Los Angeles California Travel Guide
Los Angeles California Travel Guide
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TravelTranscript
00:00What's going on everybody, this is IslandHopperTV coming to you from Los Angeles, California.
00:25Let's do it!
00:26On IslandHoppers today we're going to go all across this megatropolis of a city with 12.5
00:31million people.
00:32There will be timestamps below in the description so you can go from place to place.
00:37Alright, we're here at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, we're going to go down Hollywood
00:40Boulevard here towards the Chinese Theater.
00:42Now the Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of over 2,700 stars on the ground as you walk
00:48along the sidewalks.
00:49For 15 blocks along Hollywood Boulevard, it is considered a historical landmark.
00:56The area along Hollywood Boulevard is around 15 blocks making it 1.3 miles.
01:01There's also an extension that goes down Gower Street to Hollywood at La Brea Avenue which
01:06is 0.4 miles.
01:08Now something to consider when you're going down here, you're going to hit an area where
01:12there's the Chinese Theater and that's the primary area that you're going to be around.
01:17You'll see a hard rock, you'll see across the street where Jimmy Kimmel actually does
01:21his show.
01:22You can also catch the hop-on hop-off tour here, but the main area, like I said, Chinese
01:27Theater.
01:28They've got a Madame Tussauds Ball of Wax Museum also with life-size replicas of your
01:34favorite stars.
01:35Now when you come here, you should set aside one to two hours.
01:38You can also do it as part of a city tour that eventually goes towards Santa Monica
01:42Boulevard on down to Beverly Hills.
01:45That might be the easiest way, whether you're doing the hop-on hop-off or you're doing just
01:49a regular celebrity tour.
01:51And actually what we're going to do now is head over to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills
01:55and show you what's up down there.
01:57And really what you can expect to find down there is going to be high-end designer clothing
02:02and other types of really expensive shopping.
02:05Right now we're on Rodeo Drive right here in Beverly Hills.
02:09Something I would like to say about Rodeo Drive is these kind of avenues or streets
02:13have been duplicated many times over across the world, so what was once a very unique
02:18place to hang out and do luxurious shopping is now something you would see in most major
02:24metropolis cities across the world.
02:27But I would say Rodeo Drive really takes the cake as the original, so if you're a historical
02:32person coming down here taking pictures and saying that you went to Rodeo Drive, it might
02:36be something you're interested in.
02:39And it does butt up right next to Wilshire Boulevard, which is a major thoroughfare headed
02:44towards the coast.
02:46Something you will see down here is really expensive cars along with cafes and eateries.
02:51That's what people come down here to do is they get lunch, breakfast, maybe even dinner.
02:56So when you're considering coming down here, probably set aside some time to pick a restaurant
03:00and dine.
03:01I found the area of Rodeo Collection to be a nice area with restaurants and more relaxed
03:06atmosphere.
03:07You never know who you could bump into down here, by the way, as you know the paparazzi
03:11kind of hangs out here and follows around some of the movie stars.
03:15It used to be a big thing in the 90s, but it's not as popular anymore.
03:18The neighborhoods around Beverly Hills are very nice.
03:21You obviously have Bel Air right next door, another beautiful community.
03:25But what we're going to do now is we're actually going to head up to a higher elevation where
03:28we get great views and that's going to be the Griffith Observatory.
03:33And here we are at the Griffith Observatory.
03:35We've got the observatory behind me and the Hollywood sign right over here.
03:38So really a great place to get views overlooking all of LA.
03:42As a child, my grandfather used to take me here, so I have really fond memories of this
03:46place because I felt like I finally understood stars and the constellations when I looked
03:51up at the dome from inside the Griffith Observatory.
03:54So I do recommend it for kids especially.
03:57It is an area that you're going to have to pay an admission fee for.
04:00But the observation building, the grounds, and the public telescopes are actually free.
04:05You just have to pay to go inside the planetarium.
04:08And what we're showing you here is everything that is free.
04:11So coming up here is worth it.
04:12You can either take a bus.
04:14You can take an Uber or Lyft, which I do recommend that route, either one of those two.
04:19Or you can drive up here, but parking might be limited, especially on weekends.
04:24As you can see up here, you get incredible views all around Los Angeles.
04:29And on a clear day, it's really worth it.
