Car Hire Los Angeles - Mini guide to Los Angeles
A place where dreams are made or broken, LA epitomises so much of what America and the world wants to be with its fictional Hollywood sets, and real life celebrity-obsessed dramas. Beneath it all is a diverse and interesting city with plenty to see.
Most of the attractions of the ‘city of Angels’ has some sort of association with the movies. In the downtown area, the Civic Center is America's largest complex of government buildings after Washington DC, including the 1928 City Hall (Superman and Dragnet). Nearby, El Pueblo de Los Angeles is a large historic state park on the site where the city was founded, and across from it is the architecturally impressive Union Station. Olvera Street (c 1930s) is a narrow, block-long passageway that was restored as an open-air Mexican marketplace. Chinatown comprise the social and cultural nucleus of LA's 200,000 Chinese residents. Outside the Chinese Theatre, more than 150 of the glitterati have left their prints on the sidewalk, while the first Academy Awards were held in 1928 at the historical Roosevelt Hotel.
Hollywood, in northwestern LA, is no longer the movie mecca it once was, but it certainly holds plenty of historic interest. But do your ‘celeb‘ spotting in the ultra-rich suburb of Beverly Hills, particularly on the world famous Rodeo Drive, where retailers such as Tiffany, Armani and Louis Vuitton flog their wares. Another opulent suburb to sneak around in is Bel Air.
The considerably diverse Museum of Contemporary Art, John Paul Getty collection of museums, Museum of Tolerance and Children’s museum all come recommended.
By car you can explore and visit Disneyland, Universal studios, Santa Monica, the Canyons, Venice beach, Pasadena and Palm Springs.
The major suburbs in Los Angeles are: Beverly Hills, Burbank, Downey, Glendale, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Norwalk, Pasadena, West Covina and Whittier.
