3. Things to Do
(A note on prices referenced below: in almost all instances my attendance at these places has been related to work or friends scoring freebies, so I could be off the mark - double check all prices before rolling up!)
The Getty CenteR
The art is ok, and there are some very beautiful pieces, but the collection doesn't personally get me all that excited, but the building is amazing. It was designed by Richard Meier, and it's in the most incredible spot with delightful gardens. The whole experience of how you get there is wonderful too. It's a very special place. It's on the West Side above Brentwood. Free admission (expensive parking).
The Getty Villa
Down towards Malibu on the map in the Pacific Palisades, the collection is exclusively ancient Greek and Roman and is incredibly good. I actually think the collection is vastly more interesting than the Getty Centre's, but it all depends on what you're in to. J. Paul Getty was a super wealthy industrialist in the mid-20th century. He built his own Roman villa that's a copy of one from Herculaneum and made it a museum. Pretty visceral blast from the past. The remainder of his art collection - Western mostly: renaissance, impressionist, not really anything modern, contemporary, or Eastern - lives up at the Getty Centre. Free admission but you have to book tickets.
The Eames House
If you like modernist design, this place is pretty special. It was the home of Charles and Ray Eames, the legendary designers. It's in a really magical spot in the Pacific Palisades, which is after Beverly Hills towards Malibu near the water and simply stunning. You can wander outside for free, to go inside the house is like 12 dollars or something. I peek in through the window like a cheapskate.
The Griffith Observatory
Absolutely sublime architecture and the best view you will get in LA. It's an art deco temple to science and is really special. It's basically above Los Feliz. On a weekend it can be a bitch to get to - there will be cars everywhere. But there's also a cool Frank Lloyd Wright house down the hill (one of the Mayan Revival ones) and if you save a few hours for it, you could park near there (it’s called Ennis House) and then walk up in time for sunset. Free, though I think you might need to pay a nominal fee to look in one of the telescopes, though perhaps you just queue.
LACMA
Probably LA's best general museum that I've been to. It's in Mid-Wilshire. Kind of expensive to do everything, but if you get the chance, book in advance for the James Turrell sensory tank "Light Reign Fall" - probably need at least a month (maybe even three), but to call it mind-blowing would be a wild understatement (I honestly couldn’t tell if I was awake or asleep). Similar quality art collection to the Getty Centre to my taste - at least in broad impact - but also some amazing antiquities. My favourite pieces are the Assyrian reliefs upstairs - relics of a place that's now been largely destroyed I believe (I recently discovered there are sister reliefs - a few more of them actually - at the Met in New York). I also love the Pavilion for Japanese Art. Kind of expensive. Something like $20 or $30 admission then an extra $15 or so for the big temporary exhibits. Is currently undergoing massive renovations and sadly a lot of it is closed.
The Broad Museum
Inexplicably pronounced 'Brode', The Broad is LA's newest palace of contemporary art. Really cool building, and just across the street from Frank Gehry's seminal Walt Disney Concert Hall. Can tick just about all the boxes of major 20th century American artists (bar Rothko for some reason). Best collection I've ever seen of artists like Jeff Koons, Mark Tansey, and Basquiat. The lines on weekends are pretty crazy. Either get there early or go on a week day. If you want to see Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Room, it's free, but I believe you have to queue again for a separate ticket once you get in. You get 60 seconds inside. It's cool. See what the queues are like. Free admission.
MOCA
LA's main modern art gallery. Personally I find it blah. I think it's like 15 dollars or something.
MOCA Geffen
A large warehouse space that usually does single artist surveys or retrospectives. Can be really amazing or pretty underwhelming depending on the artist. I think it's also like 15 dollars or something. I feel like admission to one MOCA space gets you admission to all. It's in Little Tokyo a few miles from the main MOCA, in a really excellent little area with amazing food that’s worth exploring.
