traveldk.com

It’s impossible not to marvel when touring the galleries of this well-respected art and culture museum. A virtual cornucopia of paintings, sculpture, furniture, and objects that would take several days to peruse awaits in six buildings. LACMA also hosts international touring exhibits.

In 1934, two entrepreneurs asked landowner E.B. Gilmore for permission to start a produce market on a vacant parking lot on his property. Soon after, a group of farmers started selling fresh fruit, flowers, and vegetables from trucks. Many of the 150 stalls of Farmers Market, such as Magee’s Nuts, have been in the same families for generations. Scouts from nearby CBS TV City roam the market in search of game show audience members.

Adjoining the Farmers Market, The Grove is an attractive, upscale outdoor shopping and dining center with a first-rate 14-screen movie theater. Open since 2002, this mall features highlights such as a historic trolley connecting it with the market, a fountain that occasionally erupts into a choreographed water show set to music, and a bronze sculpture of flying angels. Along with adjacent CBS and the Farmers Market, The Grove occupies land once owned by the Gilmore family, who made their fortune from oil. Gilmore Stadium, home of the Hollywood Stars, a baseball team owned by Bing Crosby, Cecil B. De Mille, and Barbara Stanwyck, was once located where CBS now stands.

The 130 showrooms of this vast complex display the finest in furniture, fabrics, lighting, and accessories. A contemporary 1975 design by Cesar Pelli, the most striking feature of the PDC is the gleaming blue glass façade, which has earned it the nickname “The Blue Whale.” The clover-green addition dates from 1988. On the plaza behind the PDC is a branch of the Museum of Contemporary Art , showcasing architecture and design.

The streets surrounding the PDC are flanked with design stores where you can actually buy – and not just look at (as in the PDC) – that chintz sofa or Eames chair. Best explored on foot, the district is filled with cutting-edge art galleries, trendy restaurants, and cafés where you can relax over latte.

Though it has certainly seen better days, Melrose Avenue (see Melrose Trading Post) is still a haven for Hollywood hipsters and the place to stock up on vintage threads, provocative fashions, and unusual gift items. Weekend afternoons are prime time for soaking up the scene, preferably from a table at an outdoor café, delicious ice-cold frappuccino in hand.

Sunset Strip has been LA’s nocturnal playground since the 1920s and is the most history-laden section of the 25-mile (40-km) Sunset Boulevard. Stars, starlets, wannabes, and those that like to be around them are still drawn to landmarks old and new, including the Chateau Marmont, the Whisky a Go-Go, the Mondrian Hotel with its exclusive Sky Bar, and Johnny Depp’s music club, the Viper Room.

LA’s evolution from sleepy outpost to sweeping megalopolis is uniquely tied to the rise of the automobile. This is the basic premise of this wonderful museum, which does a lot more than display pretty vintage cars (though there are plenty of those, too). On the ground floor, you’ll follow a Los Angeles “streetscape” through 100 years of car history. You’ll pass dioramas of a 1920s gas station, a 1930s showroom, and a 1950s drive-in restaurant. Upstairs, the cars take center stage. Exhibits change regularly, but usually include galleries devoted to hot rods, motorcycles, and vehicles owned by Hollywood celebrities or used in movies. For children, the Discovery Center makes science fun.

You won’t find mammoths, saber-toothed cats, or dire wolves in any zoo, but they are the stars of this museum offering a look at life in LA during the last Ice Age thousands of years ago. Since 1906, excavations at the pits adjacent to the museum have yielded more than one million fossilized bones of about 450 species, from insects to birds and mammals. Many are now on display at the museum, which also houses a glass-walled laboratory where paleontologists may be seen working. Outside the museum, life-size replicas of mammoths trapped in muck dramatize the ghastly fate of Los Angeles’s prehistoric denizens.

This small museum is dedicated to showcasing handicrafts and folk art from around the world. The brainchild of folk art collector Edith Wyle, it was originally launched in 1965 as “The Egg and The Eye,” a gallery space and omelet restaurant. Apart from its changing exhibits, which reflect the multi-layered culture of Southern California, CAFAM is best known for its annual International Festival of Masks held in October.