Meandering around Los Angeles

In 2011, Los Angeles Airport was the fifth busiest airport in the world, with 61,862,052 passengers: most of them going somewhere else. Grabbing their bags trying to find connecting flights. Jet lagged and cranky. All in a hurry to get out of Los Angeles.

But there are reasons to stay. Los Angeles is huge. Freeways criss-cross its sprawling 467 square miles. Where to start? Well you can stay off the roads and just meander around.  Here are some of my favourite walks. And they cost nothing.

1. Window gawking. Whether it’s the crazy wig shops or the lingerie stores on Hollywood Boulevard. There’s always something to photograph.

      For something trendier wander around Melrose Avenue.

For the outrageously up-market go to Rodeo Drive. An easy way to get to all these places is to use the ‘hop-on hop-off’ tourist buses as a taxi.

2.Watch a movie being made. Being Hollywood there is sure to be a movie being made close at hand. The Roosevelt Hotel is a favourite location.

3. Get up early and wander down Hollywood Avenue before the shops open. You’ll find plenty of debris, both human and non from the night before but the shop shutters will still be down and have been painted to honour Hollywood royalty.

4.Visit a cemetery and commune with the dead. Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in LA. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard adjacent to the back of the Paramount Studios. Among those buried or entombed in the cemetery are a number of important personalities and famous persons. Rudolph Valentino, the De Mille family, Peter Lorre and Dee Dee Ramone to mention just a few. 

      Another cemetery worth visiting is the Woodlawn Cemetery at 1847 14th Street Santa Monica. Woodlawn has views of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean and manicured lawns. It is very calming and green and is a reasonable walk from Santa Monica.

5. Experience the fun of the fair. While you’re at Santa Monica walk along the pier and have a glass of Californian wine while watching the world go by.

      Or just go for a ride at the amusement park.  If you have a lousy plane connection at LAX and have a few hours to kill it’s simple to get out of the airport and catch a cab or bus to Santa Monica for a breath of fresh air. The simplest way to get there is to catch the big Blue Bus: the Rapid 3 line runs between the Aviation Green Line Metro Station and downtown Santa Monica with additional stops within the city. From the transportation islands at the airport, shuttles run to and from the Green Line Station (Route G) and to the LAX City Bus Centre transit station (Route C) at Parking Lot C, which is the best place to catch the Rapid 3. Fare is $1.

6. Visit the beaches. There is a shuttle bus between Santa Monica and Venice Beach but if you have the extra time walk between them. 

      Visit the skateboard park and graffiti walls along the waterside.

      Avoid the sick waiting outside the Medicinal Herbal Clinics.

7. Take in a market. The Farmer’s Market can be reached by the tourist buses and is worth visiting for a cheap feed and shoulder rubbing with the glitterati. It is also reached by the Metro Local Line 217 from Hollywood Boulevard.

The Grove at Farmers Market is an attractive out-door mall that is connected to the market by a Trolley but it is an easy walk.

8. Get some culture with a view. The Getty Center at 1200 Getty Centre Drive, Bel-Air is perched on a hill with a wonderful view from the street of LA to the Pacific Ocean. Entry is free and there are marvellous gardens to stroll through.

      The building itself is a work of art designed by Richard Meier. I found the architecture and the gardens more inspiring than the actual collection. The Getty Center is served by Metro Rapid Line 761, which stops at the main gate on Sepulveda Boulevard.

9. Art Deco spotting. Downtown Los Angeles boasts an extraordinary collection of Art Deco buildings, luckily some are still intact. There are great examples along the Miracle Mile, on Hollywood Boulevard and around Santa Monica.

10. Smell some history. The La Brea Tar Pits are a cluster of tar pits in Hancock Park, in the urban heart of Los Angeles. Tar has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years. You can smell methane gas that bubbles up through the tar. Step back in time with a visit to the Pleistocene Garden, a prehistorical landscape in Hancock Park that represents the vegetation of the Los Angeles Basin 10,000 to 40,000 years ago.

11. And just to revisit my favourite Los Angeles activity. Go window shopping again.