This museum, housed in a contemporary Mission Revival-style building (1988), is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of the American West, with a growing collection that numbers more than 41,000 artifacts. Construction and the initial c..

Anchoring the avenue's western end near Beverly Hills, the massive, seven-story building (1975, Cesar Pelli) sheathed in cobalt-blue glass quickly acquired the local nickname "The Blue Whale." In 1988, its hexagonal green glass annex, known..

Dedicated in 1993, this museum of ideas has two principal goals: raising awareness of racism and prejudice in American life, and exploring atrocities against humanity throughout history, with primary emphasis on the Holocaust.More a high-technology m..

Named for a former UCLA chancellor who promoted the idea of art in a natural setting, this tree-shaded, five-acre garden (1967) showcases more than 70 works by such leading sculptors as Rodin, Matisse, Hepworth, Moore, Calder and Noguchi. At the corn..

Designed in the traditional Japanese style by Takeo Uesugi, the 8,500sq ft garden features a bamboo glen and a 170ft cascading stream symbolizing issei, nisei and sansei-or first-, second-, and third-generation Japanese Americans. A tranquil path mea..

The city's oldest and largest open-air market sits on the ground floor of the Homer Laughlin Building (1897), which once housed an office for American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The ground floor, originally a department store, was transformed into..

The first museum in the U.S. dedicated to Japanese-American history occupies the renovated former Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple (1925) and a Pavilion (1998), linked by a plaza. Changing exhibits are drawn from the largest collection of Japanese-Ame..

Before the 1986 completion of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)'s California Plaza building, its first shows were held in this former warehouse complex with interiors redesigned for exhibition purposes by architect Frank Gehry. Formerly known as ..

A vibrant, multicolored showcase of the vestiges of early Los Angeles, the city's historic heart is a 44-acre cluster of 27 buildings dating as far back as 1818, many of them restored or undergoing restoration. The area's main pedestrian thoroughfare..

This landscaped area is a vibrant gathering place in the heart of the city. It started in 1866 as a formal Spanish plaza called La Plaza Abaja; by the late 19C it was the centerpiece of a residential neighborhood and had been appropriately renamed Ce..

Its imposing tower crowned by a pyramid that echoes City Hall, this striking building (1926, Bertram Goodhue) was conceived as an allegory on The Light of Learning, expressed through exterior and interior sculptures, murals, inscriptions and tilework..

When I. M. Pei & Partners built this 73-story Italian granite skyscraper (1991), it was the tallest building (1,017ft) west of the Mississippi. Pei topped the building with a distinctive illuminated crown and employed a zigzag motif that pays homage ..

These five mirrored-glass, 35-story cylindrical towers put LA on the map in 1976 as a center of post-Modern architecture. Since then they've appeared in numerous futuristic films, including Ridley Scott's classic Blade Runner (1982). Designed by John..

With its octagonal tower and domed cupola, the building (1923, Hunt & Burns) is an outstanding example of the Spanish Colonial style. The rotunda features a fountain and imported Mexican terrazzo tilework; a collection of antique California road sign..

Located within the Allan Hancock Foundation Building, this museum consists of the four luxurious public rooms from the original Hancock mansion built at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in 1907 and partly inspired by the Medici Pal..

Opened in 1981 and recently renovated and modernized, this 44,000sq ft museum is dedicated to the presentation of the art, history and culture of black people in the Americas. Excellent changing exhibits of artworks and artifacts are displayed in thr..

The largest and oldest institution of its kind in the western US, this facility-formerly the California Museum of Science and Industry-presents a variety of educational exhibits (mainly geared for children) on science topics. Exhibits in two themed a..

Between 1898 and 1912, author, editor and activist Charles Fletcher Lummis, founder of the Southwest Museum, built this house by hand out of telephone poles and granite boulders so it would last a thousand years, he said. Anyone can write a book, he ..

This 1929 Byzantine-inspired synagogue is home to the first Jewish congregation established in Los Angeles.Its most distinctive interior space is the Edgar F. Magnin Sanctuary, an octagonal auditorium paneled in rare woods with marble and wood inlays..

This theater is the centerpiece of the eye-catching, turquoise terra-cotta Pellissier Building (1931, Morgan, Walls and Clements), a 12-story Art Deco tower with two commercial wings. Designed by G. Albert Landsburgh, it features an elaborate sunburs..