Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
A colossal work signed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, the Cinema Museum (or Oscars Museum) reveals a 3-storey building connected to a giant sphere housing a 6,000-seat cinema hall topped with a rooftop.
The galleries roll out the red carpet for Pedro Almodovar, Spike Lee and Hayao Miyazaki, introduce ET or Terminator and exhibit the costumes of Marilyn and the Wizard of Oz.
Well thought out, the Fanny's restaurant serves the best snacks in the neighborhood and the souvenir shop makes you leave with an Oscar in Lego.
To discover
Trips to the United States: tours, hotels and tailor-made stays from our partners
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Boulevard, Miracle Mile.
Phone.
: + 1 323 930 3000. Open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Adult price: €22 and free for children under 17.
Namely:
the Oscar Experience, a mini filmed session where the Oscar-winning stars play, requires an additional ticket at 13 €.
Read alsoJoyful and excited atmosphere at the Oscars lunch, the most informal stage of the awards season
Downtown and the theater district
Last room to be rehabilitated, the old Tower Theater was converted in 2021 into an Apple store.
Alexis Chenu / Le Figaro
Occupying a large portion of Broadway, between 3rd and 9th streets, the theater district reveals the Million Dollar Theater which served as the setting for the film
The Artist
or the Los Angeles Theater, a historic hall where the film City Lights was
screened
.
and played by Charlie Chaplin.
Last room to have been rehabilitated, the old Tower Theater, opened in 1927 and located at number 802, was converted in 2021 into an Apple store.
A breathtaking place, where to come and contemplate, from the boxes on the first floor, a celestial fresco.
The
Los Angeles Conservancy
offers guided itineraries (in English) of the historic Downtown, including visits to certain theaters.
Saturdays from Pershing Square.
Adult price: €13, free for children under 17.
Tickets at laconservancy.org.
Read also48 hours in Los Angeles, fantasy city and symbol of the American dream
Getty Center
View of Los Angeles from the Getty Center Gardens.
Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board
Perched on the hills of Brentwood in the west of Los Angeles, the Getty Museum looks like a museum-acropolis.
Named after its founder, a billionaire who made his fortune in oil, it brings together collections of paintings, sculptures and furniture from the 20th century, and counts Rembrandt, Turner and Van Gogh among the most commented artists.
Do not leave the museum before having surveyed its sumptuous gardens, the work of Robert Irwin, with thousands of trees, giant cacti, water basins and waterfalls.
Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, The Westside.
Phone.
1 310 440 7300. Open Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Free admission.
Car park: €13.
Namely:
before rising from the ground, the Getty Museum presented its collections in the
Getty Villa
, a replica of the villa of the Herculaneum papyri located in Pacific Palisades (25 minutes by car from the Getty Center).
17985 Pacific Ave.
Phone.
1 310 440 7300. Open Wednesday to Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Car park: €18.
Hollywood sign
View of the Hollywood Sign.
Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board
Created in 1923, the Hollywood Sign was originally a billboard intended to promote a residential development (which would never see the light of day).
At the end of the 1970s, faced with the deterioration of the monument, artists mobilized to save it.
White painted aluminum replicas replace the original letters.
Hugh Heffner, the founder of
Playboy
magazine finances the letter Y. The rock singer Alice Cooper, the letter O. Object of hijackings – in 2017 “
Hollyweed
” appeared in the midst of the cannabis legalization phase – this monument is one of the most photographed from California.
For the perfect shot:
head to Canyon Lake Drive.
Hikers can take the paths of Griffith Park which lead directly to a few meters from the sign (allow 2 hours).
The pose with the palm trees in the background is done on Windsor Drive, between 4th and 5th streets.
Read also(Re)discover Los Angeles, in full artistic effervescence
venice canals
Los Angeles counts, among its neighborhoods, the "Venice of America", much smaller than its Italian model.
Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board
To the west of Los Angeles, Venice holds its canals, largely inspired by those of Venice, and the work of entrepreneur Abbot Kinney, around which houses of heterogeneous architecture have been established, ranging from the Spanish colonial style to the post-modernist design to the storybook and its magical buildings.
Here reigns an ultra-relaxing atmosphere.
The Los Angeles Canals once covered the entire area between Abbot Kinney, Pacific Ave., and Venice Blvd.