04:31As you walk around here, you can get great views looking towards the San Bernardino Mountains
04:36or towards the coastline.
04:38Also there are hikes around here, as you will see the hike to the Hollywood sign, which
04:43by the way, used to be called Hollywoodland, but the land part fell off, as you can tell.
04:50Also something to mention, the telescopes are solar powered and they're 12-inch refraction
04:55telescopes.
04:56And now what we're going to do is we're actually going to head back down the hill towards an
04:59area of historical relevance called La Brea.
05:03Here we are at the La Brea Tar Pits, an area that they were drilling for oil.
05:07From 1900 to 1915.
05:10And here they found many different animal fossils from the Ice Age.
05:14You're going to see the woolly mammoth, saber-toothed cat, and many more animals from the Ice Age
05:19period.
05:20Let's go inside.
05:21And what that tells you is that the area known as Los Angeles used to be teeming with wildlife.
05:26Something like what you would find in Africa nowadays was what you would have had on the
05:30Savannah area in the valleys around the Los Angeles area.
05:35Really a fertile plain.
05:37With mountains surrounding it.
05:39And that's why I'm recommending to you coming out here to see the La Brea Tar Pits because
05:43you will see what kind of animals used to roam around here.
05:47Many of these animals nowadays are obviously extinct.
05:50Now the reason they have all these preserved fossils is because what would happen was the
05:54animals would actually get stuck in the tar pits and they couldn't get out.
05:58But it ended up being like a time capsule for the fossils.
06:02And now we're able to unearth it and bring it back to life.
06:06Let's see exactly what was here.
06:10In the early 1900s, before there was a population boom in Los Angeles, this is what it looked
06:14like because people were drilling for oil all across this basin here.
06:19Right below the Los Angeles mountain range.
06:22Those oil derricks you see in that picture are now completely removed and have been replaced
06:26by high-rise buildings and the Los Angeles metropolis area.
06:30That is actually looking north towards Hollywood.
06:34So the area where Hollywood is, La Brea, Beverly Hills, was actually really an area
06:38where they were drilling for oil.
06:40And that's what ended up creating the population boom in the early days of Los Angeles.
06:47And here we are at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
06:51And this light exhibit outside the actual museum is popular with people who like to
06:55take pictures at night during the Instagram, right immersed in the lighting.
06:59But if you actually go inside the museum, you'll find different pieces of contemporary
07:04and modern art.
07:06So it is an interesting place if you're into art collections.
07:09This whole area right here is known as the Miracle Mile, which we will be talking about
07:13a little later on.
07:15And there's actually several different museums in this area, which we will be showing you
07:18next.
07:19And here we have the Academy of Motion Pictures.
07:23And it seems like the museums around this area are around $25 to $30 per adult.
07:29So the main thing to know when you come down here is this is called the Miracle Mile, right
07:35along Wilshire Boulevard.
07:36It's a bunch of museums, restaurants, eateries.
07:39So right here, Miracle Mile, going from the Automotive Museum towards the east.
07:47For this one, the tickets range anywhere between $12 to $19, depending on the time frame.
07:52There's also a $25 ticket for a self-guided vault.
07:55So depending on what time you show up and your age, the prices will vary for this particular
08:01museum.
08:02But it's worth it to go online for each one of these and see if you can get a great deal
08:06and tickets ahead of time.
08:08And what do you all say we head a bit inland towards the east from here?
08:12And here we are walking around Old Pasadena, right along Colorado Boulevard.
08:18This is considered downtown Pasadena.
08:20We'll just show you around real quick and then we'll head out to the next place.
08:24The big kick in town is the Rose Bowl Stadium.
08:27We're not actually going to go over there, but you can cruise up and down Old Pasadena
08:30here along Colorado Boulevard.
08:33During our stay in Los Angeles, we actually stayed in Pasadena at the Sheraton.
08:38I do recommend the area of Pasadena for those of you who like to save a little bit of money
08:43and have a little bit more of a peaceful, relaxing time.
08:46Because the further you go west, especially as you're in the Hollywood or downtown area,
08:51it's a lot more energetic and packed with cars and traffic and some homeless, of course,
08:59but that's LA for you.
09:00But on the other note, it is also more affordable here and that's probably the big reason you'd
09:05want to stay here and you get more bang for your buck.
