip lined with nightclubs, flashing lights, and monuments of Hollywood’s glory.
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Learn to Surf LA
1538 Euclid St. (Office)
Santa Monica
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Learn to Surf offers the most iconic of West Coast experiences: a day riding the waves of SoCal.
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Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Museums & Galleries
Massive, labyrinthine art museum housing the largest permanent collections west of the Mississippi.
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Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Dr.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Inspiration for many iconic Hollywood moments, this road’s curves are the stuff of pop culture lore.
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Pacific Coast Highway
Pacific Coast Hwy.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
true
Scenic California highway offering impressive Pacific vistas.
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Petersen Automotive Museum
6060 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Museums & Galleries
Engaging auto museum covering everything from classic cars to raceway motors.
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Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach
32350 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Malibu
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Chain of three mini-beaches tucked away at the foot of dramatic ocean-front cliffs.
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Santa Monica
Santa Monica
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Beaches, beautiful people, and boho-glam boutiques: “the” place for a shot of California cool.
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Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Legendary Westside boulevard connecting downtown LA with the Pacific.
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Sunset Strip
Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Crazy mix of hot nightlife, frou-frou boutiques, kitschy dives, and see-and-be-seen restaurants.
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Universal Studios/ Universal City Walk
1000 Universal City Plaza
Universal City
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Universal Studios "experience," complete with high-tech studio tour, theme park, and busy boardwalk.
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Venice
Venice
CA
Sight
Signature City Experiences
Funky beachside town where wacky boardwalk “characters” mingle with chichi café-and-boutique types.
Whether you wanted to slip on Cinderella's fabulous glass slippers or have a wacky tea party with the Mad Hatter, chances are that your Hollywood fantasies started young. Weaned on Disney films, we're practically programmed from a young age to want to meet the "real" characters we adore in film, to see the exact places where scenes were committed to celluloid, and to glimpse where all the cinematic magic happens.
It's this desire to peek behind the scenes that drives the sightseeing spectacle of Los Angeles. At Universal Studios, you can take a backlot tour that gets you on the real sets of many "classic" movies (and by classic we're talking 80s gems like Back to the Future). At the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, the permanent home of the Academy Awards, you can tour the gold-trimmed interiors and take a gander at of one of those statuettes up close. You can get pretty close to actual stars, too, whether it's finding your favorite leading man's star in the pavement on the Walk of Fame (yes, Mickey Mouse has a star!) or rubbing elbows with starlets du jour and their attendant paparazzi as they party on the Sunset Strip.
The beaches in LA figure so prominently in films and TV shows that they've become as legendary as the stars who frolic on them. Everyone from Gidget to Hannah Montana has graced the Malibu shores, but those in the know find solace from the rolling cameras at Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach–a collection of semi-secluded patches of pristine sand. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Venice, whose wide-open expanse of beach gained considerable fame when Baywatch babes braved windblown hair to rescue troubled swimmers. You can always take a surfing lesson from Learn to Surf LA if you'd like to give the sparkling Pacific waters a try for yourself. If you prefer not to get all wet and sandy, ride a bike up the beachside path to Santa Monica, where you can whirl on the Ferris wheel at the historic pier (the endpoint to Forrest Gump's cross-country run).
Sometimes, though, the beauty of nature-for-nature's-sake gets the best of you in LA, even amid all the pervasive Hollywood references. When you're deep inside Griffith Park, one of the largest urban parks in the world, you won't even remember you're smack in the middle of a city. Lose yourself in its forests and along its trails and check out a very different kind of star gazing at the Griffith Observatory. Or choose to head from the foothills to the sea and drive up the picturesque Pacific Coast Highway–the stunning views of the sun setting over the ocean will remind you of the only star that really matters in this town.
On that note, it's hard to know which views are best at the Getty Villa Malibu: the sweeping Pacific vistas, lush gardens, or collection of Greek and Roman art. Yes, not all of the best pictures in LA are motion pictures. You can gaze upon drawings from Michelangelo and Da Vinci at the similarly well view-endowed Getty Center, the largest collection of art west of the Mississippi at LACMA, and cutting-edge contemporary pieces at Bergamot Station.
And though these grown-up pursuits are noteworthy, the kid in you won't want to pass up a trip to Disneyland. It's everything you imagine and then some: long lines, sugar-high tots, kitschy rides, and a cast of costumed characters. Go ahead and take that picture with Mickey in front of Cinderella's Castle–you know you want to!
Photo of Griffith Park and Observatory courtesy of Marcy Reiford on Flickr Creative Commons