Air New Zealand Flights from Calgary, Canada (YYC) to Los Angeles (LAX)
As part of booking roundtrip flights which depart from US airports,
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on Air New Zealand, which operates 2 regularly scheduled daily non-stop flights from Calgary, Canada (YYC) to Los Angeles (LAX), departing between 12:50pm and 7:30pm. Usually an Embraer 190 is flown for this route. The average travel time from Calgary, Canada to Los Angeles, CA is 3 hours and 20 minutes.*
* Some flights must be used with additional international service on this airline.
During your Los Angeles vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
The "Hollywood" Sign
These famous 50-foot-high white sheet-metal letters have come to symbolize the movie industry and the city itself. The sign was erected on Mount Lee in 1923 for $21,000 as an advertisement for a real-estate development. The full text originally read HOLLYWOODLAND and was lined with thousands of 20-watt bulbs around the letters (changed periodically by a caretaker who lived in a small house behind the sign). The sign gained dubious notoriety when actress Peg Entwistle leapt to her death from the "H" in 1932. The LAND section was damaged by a landslide, and the entire sign fell into major disrepair until the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce spearheaded a campaign to repair it (Hugh Hefner, Alice Cooper, Gene Autry, and Andy Williams were all major contributors). Officially completed in 1978, the 450-foot-long installation is now protected by a fence and motion detectors. The best view is from down below, at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Bronson Avenue. Tip: It may look like it on a map, but Beachwood Drive does not lead to the sign. If you want to reach the sign on foot, it requires a rather arduous 5-mile round-trip hike on the Brush Canyon Trail in Griffith Park -- the trail head is at the end of Canyon Drive. For more information call the Griffith Park headquarters at tel. 323/913-4688.
Museum of Tolerance
The Museum of Tolerance is designed to expose prejudices, bigotry, and inhumanity while teaching racial and cultural tolerance. Since its opening in 1993, it's hosted 3.5 million visitors from around the world, including King Hussein of Jordan and the Dalai Lama. It's located in the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an institute founded by the legendary Nazi-hunter. While the Holocaust figures prominently here, this is not just a Jewish museum -- it's an academy that broadly campaigns for a live-and-let-live world. Tolerance is an abstract idea that's hard to display, so most of this $50 million museum's exhibits are high-tech and conceptual in nature. Fast-paced interactive displays are designed to touch the heart as well as the mind, and engage everyone from heads of state to the MTV generation.
Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
The Huntington Library is the jewel in Pasadena's crown. The 207-acre hilltop estate was once home to industrialist and railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), who bought books on the same massive scale on which he acquired businesses. The continually expanding collection includes dozens of Shakespeare's first editions, Benjamin Franklin's handwritten autobiography, a Gutenberg Bible from the 1450s, and the earliest known manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Although some rare works are available only to visiting scholars, the library has a regularly changing (and always excellent) exhibit showcasing different items in the collection.If you prefer canvas to parchment, Huntington also put together a terrific 18th-century British and French art collection. The most celebrated paintings are Gainsborough's The Blue Boy and Pinkie, a companion piece by Sir Thomas Lawrence depicting the youthful aunt of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. These and other works are displayed in the stately Italianate mansion on the crest of this hillside estate, so you can also get a glimpse of its splendid furnishings. American art and Renaissance paintings are exhibited in two additional galleries.But it's the botanical gardens that draw most locals to the Huntington. The Japanese Garden comes complete with a traditional open-air Japanese house, koi-filled stream, and serene Zen garden. The cactus garden is exotic, the jungle garden is intriguing, the lily ponds are soothing -- and there are many benches scattered about so you can sit and enjoy the surroundings.Because the Huntington surprises many with its size and wealth of activities to choose from, first-timers might want to start with a tour. One-hour garden tours are offered daily; no reservations or additional fees are required. Times vary, so check at the information desk upon arrival. I also recommend that you tailor your visit to include the popular English high tea served Tuesday through Friday from noon to 4:30pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10:45am to 4:30pm (last seating at 3:30pm). The tearoom overlooks the Rose Garden (home to 1,000 varieties displayed in chronological order of their breeding), and since the finger sandwiches and desserts are served buffet style, it's a genteel bargain even for hearty appetites at $15 per person (please note that museum admission is a separate required cost). Phone tel. 626/683-8131 for tearoom reservations, which are required and should be made at least 2 weeks in advance.