Top tip:
the Los Angeles Off Road site offers 3-hour guided tours of the neighborhood, in small groups AND in French.
From €50 per adult, €30 for children aged 6 to 12.
Hollywood walk of fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame was established in 1958 and represents all the characteristic glamor of Hollywood.
Adobe Stock
On Hollywood Boulevard, tourists pose for photos along about fifteen blocks, between Gower Street and La Brea Avenue and on a portion of Vine Street.
Inaugurated in 1958, the Walk of Fame pays tribute to living or fictional stars.
Thus we can come across the star dedicated to Michael Jackson, those of John Lennon, Kim Basinger or David Bowie, Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck.
In total, just over 2700 stars, all made from coral pink terrazzo and rimmed in brass.
One exception:
four “round stars” are dedicated to astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin, heroes of the Apollo 11 mission.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Very close to the Paramount studios, in a large, beautifully maintained park, is the Hollywood Forever cemetery, where many stars are buried.
Adobe Stock
Built in 1889, this residence of Hollywood stars resembles a pretty landscaped park where lakes and green hills stretch over 25 hectares.
Between Greek temples and obelisks stand the tombs of Judy Garland, Cecil B. Demille or Rudolph Valentino.
Spectacular, the burial of Johnny Ramone immortalizes the musician of the Ramones with a statue in his effigy, guitar in hand.
Original, that of the dog Toto pays homage to the terrier and faithful friend of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 600 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood.
Phone.
+ 1 323 469 1181. Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Free admission.
To know:
every summer, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery organizes open-air cinema screenings, in the middle of the tombs… On the program:
The Diary of Bridget Jones
or
Screams
!
From €15.
cinespia.org.
Stall House
Architect Pierre Koenig's Stahl House, also known as Case Study House No. 22, is an icon of 20th-century modern architecture.
STUA
Built in 1959 on the vertiginous heights of the Hollywood Hills, the Stahl House is the work of architect Pierre Koenig.
A house on pillars, typical of “Mid Century Modern” architecture, made entirely of glass and steel.
Composed of two bedrooms and a large living room, bordered by a sublime swimming pool with a view overlooking the city, the Stahl House has been the setting for many films, from
The Singer and the Billionaire
(1991) to
Arrest me if you can
(2002).
Stahl House, 1635 Woods Drive, Los Angeles.
Phone.
: +1 208 429 1058. Closed Sunday and Monday.
Important:
reservations must be made at least one month in advance.
Two options “Afternoon” and “Evening Tour” are possible.
From 30.50 euros per person (if 2 or more people per car), parking included.
Read alsoLos Angeles, new Californian perspectives
Los Angeles hands-on
GETTING AROUND AND VISITING
From LAX airport, only about twenty minutes are needed to reach Downtown or Venice.
Count between 40 € and 50 €.
In addition to booking a rental vehicle, you can opt for Uber or Lyft, the two booking platforms operating in Los Angeles.
To access your reservation, you will first have to go to the Terminal reserved for VTCs, by taking a “LAXit” bus (free) located 10 minutes from the airport exit.
On site, a
Yellow Cab
taxi offer is also available and offers prices similar to VTCs.
To get around during your stay, renting a car is strongly recommended.
Uber and Lyft fares can vary from one to three times depending on the current schedule and traffic.
Los Angeles also has a metro (€1.50 per ticket) which serves only certain areas of the city, practical if you want to reach Downtown in Hollywood or Downtown in Culver City and Santa Monica… a mode of transport denigrated by the majority of the inhabitants and very time-consuming.
TWO HOTELS TESTED BY THE EDITORIAL
The Sunset Tower
Haven of Hollywood stars since 1929, the legendary Los Angeles address has retained its retro and glamorous atmosphere despite its renovation in 2018. From €309.
Read alsoThe Sunset Tower hotel in Los Angeles, the expert opinion of
Le Figaro
Palihotel Culver City
Opened in 2019, the hotel echoes the effervescence of Culver City, a small town in the heart of Los Angeles and east of Santa Monica, in a very
La La Land
Art Deco spirit .
From €110.
Read alsoHotel Le Palihotel Culver City in Los Angeles, the expert opinion of
Le Figaro
MORE INFORMATIONS
Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board:
discoverlosangeles.com
