25 Best Things to Do in Hollywood, California

Docent-led tours are available by advance reservation, but most tourists enjoy the building via self-guided tour. A guide book is provided, and there are docents available to answer questions and provide more information about the home and its unique design. The home is at the center of Barnsdall Art Complex, which is located in East Hollywood and considered a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The Sunset Strip is still a place to see and be seen; where famous people sometimes hang out and those waiting to be discovered congregate.

Open since 1919, the Musso & Frank Grill is Hollywood’s oldest restaurant, a steak-and-cocktails joint formerly favored by Charlie Chaplin and Raymond Chandler. With its many obscure dishes and individually priced sides (and salad dressings!), the menu can be daunting. At breakfast, grab an order of crêpe-thin flannel cakes; later in the day, the grilled meats are excellent. And every table gets a half-loaf of house-made sourdough bread, the perfect accompaniment to a dry martini. The rest of the year, a screening at one of the local movie palaces would top our list. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content.

• Only the Hollyhock House and two secondary residences were built before the project ended.
• At the theme park, guests can watch entertaining shows about special effects or featuring the famous animals who are often used in movies, and have a thrilling and fun time on all the rides in the park.
• And every table gets a half-loaf of house-made sourdough bread, the perfect accompaniment to a dry martini.
• This overlook in the Santa Monica Mountains has fantastic views of the Downtown skyline all the way to the ocean and it’s right on top of the Hollywood Bowl.
• The Hollywood Walk of Fame was first established in 1958, when the first brass stars were laid into the sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard.

The sea of buff trainers and their sleek, sweaty clients can get to be too much during the busy morning and weekend workout traffic, but you’ll be rewarded with some of the best views of the city (and, if you’re lucky, a chance to gawk at power-walking celebs). The southern entrance is at the end of Fuller Avenue in Hollywood; if you want to cut out most of the hiking and just beeline it to the tob, use the northern entrance off the 7300 block of Mulholland Drive. Just outside the Hollywood border, this hilly park is the home of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House.

There are several different tour packages available, such as the one or two-hour Day Tour, the two-hour Evening Tour, an evening barbecue option, and even a package that includes an overnight stay at the ranch’s bed and breakfast. Hollywood’s Museum of Illusions is a favorite for families with kids and teens, full of chances to snap perfect Instagram-ready photos. Photography is encouraged here, an imaginative space where visitors can interact with the exhibits to bring home larger-than-life memories.

In addition to hands and feet, you can find tracks made by the lovable VW bug Herbie’s tires, as well as imprints from the wands of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. Runyon Canyon Road is the easiest of the routes to take, a wide and relatively smooth path that is maintained as a fire road but closed to traffic. For a more challenging hike, the Star Trail is a good option, and more ambitious and experienced hikers can try the Hero Trail, a more difficult path that leads to the park’s highest point, Indian Rock.

This overlook in the Santa Monica Mountains has fantastic views of the Downtown skyline all the way to the ocean and it’s right on top of the http://supattratravel.com/ Bowl. It’s a prime place to be on a clear day—as evidenced by the tiny parking lot overrun with tour buses—so get there early (it’s also technically not open in the evening). If you’re after more scenic views, you can keep following Mulholland Drive to find about a half-dozen other overlooks that face the Valley side of the city. During the Cold War, paranoia grew in Hollywood and the rest of the United States over communism. In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a House of Representatives group that investigated potential communist ties, decided to investigate communism in films. Many established movie stars enlisted in the armed forces, including Clark Gable, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart and Mickey Rooney.

Aside from popular posthumous celebs, Hollywood Forever is also home to Cinespia’s summer outdoor movie screenings, an annual Day of the Dead festival and concerts, both outside on the lawn and inside the property’s Masonic lodge. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions. Hollywood became known as Tinseltown[22]
and the “dream factory”[16] because of the glittering image of the movie industry. In mid-September, following a nearly 150-day strike, the Writers Guild of America union reached a tentative deal with studios, which was ratified weeks later. The Oscar winner did not go into specifics at the time, but the timeline of Jolie’s film hiatus coincides with the end of her marriage to Pitt.

Visitors also enjoy seeing Bronson Caves, a location used in numerous films and TV shows, including the original Batman series. Other park attractions and activities include horseback riding, golf, performances at the Greek Theater, and the Autry National Center, a museum dedicated to the history of the American West. We’ve spent enough time in Hollywood to know that you probably don’t want to put your hands on those grimy bits of star-dotted sidewalk—better to look but not touch. In the heart of Los Angeles is the oasis of the Barnsdall Park, which is a vibrant cultural and recreational hub within the busy city. It is a charming historic site that has panoramic views of Hollywood, within the beautiful area is an Art Center, the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre and the Hollyhock House that was designed by famous architecture Frank Lloyd Wright.

Today’s younger generation of music fans may not recognize what it was meant to look like, but the building is an iconic landmark in Hollywood that has been featured in films and television since it first pierced the skyline. The studio tour also includes opportunities to see authentic costumes and interact with their favorite props, like the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter. There is also a fully interactive exhibit where visitors can see exactly what goes into the process of making a film, start to finish. Zoo, home to animals from around the world, including Masai giraffe, koalas, lemurs, and elephants.

Angelina Jolie told the Wall Street Journal Magazine that she probably would not become an actor if she was just starting out in the industry in 2023. She’d consider acting on the stage, perhaps, but certainly not a life and career in Hollywood. The film “Leave the World Behind” centers on the idea of mistrust and how easy it is for humans to lose empathy for one another when faced with a crisis. It is at once unnerving, misanthropic and bleak, and, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, it’s produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground. Do not double park or block driveways, and pay attention to parking signs in the neighborhood.