Let’s face it—there is just no place on Earth quite like Hollywood. This is the birthplace of American cinema, but there is so much more. The famous California sunshine makes getting out and about easy and enjoyable.
Hop on the Los Angeles Metro to get to many locations in the city and outlying areas. The hotel is conveniently located at the Hollywood & Highland stop, so it’s easy to get on board. Visit the Los Angeles Metro website for full information: https://www.metro.net/
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Here are just some of the many things to see and do …
Hollywood Walk of Fame: Don’t miss the Hollywood Walk of Fame located just outside the hotel, which comprises more than 2,600 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others.
TCL Chinese Theater: Located directly next door to the conference hotel. The forecourt of this 1927 Hollywood landmark holds the handprints and footprints of hundreds of stars from Marilyn Monroe to Nicholas Cage. Tours are offered seven days a week.
El Capitan Theatre: This Hollywood fixture is located across the street from the hotel. It first opened its doors in 1926 and is currently a fully restored movie palace. The theater is operated by Buena Vista Theatres, Inc., a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Distribution, and as such, serves as the venue for a majority of the Walt Disney Studios’ film premieres.
Dolby Theatre Tour: The hotel is in the same complex as the Dolby Theatre, so while there, considering booking a tour that takes you beyond the red carpet. See Oscar statuettes and images from past Academy Awards ceremonies, visit the Dolby Lounge and other exclusive celebrity hangouts.
Universal Studios Hollywood: This premiere theme park built aside the film studio is just three miles from the hotel. You can easily ride the metro from the Hollywood & Highland station located directly beneath the hotel to Universal Studios – it’s only one stop away!
The Hollywood Sign: The bright white aura of this iconic sign beams down onto the city from high in the Hollywood Hills. When it comes to icons, this towering sign stands tall—literally. Originally erected in 1923 to promote a housing development called Hollywoodland, the enormous sign which lost its last four letters in 1949 and got a massive makeover in 1978, now acts like a towering beacon for anyone who dreams of being in the movies. Get good views of the sign along Mulholland Highway as it snakes through the Hollywood Hills, as well as from the Griffith Observatory and Lake Hollywood Park. There are also good distant views from the hotel.
Capitol Records Building: The Capitol Records Building, located a few blocks from the hotel at Hollywood & Vine, is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. Construction occurred soon after British company EMI acquired Capitol Records in 1955 and was completed in April 1956. The Capitol Records Tower houses the consolidation of Capitol Records’ West Coast operations and is home to the recording studios and echo chambers of Capitol Studios.
Take a Hollywood Bus Tour: Tour operators line Hollywood Boulevard, so it’s easy to purchase a ticket to get on board a bus tour that shows you Hollywood sights and/or the homes of movie stars.
Take a Studio Tour: Take a peek behind the scenes to see where and how it all happens. Universal, Sony, Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers all offer tours – check online for details.
TV Show Tapings: Be in the live audience of a TV show! So many shows are taped in Hollywood/Los Angeles – the Jimmy Kimmel Live! studio is right across the street from our hotel. Conan O’Brien’s and James Corden’s late night shows and The Ellen Show (Ellen DeGeneres) are others that are filmed in the area. You can check for show tickets to many shows at https://1iota.com and elsewhere online.
The Hollywood Bowl: Located less than one mile from the Loews Hollywood Hotel is the Hollywood Bowl. Since its opening in 1922, this outdoor venue has been the premier destination for live music in Southern California, hosting everyone from Billie Holiday to The Beatles to Yo-Yo Ma under the iconic silhouette of its concentric-arched band shell.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery: This is the final resting place to more of Hollywood’s founders and stars than anywhere else on earth. Founded in 1899, the cemetery was an integral part of the growth of early Hollywood. Paramount Studios was built on the back half of the original Hollywood Cemetery, where the studio is still in operation today. The cemetery of choice for most of the founders of Hollywood’s great studios, as well as writers, directors, and, performers, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is now listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. Visitors come from all over the world to pay respects to Johnny Ramone, Cecil B. DeMille, Jayne Mansfield, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, and hundreds more of Hollywood’s greatest stars.