Avalon Hotel
The first style-conscious boutique hotel on the L.A. scene, this mid-20th-century-inspired gem in the heart of Beverly Hills still leads the pack. With a soothing sherbet-hued palette and classic atomic-age furnishings -- Eames cabinets, Heywood-Wakefield chairs, Nelson bubble lamps -- mixed with smart custom designs, every room looks as if it could star in a Metropolitan Home photo spread. But fashion doesn't forsake function at this beautifully designed hotel, which offers enough luxury comforts and amenities to please design-blind travelers, too.The property is comprised of the former Beverly-Carlton (seen on I Love Lucy and once home to Marilyn Monroe and Mae West), as well as two neighboring 1950s-era apartment houses. The main building is the hub of a chic but low-key scene, but I prefer the quieter Canon building, where many of the units have kitchenettes and/or furnished terraces. No matter which one you end up in, you'll find a gorgeous, restful cocoon with terry bathrobes and Frette linens. You'll also have easy access to the sunny courtyard with its retrohip amoeba-shape pool, the fitness room, and the groovy Jetsons-style restaurant and bar that shakes a terrific green apple martini. Service is friendlier than you'll find in other style-minded hotels.
Best Western Marina Pacific Hotel & Suites
This bright four-story hotel is a haven of smart value. Located just off the newly renovated Venice Boardwalk and 200 feet from the beach, the hotel's spacious rooms are brightened with beachy colors and dutifully equipped with chain-standard furnishings, fridges, and two-line phones. The one-bedroom suites are terrific for families, offering master bedrooms with king-size beds, fully outfitted kitchens with microwave and dishwasher, dining areas, queen-size sofa sleepers, balconies, and fireplaces. Photos of local scenes and rock 'n' roll legends along with works by local artists give the public spaces a cool L.A. vibe, and many rooms have at least partial ocean views. Additional incentives include complimentary upscale continental breakfast, free local shuttle service, and secured indoor parking. Stay elsewhere if you need a lot in the way of service or if you don't relish the party-hearty human carnival of Venice Beach (Santa Monica is generally quieter and more refined).
Hyatt West Hollywood
An extensive $7 million renovation of this legendary 13-story Sunset Strip hotel erased any last remnants of its former debauched life as the rock 'n' roll "Riot Hyatt." It doesn't even look like other Hyatts, since the management eschewed the standard corporate decor and contracted locally; the end result is a stylish cross between the clean black-and-white geometrics of a 1930s movie set and a Scandinavian birch-and-ebony aesthetic. While not as fancy as the Mondrian across the street, neither is it as expensive or snobbish. Rooms have beautiful city or hillside views (about half have balconies), but stay away from front-facing rooms on the lower floors -- too close to noisy Sunset Boulevard. Beyond the smart decor, the standard rooms bear generic but just-fine comforts. Suites have VCRs, CD players, wet bars, plus a groovy tropical aquarium built into the wall and stocked with colorful temporary pets who make the suites worth the extra bucks all by themselves. The rooftop pool is a real plus, offering cushy lounge chairs and a killer perch for peeping into the luxury homes that dot the hill behind the hotel. The talk of the town lately is the Hyatt's trendy new dim sum restaurant, Chi, which is part-owned by Justin Timberlake and way overpriced ($8 for a barbecue pork bun?).Facilities: Indoor/outdoor restaurant; bar; coffee/pastry kiosk in lobby; rooftop heated pool w/chaises and terrific views; state-of-the-art exercise room; concierge; business center; room service (6am-midnight); laundry service; dry-cleaning service; executive-level rooms.
