Los Angeles: Explore your city this summer

No room in the budget this year for a summer trip, or maybe your vacation-day allotment is already in the red? It’s no fun to bury the passport, but if you’re a Los Angeles resident, with a travel-less summer may come an opportunity to explore what’s in your own backyard. Here, in one of our country’s most culturally diverse cities, are fascinating neighborhoods full of sites to visit, food to taste, and ritual and happenstance to observe.

It’s our region’s unique vast neighborhoods that Los Angeles Times photographers guide us through in Street Scenes, which featured Venice Beach last week and, today, peeks into Koreatown.

And when you’re done exploring those areas, there are plenty more neighborhoods in and around L.A. that can easily fill days, whether you’re in for sites or just meanders. Consider the following ‘hoods, from the obvious to the sometimes-overlooked:

– Little Tokyo: It’ll be particularly fun to explore during the Nisei Week Festival, Aug. 16-24, 2008.

– Los Feliz: If you’ve never been here and seen it only in the film “Swingers,” the Derby is a must-do on the checklist.

– San Pedro: The not-trendy seaport town is home to an aquarium, and an Art Walk every first Thursday of the month.

– Little India (Artesia): You could eat Indian fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner here, and don’t forget to stop for chai, gorgeous fabrics, and so-sugary sweets.

– Miracle Mile: La Brea Tar Pits and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) make this urban stretch worthy of a day out.

What are your favorite neighborhoods to explore in and around L.A.?

Next Monday, look for Street Scenes’ photo/audio coverage of East L.A.

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Koreatown; Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 5:02 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under California, Festival, Los Angeles, Summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.