10 Best Sights in Los Angeles, California

Don’t let its kitschy facade turn you off: the Hollywood Museum, nestled at the busy intersection of Hollywood and Highland, is worth it, especially for film aficionados. A museum deserving of its name, it boasts an impressive collection of exhibits from the moviemaking world, spanning several film genres and eras. Start in its pink, art deco lobby where the Max Factor exhibit pays tribute to the cosmetics company’s pivotal role in Hollywood, make your way to the dark basement, where the industry’s penchant for the macabre is on full display, and wrap up your visit by admiring Hollywood’s most famous costumes and set props on the top floor.

Because it's in El Pueblo Plaza, you might assume that this museum features Mexican American art, but it's actually the last surviving structure of L.A.'s original Chinatown. Three floors of exhibits reveal the different cultures that have called this area home, as well as how the original residents paved the way for what is now a vibrant and varied Chinatown. Rotating exhibits feature the work of Chinese American artists.

Looking like a prop street set up by a film studio, Heritage Square resembles a row of bright dollhouses in the modest Highland Park neighborhood. Five 19th-century residences, a train station, a church, a carriage barn, and a 1909 boxcar that was originally part of the Southern Pacific Railroad, all built between the Civil War and World War I, were moved to this small park from various locations in Southern California to save them from the wrecking ball. The latest addition, a re-creation of a World War I–era drugstore, has a vintage soda fountain and traditional products. Docents dressed in period costume lead visitors through the lavish homes, giving an informative picture of Los Angeles in the early 1900s. Don't miss the unique 1893 Octagon House, one of just a handful of its kind built in California.

Originally the tearoom for the Hollywood Bowl, this unassuming, two-story museum not only recounts the history of one of L.A.’s most renowned landmarks, but also commemorates some of the major and unforgettable performances that have taken place here. While the second floor mostly touts temporary exhibits, the first floor boasts permanent displays, a few of which are interactive. A quick visit to this museum is a definite must whether you’re a musicophile or you’re coming to see a performance at the Hollywood Bowl.

This unassuming building across from the Hollywood Bowl is a treasure trove of memorabilia from the earliest days of Hollywood filmmaking, including a thorough look back at Cecil B. DeMille's starry career. Large sections of the original stone statues from The Ten Commandments lay like fallen giants among smaller items in glass cases around the perimeter of this modest museum. A documentary tracking Hollywood's golden era is worth taking in. The building itself is the restored Lasky-DeMille Barn, designated a California State Historic Landmark in 1956.

A museum dedicated solely to the Holocaust, it uses its extensive collections of photos and artifacts as well as award-winning audio tours and interactive tools to evoke European Jewish life in the 20th century. The mission is to commemorate the lives of those who perished and those who survived the Holocaust. The building is itself a marvel, having won two awards from the American Institute of Architects. Throughout the week, the museum hosts talks given by Holocaust survivors, while other events include a lecture series, educational programs, and concerts.

This landmark, constructed in 1908, is noteworthy because its south wall bears an infamous mural. Famed Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros shocked his patrons in the 1930s by depicting an oppressed worker of Latin America being crucified on a cross topped by a menacing American eagle. The anti-imperialist mural was promptly whitewashed but was later restored by the Getty Museum. It can be seen on the Italian Hall building today. Today the site functions as a museum and has seven color-coded exhibits on the history of Italian Americans. The site is also home to Taste of Italy, an annual event that celebrates the Italian culinary history of Los Angeles.

What was it like to grow up on a sugar plantation in Hawaii? How difficult was life for Japanese Americans interned in concentration camps during World War II? These questions are addressed by changing exhibitions at this museum in Little Tokyo that also include fun tributes to anime and Hello Kitty. Volunteer docents are on hand to share their own stories and experiences. The museum occupies its original site in a renovated 1925 Buddhist temple and an 85,000-square-foot adjacent pavilion.

Take the Metro and get $2 off general admission and a 10% discount at adjoining Chado Tea Room.

A museum that unflinchingly confronts bigotry and racism, one of its most affecting sections covers the Holocaust, with film footage of deportations and concentration camps. Upon entering, you are issued a "passport" bearing the name of a child whose life was dramatically changed by the Nazis; as you go through the exhibit, you learn the fate of that child. Another exhibit called Anne: The Life and Legacy of Anne Frank brings her story to life through immersive environments, multimedia presentations, and interesting artifacts, while Simon Wiesenthal's Vienna office is set exactly as the famous "Nazi hunter" had it while conducting his research that brought more than 1,000 war criminals to justice.

Interactive exhibits include The Forum where visitors can examine and debate solutions to controversial topics facing our nation today such as immigration, policing, homelessness, the pandemic, and bigotry; We the People, which looks at U.S. history from the 1600s up to the attack on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, with an immense interactive wall; and the Point of View Experience, a four-sided glass cube that presents a different individual's perspective on a particular situation facing society.

Plan to spend at least three hours touring the museum; making a reservation is especially recommended for Sunday and holiday visits.

The hot ticket at this Beaux Arts–style museum completed in 1913 is the Dinosaur Hall, whose more than 300 fossils include adult, juvenile, and baby skeletons of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex. The Discovery Center lets kids and curious grown-ups touch real animal pelts, and the Insect Zoo gets everyone up close and personal with the white-eyed assassin bug and other creepy crawlers. A massive hall displays dioramas of animals in their natural habitats. Also look for pre-Columbian artifacts and crafts from the South Pacific, or priceless stones in the Gem and Mineral Hall. Outdoors, the 3½-acre Nature Gardens shelter native plant and insect species and contain an expansive edible garden.

Don't miss out on the Dino lab, where you can watch paleontologists unearth and clean real fossils.