With a population of just under four million people, Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the US and the city that is known as ‘The City of Angels’ is a sprawling metropolis that is as fascinating as it is vast. : Los Angeles is a city like no other.
First, it’s important to set expectations. Los Angeles is a different kind of city than New York, and it doesn’t have the plethora of iconic buildings of its East Coast counterpart, but LA deserves your attention just as much as the Big Apple.
LA, of course, is the entertainment capital of the US and possibly the world. And if New York has the Statue of Liberty to symbolize the city, then Los Angeles has the Hollywood sign, an inanimate icon that has been affixed to Mount Lee in one form or another since 1923.
However, the sign’s rise to worldwide fame was something of an accident. It was originally erected to advertise ‘Hollywoodland’, a housing development in the surrounding hills. With the advent of the movie scene in Los Angeles, the sign came to symbolize the movie capital of the world, so the sign remained in place. The letters were eventually shortened to simply ‘Hollywood’ in the 1940s, to reflect the name of the area rather than the name of the housing development.
Interestingly, the original ‘Hollywoodland’ poster sold in 2005 for almost half a million dollars, a clear indication of the high regard held for the poster.
Flights to Los Angeles arrive from all over the world, but before you leave for this fantastic city, it’s probably worth remembering to pack your driver’s license.
Los Angeles doesn’t have the same public transportation system as, say, New York and having your own wheels will make your Los Angeles vacation even more enjoyable.
Of course, you don’t want to see the city behind your wheel. Your first port of call should probably be a stroll down Sunset Boulevard, where you can soak up the distinctive buzz of Los Angeles—you’ll feel like you’re stepping into something very special. There are plenty of lounges and bars on the Boulevard and it’s simply a case of seeing which place has something special going on on any given night.
To please the hippy in you, head to the Laurel Canyon neighborhood, which has a truly bohemian vibe: here you will find a wonderful variety of restaurants and it is worth spending an afternoon and evening wandering around this area.
And no visit to Los Angeles would be complete without a visit to Venice Beach, where you can watch amateur basketball games or shop for vintage gear. It’s also here that you’ll find Muscle Beach, where bodybuilders bench press on the beach.
This makes for a bit of a surreal experience, but in many ways that’s what Los Angeles is all about. Anything goes in this city: the weird, the wonderful, and the downright wacky all go together in perfect harmony, and there really is no other city like Los Angeles.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is the opinion of the author and is intended for informational and interest purposes only. It should not be used to make any decision or perform any action. All links are included for informational purposes only.