Top Five Destinations in Los Angeles, Part Two

Read part one, with number one and two,?over this-a-way.?

A Museum

The gorgeous Bradbury Building

I love museums. I look forward to visiting new cities and being able to check out the museums there to get a glimpse of whatever cool stuff the city has to offer in the way of art, history, science or whatever. Los Angeles has its share of great ones. If you aren?t a big fan of museums, I?d still recommend?The Gettyfor just lounging around in their outdoor park area and looking at the beach to the west and downtown to the east on clear days. (More likely to happen in the winter, but after talking to some long-time Los Angelenos, more likely to happen now than even just fifteen years ago, let alone the smog ridden days 40 years ago.)

If you don?t want to brave heading to the west side, you can hit the Miracle Mile area and see art at the?Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or the history of the animals, plants and people of the Los Angeles area at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits. If you want to give your mind a good bit of screwing with, hit The Museum of Jurassic Technology. However, be prepared to want to visit again and again because each time you go, you think you have it all figured out, until about four hours later and you realize you still don?t have a clue.

A Movie Location

Another thing that is unique for Los Angeles is the sheer number of places that look familiar to you because you?ve seen them in commercials, in TV shows and in movies. For fans of ?Blade Runner? or ?The Artist,? there?s the?Bradbury building. If you or a family member is a fan of ?M*A*S*H,? you can hike in Malibu Creek State Park and take pictures of the site of the helipad and some of the jeeps left after the show ended. Vazquez Rocks near Santa Clarita provided the location for several different movie and TV productions.

To just explore all of the places in the area, you can look for quite a?few blogs?that?specialize in locations as part of the history of the town, or vice-versa.

A Beach

Finally, if you?re going to come to southern California, you have to hit the beach. Sometimes with all of the stuff that I?ve already mentioned and so much more, I forget that the beach is a short drive away. Then, a hike into the mountains and views of the waves crashing on the beach and I think to myself, why am I not there more often? There?s surfing in Hermosa Beach and Malibu. There are great views of sea birds along the coast off of Palos Verdes drive. For me though, the beach means people watching, and it doesn?t get better than Venice Beach. Panhandlers, people selling paintings, Muscle Beach and of course, beautiful California girls everywhere, makes Venice a must see.

Did I miss anything in my current hometown? Anything you think would be worth adding to this list? Let me know in the comments.