09:08And here we are at the Grand Central Market right here in downtown LA.
09:10They got a lot of food here.
09:11Let's go take a look.
09:13So that's what we're going to do now, starting out here in downtown LA at the Central Market.
09:18This area is a place with a wide variety of different cuisine.
09:22And the food stalls here are like a food court, essentially at the market.
09:26Some would call it a food hawker.
09:28Depending on where you're from, that's how it will relate to you.
09:32In the market they have Chinese food, El Salvadorian food, Mexican food, Vietnamese food, fresh
09:39organic food right here, as you can see by this fresh juicer.
09:43Seafood, fresh bagels, you guys get the idea.
09:46And then as you go outside, you all of a sudden arrive on Broadway, which is actually an old
09:52area of Los Angeles, kind of the original downtown, which you're going to see next.
10:00So here we are along Broadway, the area known as Bunker Hill.
10:03Before there was Sunset Strip, downtown Los Angeles was the main thoroughfare.
10:07Right over here is the Bradbury Building.
10:09Behind you, right here, if you look right here, is the old theater, right along Broadway
10:14here.
10:15And look at that, an old-school El Pollo Loco, for those of you who like El Pollo Loco.
10:22So here we are outside the Bradbury Building.
10:24This building was built in 1893.
10:26It's very old.
10:27Currently it's used as an office building.
10:30Tourists are welcome at the bottom level.
10:32Just going inside there gives you an insight into the old past of Los Angeles.
10:35A really cool building, it's worth it.
10:38Let's go inside.
10:39Some of you may actually recognize this from the movies.
10:42Drop the comment below if you know which one.
10:49Downtown Los Angeles is interesting because it's built on hills, essentially.
10:52You can see the tunnel goes right under those high-rises right there.
11:04Now we're going to go on Angel's Flight.
11:06It's going to take us to the top of the area here in Bunker Hill, downtown LA.
11:11And it is just $1 per person, so you're not going to break the bank doing this historical
11:16little journey up the hill.
11:17It's an easy way to get up.
11:19But they also have stairs for those of you who want that exercise.
11:23Not a lot of people ride this, so I decided to include it, but some people just go ahead
11:28and skip it.
11:29And I think the reason it's not so popular is because downtown, in general, isn't that
11:34popular unless there's something going on at one of the museums or actually the Walt
11:40Disney Concert Hall, which we're going to be showing you here next.
11:43The ride up takes about 30 seconds, so it's not that long.
11:57It's important to note that the entire downtown area of Los Angeles is built on a hilly, undulated
12:03ground.
12:04And it's amazing that they built these high-rise skyscrapers because, as you guys know, Los
12:09Angeles is tectonic with earthquakes.
12:13And once you get up here, you are going to notice there are more museums, and there's
12:17also some concert halls to take note of.
12:25We are outside here at the Museum of Contemporary Art, which is actually a thing to do here
12:30in Los Angeles, but it's closed because it's Monday.
12:32The only day of the week that it's closed.
12:34Yeah, now's a good time to mention this.
12:36Most of LA museums and sites are closed on Mondays, so if you're coming here, keep that
12:43in mind.
12:44Probably a beach day.
12:53So here we are on Grand Avenue.
12:54Right behind me is the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Philharmonic Los Angeles, as well as
12:59the Contemporary Art Museum and The Broad.
13:01Again, we're here on Monday, so it's all closed, but this whole little area along Grand, somewhere
13:06you would want to go, as long as it's not Monday.
13:09What we're going to do now is actually head over to one of my favorite places in all of
13:13Los Angeles.
13:19And now we've arrived at the Getty Center.
13:20Let's go inside.
13:22The first thing you need to know about the Getty is it's free.
13:25It's part of the Getty Trust.
13:28But when you get there, you actually have to hop in a tram and go for about four minutes
13:34to five minutes in that tram, all the way to the top of the mountain there, and then
13:39you will finally arrive at the actual Getty.
13:43And the Getty Center itself is actually an art exhibit.
13:47So there's many different unique art pieces that are here.
13:51One thing I would like to say, for me, it was unique because the whole building and
13:55the grounds are basically made out of travertine rock.
13:59And there's a lot of that travertine rock here, which I thought was impressive.
14:04But for now, let's take a moment to marvel at this art collection.
