SUBTLE?: Janet Jackson’s Beverly Hills home

United Airlines flew Steve Pope for a week in Los Angeles and nearby Santa Barbara to discover what the region has to offer visitors

It’s a city that has long been associated with the movie industry and for the tens of thousands of Americans who migrate there every year, it’s the town where burning ambitions become success stories or help pave the boulevards of broken dreams.

Los Angeles is America’s most glamorous city and the eternal optimism of its inhabitants is in startling contrast to Britain’s grey reserved pessimism. Maybe if we had

a large movie industry, palm-tree lined roads, and eternal sunshine we might be like California people too.

LA is a city that lives up to tired clichés. Yes, everyone working in a shop or restaurant really is an ‘actor’ looking for their big break. And all those that aren’t, aspire to making it ‘big’ in whatever field someday.

From the constant, enthusiastic, references about the costs of the celeb homes in Beverley Hills, it was clear that our tour guide Roger was more than a bit in awe of the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

You can’t come to Los Angeles and not do a tour of the stars’ homes. It would be like going to Rome and giving the Colosseum a miss. There are many ‘star tour’ vans touting business around Hollywood and at $20, for a hour and a half tour, it has to be one of the best value ways to see a lot of LA, or at least the parts where the rich and famous reside.

To be honest, the only way you will see LA is by road. So any visitor either has to factor in the cost of taxis or hiring a car.

There is no real ‘centre’ to the city as with places like London or Paris so car usage becomes even more critical. Be warned however, the freeways which are all over the city require a good deal more concentration than in the UK as drivers are a more selfish and move from lane-to-lane without too much hesitation. Notions of ‘slow’ or ‘fast’ lane mean nothing on LA’s freeways.

A place worth driving to is the highly impressive Getty Center. Perched on the Santa Monica Hills above Interstate 405, the Center must rank as one of the world’s most impressive museums and works of architecture. It’s simply stunning and at an estimated $1.3 billion build cost you rather might expect it to be.

The Getty, which opened in 1997, sits on a 24 acre site and is surrounded by a further 600 acres of forest. Its elevated views give an impressive view of the city and architect

Richard Meier has created one of the city’s most visited new attractions.

Housing pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; and 19th- and 20th-century American and European photographs, the Getty rewrites the rules which says museums have to be dull. There is no admission charge and with lovely gardens it’s really a good way to spend a whole day.

If good views and freeness strike a chord with you, then it’s also worth paying a visit to Griffith Observatory up in the Hollywood Hills. (The place where the famous Hollywood sign resides.)

Opened in 1935, the Observatory features a number of exhibits including the Foucault pendulum, which was designed way back in 1935 to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. Unfortunately only members of the Friends of the Observatory group can get to use the telescope located there. The location was used in a famous scene in the classic 1955 James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause. Many other movies such The Terminator and Charlie’s Angeles have also used Griffith Observatory as a backdrop.

If taking in culture and checking out city vistas is not your thing, then do what all the beautiful and trendy folk of LA do – shop and eat. The variety of stores in the city is impressive and unlike Britain, where every high street and shopping centre seems to feature the same ten names, The City of Angels has more shopping diversity than you could shake an Amex card at.

Rodeo Drive is where the Amex Black card holders go to play. From Chanel to Gucci, Rodeo is big people’s shopping so don’t go there expecting to see a Primark branch. As an example of Beverley Hills excess the street is worth visiting particularly if you’ve seen Julia Roberts’ shopping spree in the movie Pretty Woman.

On the matter of eating, I can’t say I saw a Nandos in LA and I’m not sure that the city needs one. There are thousands of restaurants there and the visitor is simply spoilt for choice.

I tried living without meat for my whole week there and have never enjoyed food so much. There are hundreds of top-notch vegetarian cafes and restaurants and one of my favourites was the M Café in Melrose. Serving what it calls ‘contemporary macrobiotic cuisine’, the food at the M was simply delicious and was nothing like the tree-hugging, grass veggieburger thing I was expecting.

The Gindi Thai in Burbank, was also outstanding. The taste of its Chilean sea bass with tamarind sauce will become a lasting memory of my trip.

While there is plenty to occupy your time in LA for a week, don’t go there expecting to be wowed by stunning architecture and amazing scenery. The city is too ‘new’ to have much in the way of heritage. To get a more rounded view of California, and to see attractive scenery it’s worth taking a trip away from the smog and hubbub of the metropolitan area.

I took a two-hour, gentle drive up the famous Pacific Coast Highway, which as its name implies, affords some pleasant views of the Pacific ocean. Passing through the very upscale Malibu, where ex-Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson has a beachfront home, I headed further north to Santa Barbara.

A popular summer tourist destination, Santa Barbara has been careful not to turn itself into a tacky Blackpool style seaside town and is all the better for it. It’s relaxing and classy without being stuffy and boring.

You won’t find too many bargain basement hotel rooms here so a two-day stop is a more realistic proposition for those visiting on an average budget. My two nights at Hotel Oceana would cost around $550 (£336) for a two sharing a sea view room with breakfast included. But there are some slightly cheaper options around town.

I took advantage of the hotel’s free bicycle hire to explore the beachfront and pier and it was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours in the Californian sunshine taking in the sea breeze.

Santa Barbara is relaxed and the locals extremely friendly. February was the perfect time to visit. The temperatures were not oppressive as they can be in middle of summer, but were still warm enough not to wear a jacket during the day. The town is also not over-populated with tourists, so makes the perfect time to get way from the stress of city living.

The surrounding Santa Ynez Mountains are only a 30-minute car journey from Santa Barbara and the drive to the nearby Cachuma Lake Recreation Area is spectacular. Not recommended if you don’t have a head for heights.

If your taste is slightly more alcoholic, there are various tours available visiting the many wineries that are dotted around Santa Barbara. It’s better to go on a tour because you then have no concerns about drinking and driving. And let’s face it, what’s the point of going to a winery and not tasting the products?

With more time one might think about doing the extra 300+ miles up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, but that would be a stretch for anyone on a week long visit to

LA.

I ended my California tour back in LA and spent two days seeing a few of the sights such as the world Famous Mann’s Chinese theatre where the sidewalk is decorated with the handprints of the famous and not so famous set in red stars. You may ask why are there are so many names you’ve never heard of and so many famous names not there? Well the fact that those honoured have to pay a panel $25,000 for the honour maybe explains why. A night out at one of LA’s many comedy clubs ended the weekend before my 11 hour flight back to London.

Los Angeles is a great fun city to visit especially if you don’t get too worked-up about

conspicuous consumption and rather vacuous conversations. With some spectacular scenery in the regions around LA you should really try and incorporate a visit outside of the cit. Santa Barbara would make a great extension to any visit to California. See www.santabarbaraca.com for more details.

Published: 15 March 2010
Issue: 1414