Los Angeles
Los Angeles is the second largest city by population in the United States, and is also the home to more than a handful of great destinations. Tourists could easily spend a month in LA without seeing all of its many attractions, but we’ve narrowed it down to the top 5, must see destinations in the City of Angles.
Movie Studio Tour One of the first things that comes to mind when you think of Los Angeles is movies. With nearly all of the major studios having a presence in Los Angeles a popular attraction has always been studio tours.
The studios that are constantly at the top for quality tours are:
Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour
Paramount Studios Tour
Universal Studio Hollywood Tour
Sony Pictures Studio Tour
Hollywood Walk of Fame Located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street is an iconic Los Angeles institution. With more than 2,500 stars honoring the best in the entertainment industry for generations, it’s a must see for anyone heading to Los Angeles.
Officially the walk of fame honors those working in five primary fields of entertainment; Motion Pictures, Television, Music, Radio, and Theater. While most of the stars honor actual people or musical groups, you will find stars for some animated and other fictional characters as well. Some of these include Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, The Simpsons, and even Godzilla.
La Brea Tar Pits A tar pit is an area where bitumen seeps up through the ground and forms ponds or lakes of natural asphalt. There are only six known tar pits in the world, and half of them are in California. Located in Hancock Park the La Brea Tar Pits have been bubbling natural asphalt since prehistoric times.
Interested visitors can head over to the George C. Page Museum located next to the tar pits. Visitors to the Page museum will learn the history of the La Brea Tar Pits as well as see several specimens recovered out of the tar pits, including the skeleton of a full woolly mammoth.
Griffith Park At 4,310 acres Griffith Park is larger than New York’s Central Park. It is also home to Griffith Observatory with its twelve-inch Zeiss telescope, very rugged hiking trails, and Mount Lee (home of the Hollywood sign).
The view of Hollywood from the Griffith Observatory provides a wonderful contrast between the unsettled wilderness of Griffith Park and the sprawling modern city. Despite being an urban park, Griffith Park is still wild enough to be home to at least one mountain lion.
Venice Beach Venice Beach is another iconic Los Angeles attraction and literally has something for everyone. Known as a vibrant area that has been attracting creative and artistic types since the 1950s, Venice Beach is also home to great restaurants, plenty of shopping, and fantastic night life.
Vince Beach also boasts a beautiful beach, biking trail , and even a skate park. It is also the home of Muscle Beach Vince, located a couple blocks north of Venice Boulevard.
While this is not an exhaustive list of the many great attractions in the Los Angeles Area, these are the must see, cannot miss attractions that everyone traveling to Los Angeles should make an effort to visit.