Whether you call it LA, the City of Angels, Tinseltown or La-La Land, sun-drenched Los Angeles is a city that most people have heard of. Visiting it is like stepping into your favourite movie, so well-known are many of its sights and landmarks, the streets imbued with movie myths and legends, but there is so much more to it than just Hollywood.
The city was born in 1781 as El Pueblo de Los Angeles. It then experienced one boom after another – the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad, the discovery of petroleum deposits, the explosion of the motion picture industry, and postwar aerospace – to become the sprawling city that it is today, with the population of Greater Los Angeles sitting at over 18 million residents. It’s easy to escape to the beach, accessed via hip ocean enclaves like Santa Monica and Venice Beach, and the mountains, where locals like to hike at the weekend; in between is a patchwork of architectural styles, dotted with world-class cultural institutions and plenty of swanky suburbs where you can eat, drink and shop to your hearts content.
Head to the Hollywood Hills to visit one of the city’s best-known sights – the Griffith Observatory. From this Art Deco landmark, recognisable from numerous films, you’ll find the whole city laid out at your feet, as well as views of one of the city’s other best-known sights, the Hollywood Sign.
