CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS

California Science Center – Downtown Los Angeles

Children’s Museum of Los Angeles – Downtown Los Angeles

Japanese American National Museum – Downtown Los Angeles

Los Angeles Philharmonic – Downtown Los Angeles

Los Angeles Public Library – Downtown Los Angeles

Los Angeles Opera – Downtown Los Angeles

The Museum of Contemporary Art – Downtown Los Angeles .

Natural History Museum – Downtown Los Angeles

ENTERTAINMENT & AREA ATTRACTIONS

Downtown Los Angeles Visitors Guide – brought to you by the Los Angeles Downtown News

Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tour – brought to you by the USC department of Geography

The Fashion District – Downtown Los Angeles

Koreatown Plaza – Koreatown

Los Angeles Flower District – Downtown Los Angeles . – the epicenter of the flower business in the Los Angeles area,

Old Chinatown – Downtown Los Angeles

Olvera Street – Downtown Los Angeles

Watts Towers – Watts

West Los Angeles & Malibu

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS

Getty Center – Brentwood – the Richard Meier designed buildings and the hilltop views are the main attractions

Getty Villa – Malibu – the re-opened museum that houses the J. Paul Getty Roman and Greek art collections.  Entrance is free, but you do need to make a reservation

Museum of Flying – Santa Monica

The Museum of Television and Radio – Beverly Hills

Museum of Tolerance – Los Angeles (near Beverly Hills)

UCLA Armand Hammer Museum of Art – Westwood

Westwood Village Memorial Park – Westwood – final resting place of Marilyn Monroe and many other Hollywood celebrities

ENTERTAINMENT & AREA ATTRACTIONS

3rd Street Promenade – Santa Monica

Century City Shopping Center – Century City

Hollywood Park – Inglewood – Win, place or show, you bet on the horses here

Leo Carrillio State Park – Malibu

Main Street – Santa Monica

Malibu Creek State Park – Malibu – 4,000 acres of hiking.  M*A*S*H was filmed here

Malibu Lagoon State Park – Malibu

Pacific Park – Santa Monica Pier

Perry’s Beach Cafe & Rentals – Santa Monica – rent a bike or roller blades and cruise down the boardwalk

Point Dume State Park

Rodeo Drive – Beverly Hills

Sony Pictures Studios – Culver City – take a tour, or watch a live taping of Jeopardy and other shows

UCLA Campus – Westwood – To see Royce Hall, the Sculpture Garden or to just grab lunch, any time on the UCLA campus is well spent

Venice Boardwalk – Venice Beach – one of the top draws in L.A. and worth a visit

Will Rogers State Historic Park – Pacific Palisades – great for a day of hiking

Miracle Mile, Hollywood & Adjacent

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS

Autry Museum of Western Heritage – Griffith Park

Griffith Observatory – Griffith Park

Hollywood Bowl – Hollywood

Korean Cultural Center – Mid-Wilsire

Los Angeles County Museum of Art – Miracle Mile

Los Angeles Zoo – Griffith Park

Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits – Miracle Mile

Peterson Automotive Museum – Miracle Mile

ENTERTAINMENT & AREA ATTRACTIONS

American Cinematheque Egytian Theater – Hollywood

El Capitan Theatre – Hollywood

Farmer’s Market – 3rd & Fairfax

Hollywood Entertainment District – Hollywood

The Magic Castle – Hollywood – you need to know a member for admittance

Paramount Studios – Hollywood

Silent Movie Theatre – Hollywood – the only silent cinema in the U.S.

Universal Studios – Studio City

East Side & Pasadena

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS

Architectural Tours – Pasadena – from the Convention & Visitors Bureau website, walk or drive and see some of the 600 buildings in Pasadena listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Homestead Museum – City of Industry

Huntington Library – San Marino

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden – Arcadia

Norton Simon Museum of Art – Pasadena

Southwest Museum – Mt. Washington

ENTERTAINMENT & AREA ATTRACTIONS

Citadel Factory Stores – Commerce

Los Angeles Speed Zone – City of Industry

South Bay & Long Beach

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS

Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific – Long Beach

Fort MacArthur Museum – San Pedro

Los Angeles Maritime Museum - San Pedro

The Queen Mary – Long Beach

Port of L.A. Waterfront Red Car Line – San Pedro – ride in a restored Red Car trolley

Whale Watching Cruises – Long Beach

Other Los Angeles area

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS

Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace – Yorba Linda

ENTERTAINMENT & AREA ATTRACTIONS

Disneyland – Anaheim

Knotts Berry Farm – Buena Park

Medieval Times – Buena Park

Raging Waters – San Dimas

SHOPPING

Fashion Island – Newport Beach

Ontario Mills Mall – Ontario

South Coast Plaza – Costa Mesa

New York City

The most beguiling city in the world, New York is an adrenaline-charged, history-laden place that holds immense romantic appeal for visitors. Wandering the streets here, you’ll cut between buildings that are icons to the modern age – and whether gazing at the flickering lights of the midtown skyscrapers as you speed across the Queensboro bridge, experiencing the 4am half-life downtown, or just wasting the morning on the Staten Island ferry, you really would have to be made of stone not to be moved by it all. There’s no place quite like it.

While the events of September 11, 2001, which demolished the World Trade Center, shook New York to its core, the populace responded resiliently under the composed aegis of then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Until the attacks, many New Yorkers loved to hate Giuliani, partly because they saw him as committed to making their city too much like everyone else’s. To some extent he succeeded, and during the late Nineties New York seemed cleaner, safer, and more liveable, as the city took on a truly international allure and shook off the more notorious aspects to its reputation. However, the maverick quality of New York and its people still shines as brightly as it ever did. Even in the aftermath of the World Trade Center’s collapse, New York remains a unique and fascinating city – and one you’ll want to return to again and again.

You could spend weeks in New York and still barely scratch the surface, but there are some key attractions – and some pleasures – that you won’t want to miss. There are the different ethnic neighborhoods, like lower Manhattan’s Chinatown and the traditionally Jewish Lower East Side (not so much anymore); and the more artsy concentrations of SoHo, TriBeCa, and the East and West Villages. Of course, there is the celebrated architecture of corporate Manhattan, with the skyscrapers in downtown and midtown forming the most indelible images. There are the museums, not just the Metropolitan and MoMA, but countless other smaller collections that afford weeks of happy wandering. In between sights, you can eat just about anything, at any time, cooked in any style; you can drink in any kind of company; and sit through any number of obscure movies. The more established arts – dance, theater, music – are superbly catered for; and New York’s clubs are as varied and exciting as you might expect. And for the avid consumer, the choice of shops is vast, almost numbingly exhaustive in this heartland of the great capitalist dream.

source: Rough Guides (Yahoo Travel)