Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [61]
The museum is housed inside the handsome 1914 art deco Max Factor Building, where the make-up pioneer once worked his magic on such stars as Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland. The make-up rooms, complete with custom lighting to complement the ladies’ complexion and hair color, are still located on the ground floor, along with a wall of Factor’s most glamorous clients and the 1965 Silver Cloud Rolls Royce once owned by Cary Grant.
Hollywood Bowl & Around
Summers in LA just wouldn’t be the same without this chill spot for symphonies under the stars, Sound of Music sing-a-longs and big-name rock, jazz and blues acts. A huge natural amphitheater, the Hollywood Bowl (Map; 323-850-2000; www.hollywoodbowl.com; 2301 Highland Ave; late Jun-Sep; ) has been around since 1922 and has great sound thanks to a new concert shell. Big projection screens give even the folks in the ‘nosebleed’ sections (tickets from $1 on many nights) close-ups of the performers. Come early to claim a table in the parklike grounds for a pre-show picnic (alcohol permitted, also during concerts). There are several concessions if you don’t want to lug your own grub.
The bowl is the summer home of the LA Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Sneak into free rehearsals usually held from 9am to noon on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday during the season. The Hollywood Bowl Museum (Map; 323-850-2058; www.hollywoodbowl.com/event/museum.cfm; admission free; 10am-showtime Mon-Sat & 4pm-showtime Sun late Jun–mid-Sep, 10am-4:30pm Tue-Fri mid-Sep–late Jun) relives such classic bowl moments as concerts by the Beatles, the Stones and Jimi Hendrix.
Parking is free during the day, but expensive and limited on performance nights. Save yourself the headache and take a shuttle, such as the one running from Hollywood & Highland, which costs $3 per person round-trip. The website has full details.
Another beloved outdoor venue, the Ford Amphitheatre (Map; 323-461-3673; www.fordtheatres.org; 2580 Cahuenga Blvd E; tickets $5-45; May-Oct; ) is just across Hwy 101. It presents an eclectic program of global music, dance and theater in a space where no seat is more than 96ft from the stage. Picnics are welcome.
Just south of the bowl is an unassuming little barn with a big history. Hollywood’s first feature-length flick, Cecil B DeMille’s The Squaw Man, was shot in this building in 1913–14, which was originally positioned at the corner of Selma and Vine Sts. DeMille went on to cofound Paramount and had the barn moved to the lot in the ’20s. Now the Hollywood Heritage Museum (Map; 323-874-4005; 2100 N Highland Ave; adult/child/senior $5/1/3; 11am-4pm Sat & Sun), it’s filled with a great collection of costumes, projectors and cameras from the early days of movie-making, plus DeMille’s recreated office.
MULHOLLAND DRIVE
If you found David Lynch’s 2001 movie Mulholland Drive a tad bizarre, perhaps a drive along the road itself will clear things up. The legendary road winds and dips for 24 miles through the Santa Monica Mountains, skirting the mansions of the rich and famous (Jack Nicholson’s is at No 12850, Warren Beatty’s at No 13671) and delivering iconic views of Downtown, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley at each road bend. Named for its creator, California aqueduct engineer William Mulholland, it’s especially pretty just before sunset (go west to east, though, to avoid driving into the setting sun) and on clear winter days when the panorama opens up from the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains to the shimmering expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Traffic is lightest on Sundays.
Driving the entire route takes about an hour, but even a shorter spin is worth it. At the