LOS ANGELES — You’re an outsider heading to the Westside of Los Angeles — not the beach cities, but Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Westwood and the nearby well-heeled neighborhoods south of the Santa Monica Mountains.
This means you’ll be well-fed, well-rested and perhaps more closely watched by the issuers of your credit cards. And while the dollars fly, you may learn a little about wealth, fame, geography and Persian desserts. For instance, you’ll realize that Beverly Hills, like the “Mona Lisa” and certain leading men, is smaller than you might expect (5.7 square miles).
You’ll recognize Culver City’s connections to Oz and the old Soviet space program. You’ll be reminded that there’s a big Santa Monica Boulevard and a little one (aka South Santa Monica Boulevard), which perplex the uninitiated by running parallel for more than a mile.
In Westwood, you’ll see how death has united Marilyn Monroe and Rodney Dangerfield, among others. For more on these revelations, here are some Westside stories — 12 micro-itineraries to get a stranger started.
Big screen, small wonders
If Judy Garland or Alex Trebek makes you swoon, you’ll want to check out Sony Studios (10202 W. Washington Blvd.) in Culver City. Its two-hour guided walking tour costs $33 (no children younger than 12) and includes soundstages where “The Wizard of Oz” was filmed in 1938 and where “Jeopardy!” has been shot since 1984.
If neither Judy nor Alex makes your world go ’round, think twice about this tour. For a more engrossing (and affordable) experience in the same neighborhood, get thee to the Museum of Jurassic Technology (9341 Venice Blvd.). This odd little spot is all about the joy of weird stuff, presented with great museological pomp. Shuffle through the tiny dark rooms, your jaw slackening at the sight of the trailer-park dioramas, Soviet space-dog oil portraits, a tiny sculpted pope in a needle’s eye and two dead mice on toast (the consumption of which is described as an old bed-wetting cure).
Don’t miss the tearoom upstairs. Next door stands the Center for Land Use Interpretation (9331 Venice Blvd.), whose exhibits and publications have probed the underwater towns of America, the helipads of downtown L.A. and other notable human interactions with the landscape.
Beloved burgers and newfangled photos
Since 1947 on Pico Boulevard, the Apple Pan (10801 W. Pico Blvd.) has been offering Angelenos burgers and desserts. No reservations, no alcohol, no air conditioning. Order the Hickory burger ($6.75) and maybe a big slice of apple pie ($5.50) for dessert. Then head two miles northeast to Century City, where you’ll park beneath the soaring cold metal and glass of the Creative Artists Agency building.
You have not scored a meeting with CAA’s deal makers, but they will let you in next door at the Annenberg Space for Photography (2000 Avenue of the Stars, No. 10), a nonprofit exhibition space with a video-friendly layout and sophisticated digital technology. It’s free.
Shopping on Rodeo
The Rodeo Drive shopping experience boils down to about three blocks. Start at South Santa Monica Boulevard and make your way southeast, past Brighton and Dayton ways, to Wilshire Boulevard. See the impeccable salesman wiping fingerprints off the Cartier shop window? The strange staircase that architect Rem Koolhaas placed at the front of the Prada shop?
The beckoning faux-European side street of the Two Rodeo shops? At the far end of your stroll, you’ll find the Beverly Wilshire (9500 Wilshire Blvd.). This hotel, run by Four Seasons, is where Warren Beatty once lived, where Esther Williams taught 14-year-old Elizabeth Taylor how to swim and where Richard Gere brought Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman.”
It’s not perfect; an ungraceful ’70s addition lurks behind the original 1928 building. But it has location, a Wolfgang Puck steakhouse called Cut and Four Seasons service. Rooms for two start about $450. If you’re a true retail warrior, you’re not done shopping yet. Within a few blocks, you’ll find Barneys New York (9570 Wilshire Blvd.), Neiman Marcus (9700 Wilshire Blvd.), Niketown (9560 Wilshire Blvd.) and Saks Fifth Avenue (9600 Wilshire Blvd.).