Get out in nature…
Griffith Park: Home to the Griffith Observatory, this park is perched up in the Hollywood Hills. With over 4,210 acres of natural chapparal-covered terrain, hiking trails, landscaped parkland and picnic areas, Griffith Park is one of the largest municipal parks with urban wilderness areas in the United States. Situated in the eastern Santa Monica Mountain range, the Park’s elevations range from 384 to 1,625 feet above sea level.
Runyon Canyon Park: Located off Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills, this 160-acre park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains is a popular hiking spot with one main loop, plus a bevy of dirt hiking trails. It’s worth the hike up as it offers some of the best views of the city.
Take a Walk on the Beach: Check out the beach in Santa Monica (a 30-45 minute drive from the hotel, but also accessible by metro), featuring the iconic Santa Monica Pier with amusement rides and eateries, or funky Venice Beach with its Bohemian spirit (about three miles south of Santa Monica), or Malibu Lagoon State Beach, known as Surfrider Beach for its waves (about a 60 minute drive from the hotel).
Famous stretches to explore…
The Sunset Strip is the mile-and-a-half (2.4 km) stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood. The Sunset Strip is a party destination like no other—home to gangsters in the roaring 1920s, playground of Hollywood royalty then and now, and the origin of many famous brands.
Santa Monica Boulevard is actually Route 66, the iconic U.S highway that once ran from Chicago to Santa Monica. It passes straight through West Hollywood and with it comes a variety of fantastic shops and restaurants, and the heart of the LGBTQ scene in the city.
The West Hollywood Design District is home to some of the most world-famous retailers. You won’t want to miss strolling along Melrose and dropping in luxury and flagship stores.
Rodeo Drive (Beverly Hills) is the famed street with upscale designer shops.
Los Angeles’ Museums-
Miracle Mile is a stretch in Downtown Los Angeles that is home to four major Los Angeles museums: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Craft and Folk Art Museum, and Petersen’s Automotive Museum. Explore these museums and more.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the western United States.
La Brea Tar Pits and Museum – in 1875 a group of amateur paleontologists discovered animal remains in the pits at Rancho La Brea, which bubbled with asphalt from a petroleum lake under what is now Hancock Park. Some 140 years later, the pros are still at work here dragging out fossils. Many specimens are on display in the museum and outside the pits still bubble with black goo. You can watch paleontologists at work in the excavation of Pit 91.
The Getty houses the collections of J. Paul Getty. It collectively consists of The Getty Center in Los Angeles (a campus of the Getty Museum featuring art and architecture and other programs of the Getty Trust) and Getty Villa (in Pacific Palisades, a re-creation of an ancient Roman house displaying ancient art).
The Broad is a contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. The museum is named for philanthropist Eli Broad, who financed the $140 million building which houses the Broad art collections.
The Museum of Contemporary Art is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall, where you may want to catch a performance of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Griffith Observatory – The vista from this hilltop landmark is stunning, particularly at night when Los Angeles twinkles below. The observatory offers many exhibits, including a Foucault pendulum (directly under Hugo Ballin’s famed mural on the central rotunda), Tesla coil and planetarium show.
The Natural History Museum Los Angeles County is the largest natural and historical museum in the western United States. Its collections include nearly 35 million specimens and artifacts and cover 4.5 billion years of history.
California Science Center – the permanent exhibit galleries at this kid-friendly Exposition Park museum explore life sciences, human innovation and powered flight. The main attraction here is the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which was very publicly paraded through L.A. to reach its temporary home at the Samuel Oschin Pavilion.
Check out the Los Angeles Go Card for discounted travel and admission to many attractions.
For more information about Hollywood/Los Angeles, visit: https://www.discoverlosangeles.com