|
During your Los Angeles vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
Farmers Market and The Grove
The original market was little more than a field with stands set up by farmers during the Depression so they could sell directly to city dwellers. Eventually, permanent buildings grew up, including the trademark shingled 10-story clock tower. Today the place has evolved into a sprawling marketplace with a carnival atmosphere, a kind of "turf" version of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. About 100 restaurants, shops, and grocers cater to a mix of workers from the CBS Television City complex, locals, and tourists, brought here by the busload. Retailers sell greeting cards, kitchen implements, candles, and souvenirs, but everyone comes for the food stands, which offer oysters, hot donuts, Cajun gumbo, fresh-squeezed orange juice, corned beef sandwiches, fresh-pressed peanut butter, and all kinds of international fast foods. You can still buy produce here -- it's no longer a farm-fresh bargain, but the selection's better than at the grocery store. Don't miss Kokomo (tel. 323/933-0773), a "gourmet" outdoor coffee shop that has become a power breakfast spot for showbiz types. Red turkey hash and sweet-potato fries are the dishes that keep them coming back. The seafood gumbo and gumbo ya ya at the Gumbo Pot (tel. 323/933-0358) are also very popular.At the eastern end of the Farmers Market is The Grove, a massive 575,000-square-foot Vegas-style retail complex composed of various architectural styles ranging from Art Deco to Italian Renaissance. Miniature streets link The Grove to the Market via a double-deck electric trolley. Granted, it's all a bit Disney-gaudy, but the locals love it. Where else can you power-shop until noon, check all your bags at a drop-off station, get a spa treatment at Amadeus Spa (tel. 323/297-0311), see a movie at the 14-screen Grove Theatre, have an early dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy (tel. 323/965-9665), and be home by 7pm?
Los Angeles Zoo
The L.A. Zoo, which shares its parking lot with the Museum of the American West, has been welcoming visitors and busloads of school kids since 1966. In 1982, the zoo inaugurated a display of cuddly koalas, still one of its biggest attractions. Although it's smaller than the world-famous San Diego Zoo, the L.A. Zoo is surprisingly enjoyable and easy to fully explore. As much an arboretum as a zoo, the grounds are thick with mature shade trees from around the world that help cool the once-barren grounds, and new habitats are light-years ahead of the cruel concrete roundhouses originally used to exhibit animals (though you can't help feeling that, despite the fancy digs, all the creatures would rather be in their natural habitat). Highlights include the Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains habitat, where visitors can see plenty of primate activity; the Red Ape Rain Forest, a natural orangutan habitat; the entertaining World of Birds show; the Pachyderm Forest (climate-controlled digs for the elephants and hippos, complete with an underwater viewing area); the new mandrills exhibit (the world's largest and most colorful baboons); and the silverback gorilla exhibit. The gargantuan Andean condor had me enthralled as well (the facility is renowned in zoological circles for the successful breeding and releasing of California condors, and occasionally it has some of these majestic and endangered birds on exhibit).The zoo's latest attraction (and one they're rightfully proud of) is the Winnick Family Children's Zoo, a fantastic and forward-thinking children's zoo that contains a petting area, exhibition animal care center, Adventure Theater storytelling and puppet show, and other kid-hip exhibits and activities. Tip: To avoid the busloads of rambunctious school kids, arrive after noon.
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
This is one of the world's great movie palaces and one of Hollywood's finest landmarks. The theater was opened in 1927 by impresario Sid Grauman, a brilliant promoter who's credited with originating the idea of the paparazzi-packed movie "premiere." Outrageously conceived, with both authentic and simulated Chinese embellishments, Grauman's theater was designed to impress. Original Chinese heavenly doves top the facade, and two of the theater's columns once propped up a Ming dynasty temple.Visitors by the millions flock to the theater for its famous entry court, where stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Ginger Rogers, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, and about 160 others set their signatures and hand-/footprints in concrete (a tradition started when actress Norma Talmadge accidentally stepped in wet cement during the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings). It's not always hands and feet: Betty Grable's shapely leg; the hoofprints of Gene Autry's horse, Champion; Jimmy Durante's and Bob Hope's trademark noses; Whoopi Goldberg's dreadlocks, George Burns's cigar, and even R2D2's wheels.
Days Inn Los Angeles/Airport Center/LAX/Venice Beach/Santa M
Welcome to Days Inn Airport Center, Los Angeles, CA. The Days Inn Airport Center/Venice Beach/Santa Monica offers spacious and tastefully decorated rooms. Whether on business or pleasure our amenities are sure to please: Premium Cable TV, Complimentary Wireless High Speed Internet, Free USA Today Newspaper, Complimentary Continental Breakfast, etc. We are conveniently located 2 miles from the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and 1 block away from the San Diego Freeway. We are just ...
Comfort Inn Eagle Rock
Located between Glendale and Pasadena. Centraly located in the heart of L.A. Minutes to Rose Bowl, Old Town Pasadena, Hollywood, Universal Studios, Dodger Stadium, China Town, and much ...
|
|