14:25Some of the artists that you'll find art here from Van Gogh, Manet, you'll also see
14:34some Rembrandt.
14:35So keep that in mind when you're here walking around.
14:37Another thing is when you go outside, the whole campus is actually built out of travertine.
14:42And I found that to be really impressive because it's like a real rock castle.
14:48It's an art museum.
14:49And in my opinion, when this thing was built and finished, it was definitely a modern marvel.
14:55Nowadays, you can walk around the terrace, which is a beautiful garden area, and look
15:00all across Los Angeles Metro from here, towards the south at least.
15:06And yes, I did mention that it is free, but I would like to tell you, you actually need
15:10to reserve a spot ahead of time in order to get in here because they do have restrictions
15:16on how many people are allowed to visit at any given time.
15:21Here is a look at the LA traffic on the freeway there on the tram going down.
15:31So here we are at Descano Gardens, over 100 acres.
15:34It's basically a botanical garden right here in the outskirts of Pasadena and Glendale.
15:39The climate in Los Angeles is some of the best in the world.
15:43There's only a few places along the Mediterranean that even compete with the weather here.
15:48But you can see that the biodiversity of natural indigenous plant life is quite diverse.
15:54And that's mostly what you're going to see here, along with some flowers.
16:02And because it's February, you can see these camellia flowers right here.
16:06After the camellia flowers bloom, then come the roses.
16:09As we continue to show you around the gardens here, I would also like to remind you, if
16:12you check the description below, we have a video for San Francisco and San Diego.
16:16So if you plan to visit California, check the description below and watch those travel guides.
16:20They have a rose garden here, but it may be a bit early in season.
16:24They also have this really cool mini train, but the train, when we were there, it wasn't running.
16:29I'd like to see who sits in that train as it goes around and what exactly it does.
16:34Maybe it's just a toy train that's cool.
16:36It's like someone's hobby, right?
16:46All right, now from Descanso Gardens, we're going to head back down towards L.A. into
16:51another park that we want to show you guys.
16:54It's called Echo Park.
16:56Echo Park is very peaceful amid a very concrete jungle setting in the heart of Los Angeles, really.
17:03You can also rent one of these swan boats and just go around the fountain on this here pond.
17:09So after we've cooled it down a little bit and done some relaxing time in Los Angeles,
17:14what do you guys say we head back over to a high energy environment and head over towards
17:19Universal City, where Universal Studios is and CityWalk.
17:25All right, here we are at Universal Studios Hollywood.
17:28This is actually going to be CityWalk.
17:30We're going to show you guys a little bit of the city.
17:31We're going to show you guys a little bit of the city.
17:33We're going to show you guys a little bit of the city.
17:35Now, CityWalk is actually free to walk around, but if you want to go to one of the restaurants,
17:41obviously you might be paying top dollar, but it's part of the experience.
17:45Now, if you wanted to actually go to the park, that's going to cost you some money, but it
17:50is right next door.
17:51Just letting you know, if you want a little bit of universal experience, you can come
17:55to CityWalk for free and just walk around or go eat, which is exactly what we did.
18:00I've actually been to Universal Florida and I've been to Universal here in California,
18:04and I will say that the one in Florida has this one beat.
18:08So just wanted to put that out there.
18:20We decided to eat at the NBC Sports restaurant here.
18:25We decided to eat at the NBC Sports restaurant here.
18:30I got a steak and the cameraman got a club sandwich.
18:34I thought my steak and potatoes with veggies was delicious.
18:38So it's $154 per person to go to Universal Studios, and it went up $5 because of the
18:43new Nintendo feature.
18:46And I know some of you guys are going to comment about the price.
18:48I personally don't set the prices, but what do we know is inflation is here.
18:53I guess it's here to stay, and it's driving up prices, especially here in Los Angeles
18:58and California.
19:00If theme parks are what you're looking for, then let's head down to Santa Monica Pier.
19:09Alright, here we are at Santa Monica Pier.
19:11We're going to show you around here right before sunset.
19:15I would say that of all the places I went in Los Angeles, Santa Monica Pier still has
19:20something magical going on for it.
19:23There is a lot of people that come down here.
19:25It's still very nice around the beach area, so I will say it's still worth it to check
19:30this place out and just walk around, especially at the sunset hour, and then take the Strand
19:36walking area down towards Venice Beach.