Cuisine on Canon
You can try La Cienega Boulevard, the official Restaurant Row of Beverly Hills, some other night. For now, scope out the high style and smaller scale of the eateries on Canon Drive between Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards. At 225 N. Canon (on the ground floor of the Montage Beverly Hills Hotel), glass windows reveal the steamy kitchen of Scarpetta, one of the region’s most highly rated Italian restaurants. There’s Wolfgang Puck’s flagship, Spago Beverly Hills, at 176 N. Canon Drive. There’s Nic’s (453 N. Canon Drive), with its lively bar and walk-in, drink-in vodka freezer. There’s Mastro’s Steakhouse (246 N. Canon Drive), with its $90, 48-ounce double-cut porterhouse steaks. And there’s Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro, at 235 N. Canon Drive. Main dishes in the upstairs Bouchon dining room are $18-$45.
On a budget? Get the steak salad (about $21) at the little Bouchon Bar downstairs. If you’ve recently won a lottery or been signed by CAA, take a few steps across Beverly Canon Gardens to the Montage and see whether there’s a vacancy. Montage, opened in late 2008, sports a Spanish Colonial-Revival look, with dashes of Morocco and Italy, and plenty of space in its 201 luxury-laden rooms. (Rates usually start at $495 a night.)
A stroll in the park and a cubicle seat
Grab an all-day parking spot at the Beverly Hills Civic Center (455 N. Rexford Drive; first two hours free) and walk or jog on the 1.9-mile greenbelt (aka Beverly Gardens Park) along Santa Monica Boulevard. At Beverly Drive, if not before, you’ll realize you have company: That’s where the big, gold BEVERLY HILLS sign is, and tourists arrive day and night to pose by the letters. If it’s Sunday morning, head next to the weekly farmers market at 9300 Civic Center Drive.
If it’s between noon and 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, step into the Paley Center for Media (465 N. Beverly Drive), where you can watch or listen to any of 150,000 old TV and radio shows. Yes, it has the 1962 black-and-white first episode of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” in which the Clampetts strike oil and come to town. It also has the 1955 “I Love Lucy” episode in which Lucy and Ethel go rogue on a tour of the stars’ homes. Suggested donation: $10 per adult.
Nate, Al, Ali and Vanessa
Nate ‘n Al, the deli at 414 N. Beverly Drive, dates to the 1940s. You can count on ample supplies of matzo ball soup and perhaps some schmoozing by talk-show icon Larry King, who’s been a breakfast regular for years. When you’re full, stroll down the block and boldly step into the Taschen store (354 N. Beverly Drive). But leave the young ones at home.
This elegantly arranged shop, which feels more like a gallery, is full of pricey, arty, lavish and often naughty books. You’ll find a $70 copy of “Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs,” a $15,000 “champ’s edition” of the Muhammad Ali tribute volume “GOAT” and a $700 appreciation of porn star Vanessa del Rio, promiscuously illustrated.
Hotel haven
Beverly Hills and environs have plenty of famous hotels, including the luxury-laden Peninsula Beverly Hills and L’Ermitage, the celebrity-heavy Four Seasons Hotel (just outside Beverly Hills) and the massive Beverly Hilton. But the elder statesman is the 210-room Beverly Hills Hotel (9641 Sunset Blvd.), which opened in 1912. Just a glimpse of the lobby’s golden glow and artful palm fronds hints that fame and fortune are concentrated here, and the rack rates confirm it: $475 a night and up.
So maybe you’ll settle for breakfast in its Polo Lounge, where orange juice is $8. But like Grace Kelly, Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe before you, maybe you’ll prefer a place to hide. In that case, the Beverly Hills Hotel’s slightly pricier sibling, the Hotel Bel Air (701 Stone Canyon Road) will reopen Oct. 14 after a two-year-closure to add 12 rooms and a spa.
In case you’ve lost track of who owns both of these lodgings, it’s the Brunei Investment Agency — in other words, the sultan of Brunei.
SoBev and beyond
First, fuel up in SoBev (Beverly Drive south of Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills) with breakfast or lunch at the affordable, busy Urth Caffe (267 S. Beverly Drive). Now, slowly drive past Heath Avenue and Olympic Boulevard, where you’ll spy the backside of Beverly Hills High School (241 Moreno Drive) and the campus oil well, wrapped in what looks like an enormous floral-patterned oven mitt. Three blocks east of the oil well, on Olympic, pause at Roxbury Memorial Park, where there’s tennis, soccer, baseball and play structures.
