A city of highways, mid modern buildings, and mansions with renowned film studios and beaches. Home of gangs, new age influencers, and Hollywood stars; related to icons such as Snoop Dogg, Kim Kardashian and Mickey Mouse; Los Angeles has a lot to offer.

Los Angeles is known for its amusement parks, film studios, graffiti plus its mid modern architecture, the Santa Monica Hills and highways. Its suburban but cosmopolitan, modern yet historic, glamorous and ghetto at the same time. Within the art world it plays a huge role in the street art sphere; and outside of it, it’s important in the entertainment, music and new age worlds. Many iconic producers, actors, singers, artist and influencers have emerged from this city. Think of Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg, the Olsen Twins, Johnny Deep, Snoop Dogg, Jim Morrison, Mark Bradford, Tristan Eaton, Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian. There’s a lot to check out but if you only have a limited amount of time I would make sure to visit 1 amusement park, eat tacos on the streets, have a drink at a bar on Sunset blvd, relax in a beach, watch a movie on Hollywood blvd, walk around ‘The Golden Triangle’, go on a hike and take a picture in front of the Hollywood Sign and/or Santa Monica Pier. If you have more time you should try to drive up and down Pasadena Millionaires Row, shop around Melrose or ‘los callejones’, smoke a joint in Echo Park and explore a mansion.

Here are some recommendations of places to visit. Los Angeles has 1 unesco site: the Hollyhock House by Frank Lloyd Wright. The city has 25 ‘Michelin restaurants’ with 4 having 2 stars, so try to make a reservation in one of them. The top 5 museums are: The Getty Museum for European Art; The LACMA for modern and contemporary art; The Ghetty Villa for classic Art; LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes for LA history and the FIDM for fashion and costume design. My favorite art galleries are: David Kordansky, Gemini GEL, Room Mate, plus the 2 lords Hauser & Wirth, and Gagosian. For luxury shopping go to Melrose Place or Rodeo Drive; for the typical brands go to one of the many malls (I like the Grove or South Coast Plaza); and for cheaper goods go to Los Callejones. Also take a chance to walk around Melrose and Fairfax, the epicenter of street wear. Some venues to check out are Pentages Theater for big productions; Hollywood Palladium for concerts, Whisky A Go Go for local rock bands and the Chinese Theater for movies.

Here are 9 routs to explore Los Angeles:

MEXICAN

GILDED AGE

ASIAN

OLD HOLLYWOOD

MODERN

Cool

BEVERLY HILLS

SANTA MONICA

CONTEMPORARY