19:39Really nice.
19:54Once you actually go down to the beach here in Santa Monica, you'll realize that people
20:08in LA have an active lifestyle.
20:11Very fit city.
20:12I would say that if you come out here, you'll see people lifting weights or hanging out
20:17on those jungle gyms, swinging around.
20:20You can see why so many people are very fit around here.
20:24Right here they have a boardwalk path that you can actually ride a bike or a bird scooter
20:28or walk, run, all the way to Venice Beach from Santa Monica.
20:32And speaking of Venice Beach, what do you guys say we head down there now and see what's
20:36going on?
20:37You know, Venice Beach says they've been cleaning it up a bit, and I would say, based on my
20:41experience here, it has cleaned up.
20:50Alright, we've made it to Venice Beach.
20:52Let's go look around.
20:53Venice really is muscle beach.
20:55They do have those gyms with the weights right there on the beach.
20:58They also have basketball courts.
21:00People are going to be shooting hoops.
21:01You can probably get a pickup game if you're really into it.
21:04Also they have skate parks.
21:05People are doing rollerblading down here.
21:07Nice place to be at sunset.
21:20What do you think we get some street food right here?
21:25Pasta Cabanara.
21:26This is it.
21:27Go.
21:28Well, I got some Cabanara right here on the beach, and my friend got some shawarma.
21:40And here is a look at Muscle Beach Gym right here.
21:50Let's go.
22:20So after spending some time here doing the sunset at Venice, what we're going to do now
22:30is actually head over to the old Farmer's Market area, back towards La Brea actually,
22:35to a place called The Grove.
22:37This is probably one of my favorite places to do nightlife.
22:41So here we are at The Grove, also known as the original Farmer's Market.
22:44We're going to walk around here at around 7pm on a Tuesday night and see what's going
22:48on down here.
22:50This area here called the original World Famous Farmer's Market offers 100 gourmet grocers
22:56and it's been attracting tourists since 1934.
23:05I figured why not, I've been wanting to try this pizza.
23:09Oh, thank you.
23:11Pepperoni Pizza at the Farmer's Market.
23:13Mmm.
23:19By the way, I know you're wondering, yeah, it was really delicious pizza.
23:43Mmm.
23:56Now from the Farmer's Market, which is right next door to The Grove, we're actually going
24:00to head right to The Grove and this is the area that really lights up in a majestic kind
24:05of way.
24:06They do have some high-end shopping here, they have really nice restaurants, so get
24:11a chance, head to The Grove and you won't be disappointed.
24:16Along with this water feature, they have a really interesting Apple Store.
24:42So after a nice night on L.A., what do you guys say we wake up and head over to another
24:52nice area around Pasadena?
24:56Alright, we're back in Pasadena at the Huntington Library.
24:59It's actually $25 per person, it's a gardens and really a nice area to walk around and
25:04hang out.
25:05Let's see exactly what it looks like.
25:07The Huntington Library is actually a collection of history right there in the library, but
25:11when you go outside of the library and you walk around the gardens and the grounds, you
25:15come across a Japanese garden, Australia garden, and my very favorite, which is the actual
25:22desert garden.
25:23They also have a subtropical and a lily pond, so I definitely recommend walking around here.
25:29You will love this place if you love horticulture and biodiversity and plants.
25:35So what do you guys say?
25:36We're going to let the videography do the work here and show you just how beautiful
25:40these gardens are.
26:06Alright, let's go.
26:36Here we are at the Los Angeles Museum of Art.
27:05Here we are at the Los Angeles Zoo, it's $22 per adult and $19 for seniors, but really
27:12a great price, nice zoo, beautiful day out here in Los Angeles.
27:15Go on inside.
27:16And if you guys like the American West, come on over here to the Autry Museum.
27:38Now, from this area out here in Glendale near Pasadena, you can actually hop on the
27:55Amtrak.
27:56You can go all the way up to Burbank, to Oxnard, to Ventura and do what we actually did, which
28:02is actually head towards Santa Barbara, so you guys will be seeing our next one from
28:07Santa Barbara.
28:08For those of you who've already seen our San Diego travel guide, kudos to you.
28:13We got more coming from California, but if you haven't, be sure to watch right here.
28:18We will put some links, so we'll see you on the next one.