Now ready yourself for a sobering look at multiculturalism, history and the Holocaust, tailored for children and adults. That’s the mission of the Museum of Tolerance (9786 W. Pico Blvd.; adult admission $15.50) Surely you’re wrung out, so consider the 49-room Mosaic Hotel (125 S. Spalding Drive), which sometimes has discount rates as low as $225 nightly.
The Bruins’ Den
Maybe it will help you feel young to see those UCLA freshmen kicking a ball around on the lawn between Royce Hall and Powell Library. Or maybe, recalling that these kids were born in 1993, you’ll feel otherwise. Either way, with its 420 acres and nearly 40,000 students, the UCLA campus in Westwood will stretch your legs and brain. Wander on your own or join one of the free student-led tours for prospective students and their parents most weekdays and Saturdays ().
At Royce Hall, the 2011-2012 season’s 36 gigs include violinist Itzhak Perlman, author Joan Didion and banjo master Earl Scruggs. On the sidewalks of neighboring Westwood Village, you will find the Geffen Playhouse (10886 Le Conte Ave.), which often features big names on its stage, and the Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Blvd.), which spotlights cutting-edge contemporary art. —The stars at rest and a Persian dessert Just south of Wilshire Boulevard, hidden behind a clutch of tall buildings, you’ll find the Pierce Bros.
Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary, a grassy territory covering barely 2 acres. Marilyn Monroe rests in a crypt (her name surrounded by lipstick kisses) near the northern corner of the property. The graves of Jack Lemmon, Karl Malden and Walter Matthau are nearby, along with others who couldn’t resist one more punch line. Rodney Dangerfield’s headstone: “There goes the neighborhood.”
You’ll also notice a lot of Persian names and writing in the neighborhood; thousands of Persians, many of them Jewish, arrived when Islamic fundamentalists took over Iran in the late 1970s. About five blocks south of the cemetery, step into modest Saffron & Rose Ice Cream (1387 Westwood Blvd.), a family business that specializes in Persian flavors. The top seller is an explosion of sweetness known as saffron-pistachio.
Brentwood’s Barn and Ark
The Brentwood Country Mart (225 26th St., Santa Monica) looks like a bad idea. In one of California’s elite neighborhoods, a low-rise fake barn? Really? Yet locals love it. The Country Mart, which opened in 1948 as a smaller version of the Farmers Market in the Fairfax area, has more than 25 boutiques and stalls, a handful of casual eateries, one stylish bookshop and two little courtyards.
Next, hop on Interstate 405 and head north to the Skirball Cultural Center (2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.), whose exhibits and performances aim to connect Jewish culture with American history. If you’re younger than 10, the highlight is Noah’s Ark, an 8,000-square-foot interactive Old Testament playground. You’ll want time-certain reservations ($5 a kid ages 2-12, $10 per adult) for visits on weekends, Thursdays or holidays. Crowds are lighter on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. —Culture castle When Southern California devolves into feudalism, the sensible place for the new king will be atop Brentwood in the gleaming, sprawling Getty Center.
This museum, backed by billions from late oil man J. Paul Getty, opened in 1997, its campus covering 110 acres. Park underground (parking is $15, museum admission is free). Take the monorail up the hill and head for the West Pavilion, which houses photography below and Impressionists above, including Van Gogh’s vibrant “Irises,” the museum’s biggest star. Before long you’ll want to snack at one of the center’s two cafes, or maybe a fancy lunch farther upstairs at the Restaurant, which has a mountain view. Then, like one of David Hockney’s figures disappearing into a deep blue pool, you dive back into the art.
IF YOU GO
STAY: Montage Beverly Hills Hotel, 225 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills 90210; (310) 860-7800, . Opened in November, 2008 with 201 rooms, including 55 suites. Doubles $525-$775.
Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows, 9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills 92010; (310) 276 2251, . 210 rooms, including 38 suites and 23 bungalows. Double rooms $475-$840.
Mosaic Hotel, 125 S. Spalding Drive, Beverly Hills 90212; (800) 463-4466 or (310) 278-0303, . 49 rooms. Doubles $250-$350.
Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, 9500 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills 90212; (310) 275-5200, . The “Pretty Woman” hotel. Has 395 rooms, including 141 suites. Doubles $450-$625.