The 14th Factory
Not sure how much longer it will be open for but it's an amazing art space. You can read my thoughts on it here (still a killer article tho). 15 dollars or something I think. CLOSED
Norton Simon Museum
I only attended this recently and it is now my favourite art gallery in Los Angeles. I think it has the best collection. A lot of the same names you have at the Getty and often smaller pieces, but I feel like the collector had a better eye. Stonkingly good Rembrandts. There are also some frankly incredible Buddhist sculptures downstairs from ~0AD Pakistan. Gehry led the renovation and the building is very beautiful. The garden is something out of a Monet and from memory there are also some very good Monets inside! Wonderful place. In Pasadena though so a little bit of a trek - but then everything in LA is a trek!
The Marciano Foundation
A new museum opened to house part of the collection of the Marciano brothers - the billionaire dudes who own Guess denim. But don’t worry, it’s a lot more tasteful than Guess denim. It’s near me in Mid Wilshire but really up towards KTown. The building is super rad - an old ‘60s Masonic Hall. At the risk of too many name drops (too late! Get over it, you're in Hollywood now kid!) my friend Kulapat was the architect who did the renovations. They’re epic. It houses some awesome contemporary art although the sculpture garden at the front is pretty ordinary. Don’t miss the mildly creepy room upstairs that houses old Mason memorabilia. There’s a giant cavernous space in the bottom that they give over to artists for monumental works. The first I saw was Olafur Eliasson which was a little underwhelming and the second was Ai Wei Wei which was very underwhelming. I’m sure someone will absolutely crush it soon though because it’s a completely enormous space. Free admission! (but you have to book in advance). This is a good thing to do if you’re just looking for a couple of hours of activity. It’s quite a manageable size and much less of a shit show than The Broad.
Disneyland
Personally I think this should be avoided like the plague. Costs a fortune. If your drugs are good it can be fun to wander about in, but lines for each ride are about an hour, and if you get the more expensive ticket that makes the lines much shorter you're probably looking at ~$250-$300 (god, maybe $400) just for the ticket alone. There are two parks - the classic Disneyland which is incredibly crowded, and the California Adventure Park which has most of the newer rides and is significantly larger. If you're hell bent on it, the California Adventure Park is my pick of the two. You can buy a ticket for either or spend ~30% more and get a ticket for both. Marijuana edibles are now legal in California and should almost certainly be eaten if you're even halfway contemplating this. Also it's down in the OC so a pretty long drive - about an hour plus - from central LA to get down there and park your car in the monstrous parking lots. As an update: a friend recently clued me in to Disney After Dark - I'm not sure how often it happens, but Disneyland does an Adults Only night every now and then where they serve booze and apparently there are effectively no lines. Tickets are also only ~$80. If you're desperate to do it, I would strongly advise exploring this option. The friends took magic mushrooms and frankly I’d advise exploring this option too.
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Most rollercoasters in the world. I had way more fun here than at Disneyland. The X2 is the best rollercoaster I've ever been on by a country mile. Spend the extra $80 dollars for the line skip though, otherwise the place would be about as bad as Disneyland. I believe you should be able to get a line-skip ticket for about $150. Still super expensive and I think there are more interesting things to do in LA. Drive is about 45 minutes from central LA.
HIKING
Hiking in Los Angeles doesn’t mean what it does in Australia. In Australia you envision sturdy boots and atrocious fashions. You imagine those ski pole things people walk with and having to awkwardly pass four retirees brandishing them while wearing khaki and inexplicable pink combinations of gore-tex, after three hours of walking and a shitty cup of tea because some idiot forgot the milk. In LA it is a scene. You will never see more scandalous crop tops, tighter yoga pants, fancier nikies, nor so much makeup worn in preparation for so much sweating. The quintessential scene hike in LA is Runyon Canyon. If you want to go more for sheer natural beauty head a little out of town to Topanga Canyon. A little closer, Will Rogers State Park in the Palisades has some really beautiful spots and is easy parking. If you’re here for just a few days and want to do one, I’d recommend either Runyon Canyon, or do Griffith Park - and then you can do The Observatory (see above) as well. Take a bottle of water and be prepared for at least an entire full hour of “hiking“.