Los Angeles
Overview
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34.052235, -118.243683 |
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With its stunning coastline, world class attractions and glorious weather, it’s no wonder Los Angeles is such a popular holiday destination. The Southern Californian city is famous for its vibrant culture, golden sands and celebrity status, which you can experience on your visit to the City of Angels. The City of Los Angeles holds many distinctions. LA is the entertainment capital of the world, a cultural mecca boasting more than 100 museums, and a paradise of good weather. From tourist attractions like the Walk of Fame’s collection of stars (numbering 2,576, and growing by one or two a month) to career opportunities like those presented in the expanding tech industry, Los Angeles is the place to be. However there’s more to LA than famous names, with suburbs such as Malibu and Venice beach boasting cultural gems as well as quirky shops and interesting boutiques. The former is also homme to the picturesque Malibu Pier, which has a gorgeous organic restaurant at the end, and the magnificent Getty Villa, crammed with Grecian gems.
Places to Go
Universal Studios Hollywood
Only Universal Studios lets you ride the movies and go behind the scenes of a real working movie studio. Universal was founded in 1912 by motion picture visionary Carl Laemmle, a German immigrant who had a dream of building a world of entertainment in Southern California. On March 15th, 1915 Mr. Laemmle’s dream was realized with the opening of Universal Studios Hollywood. On that day, Laemmle issued a press release that predicted not only the future of Universal Pictures but of the global entertainment company that would grow out of the movie studio. Thrilling Theme Park rides and shows, a real working movie studio, and Los Angeles’ best shops, restaurants and cinemas at CityWalk. Universal Studios Hollywood is a unique experience that’s fun for the whole family.
Getty Center
The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks to inspire curiosity about, and enjoyment and understanding of, the visual arts by collecting, conserving, exhibiting and interpreting works of art of outstanding quality and historical importance. To fulfill this mission, the Museum continues to build its collections through purchase and gifts, and develops programs of exhibitions, publications, scholarly research, public education, and the performing arts that engage our diverse local and international audiences. A work of art inside and out, this primary campus of the renowned J. Paul Getty Museum (“The Getty”) in Brentwood features European and American art from the Middle Ages to the present. The Richard Meier-designed museum complex alone—a riot of shapes and angles clad in white Italian travertine marble, poised on the edge of the Santa Monica Mountains and commanding panoramic views (of Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the Pacific)—will amaze even those who never pass through doors. A winding .75-mile ascent from the parking lot via an electric tram literally glides on air to what appears as a Xanadu in the sky.
Griffith Park
With over 4,210 acres of both natural chaparral-covered terrain and landscaped parkland and picnic areas, Griffith Park is the largest municipal park with urban wilderness area in the United States. Situated in the eastern Santa Monica Mountain range, the Park’s elevations range from 384 to 1,625 feet above sea level. With an arid climate, the Park’s plant communities vary from coastal sage scrub, oak and walnut woodlands to riparian vegetation with trees in the Park’s deep canyons. The California native plants represented in Griffith Park include the California species of oak, walnut, lilac, mountain mahogany, sages, toyon, and sumac. Present, in small quantities, are the threatened species of manzanita and beriberi’s. Over the years recreational attractions have been developed throughout the Park, however an amazingly large portion of the Park remains virtually unchanged from the days Native American villages occupied the area's lower slopes. Today's Griffith Park offers numerous family attractions, an assortment of educational and cultural institutions, and miles of hiking and horseback riding trails, and provides visitors an ideal environment for enjoyable recreation activities. Spanning an impressive 4,210 acres, it's easy to get lost in LA's largest public green space, much of which remains unchanged from the days when Native Americans settled here. For more activity-minded folks, there are myriad attractions (Griffith merry-go-round, LA Zoo, the Observatory), plus hiking routes, horseback riding trails and three sets of tennis courts.
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