DINE: Bouchon Bistro, 235 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills 90210; (310) 271-9910, . Main dishes $18-$45.
Saffron & Rose Ice Cream, 1387 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles 90025; (310) 477-5533; . One scoop: $3.25.
Apple Pan, 10801 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles 90064; (310) 475-3585, . Opened 1947. Open 11 a.m. to midnight Tuesdays-Thursdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Burgers, sandwiches and desserts at prices up to $7.75.
Nic’s, 435 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills 90210; (310) 550-5707, . Lively bar, colorful dining room. Main dishes $24-$43.
Nate ‘n Al, 414 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills 90210; (310) 274-0101, . An old-school deli that dates to 1945. Main dishes up to $21.95.
Urth Caffe, 267 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills 90212; (310) 205-9311, . An L.A.-area chain with four locations. Organic coffees, sandwiches, salads and baked goods.
WHAT TO SEE: Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary, 1218 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles 90024; (310) 474-1579, . Marilyn Monroe and many others. Visiting hours 8 a.m.-dusk. Graves and mausoleums.
Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles 90049; (310) 440-7300, . Open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. most days, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays, closed Mondays. Admission free. Parking is $15 a car, or free after 5 p.m. No reservations required or accepted.
Museum of Jurassic Technology, 9341 Venice Blvd., Culver City 90232; (310) 836-6131, . Open 2-8 p.m. Thursdays, noon-6 p.m. Fridays-Sundays. Suggested donations $5 for adults, $3 for children 12 to 21, free for those younger than 12.
UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles 90095; (310) 825-4321, . Free, two-hour walking tours for prospective students and their families, led by students, are offered at 10:15 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. most weekdays, and at 10:15 a.m. most Saturdays. Reservations required. Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90024; (310) 433-7000, . Closed Mondays. Opens at 11 a.m. Tuesdays-Sundays; closes 5 p.m. Sundays, 7 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 9 p.m. Thursdays. Admission $10 for adults, free for children accompanied by an adult.
Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles 90024; (310) 208-5454, . Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles 90049; (310) 440-4500, . Admission $10 for adults, $5 for children. Closed Mondays. Open noon-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekends. Time-certain reservations recommended for Noah’s Ark.
Center for Land Use Interpretation, 9331 Venice Blvd., Culver City 90232; (310) 839-5722, . Open noon-5 p.m. Fridays-Sundays.
Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City 90232; (213) 628-2772, . Live theater in a 317-seat venue since 2004. Annenberg Space for Photography. 2000 Avenue of the Stars, No. 10, Los Angeles 90067; (213) 403-3000, . Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays. Admission is free. Validated self-parking is usually $3.50 for three hours.
Paley Center for Media, 465 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills 90210; (310) 786-1000, . Exhibits, events, and a library of 150,000 TV and radio programs and ads, which you can watch on site. Open noon-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays. Suggested contribution $10 for adults, $5 for children younger than 14.
Museum of Tolerance, 9786 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles 90035; (310) 553-8403, . Closed Saturdays. Adults $15.50, ages 5-18 $11.50.
Beverly Canon Gardens, 241 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills 90210; (310) 285-2408, . A tiny park in the heart of a shopping district, with chairs, tables, fountain and grass.
Beverly Gardens Park, Beverly Hills 90210; This 1.9-mile linear park, which has no street address, runs along Santa Monica Boulevard between Whittier and Doheny drives, with greenery and a pedestrian path. It also has the city’s 40-foot-long BEVERLY HILLS sign, near North Beverly Drive. Roxbury Park, 471 S. Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills 90212; (310) 285-6840, . This 11-acre park includes sports fields, picnic areas, four tennis courts and children playgrounds.
Sony Studios, 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City 90232; (310) 244-8687, . This is where “Wizard of Oz” was shot in 1938 and where “Jeopardy!” has been shot since 1984. Walking tours last about two hours, open to ages 12 and above, $33 per person. Tours begin at 9:30 and 10:30 a.m., 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. daily.
Brentwood Country Mart, 225 26th St., Santa Monica 90402; (310) 395-9666, . Two dozen trendy shops and half a dozen spots for food. Opened in 1948.
Taschen Books, 354 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills 90210; (310) 274-4300, . Fancy and sexy books, many in limited editions at eye-popping prices.
