Attraction Tour

It's knitted together by an intricate network of congested freeways between the ocean and the snowcapped mountains. The colorful melange of shopping malls, palm trees and swimming pools is both mildly

surreal and startlingly familiar, thanks to the celluloid self-image that it has spread all over the world. LA is a young city; in the mid-nineteenth century, it was a community of white American immigrants, poor Chinese laborers and wealthy Mexican ranchers, with a population of less than fifty thousand. Only on completion of the transcontinental railroad in the 1880s did it really begin to grow, as a national mecca for good health, clean living, plentiful sunshine and endless acres of citrus crops. The biggest group of transplants were refugees from the Midwest, who created a new political ruling class to replace the old Mexican elite. The old ranchos were soon subdivided, the population grew rapidly, and the enduring symbol of the city became the family-sized suburban house (with swimming pool and two-car garage). The biggest boom came after World War II with the mushrooming of the aeronautics industry - which, until post-Cold War military cutbacks, accounted for one in four jobs.

 

The first-time visitor may well find Los Angeles thrilling and threatening in equal proportions; it's a place that picks you up and sweeps you along whether you want it to or not. While it has its fine-art museums, California cuisine and a few old-fashioned urban plazas, what people really come here for is to experience the city that has come to epitomize the American Dream - the fantasy worlds of Disneyland and Hollywood, as well as the gilded opulence of Beverly Hills and Malibu.

Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles The area's "Platium Triangle" of wealthy neighborhoods

City of Beverly Hills, California

Picture of Beverly Hills taken at Wilshire Boulevard

Beverly Hills is a city in the western part of Los Angeles California United States. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles The area's "Platium Triangle" of wealthy neighborhoods is formed by Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Bel Air and Holmby Hills. The population was 34,980 as of the 2006 census. Beverly Hills is home to countless Hollywood celebrities and the wealthy.

It’s a cliché, but it’s also true. The streets are filled with Bentleys and Ferraris. There are drop-dead gorgeous women walking French poodles with diamond collars worth more than most people. It’s fake but very real.

Rodeo Drive is only a few blocks long and perhaps not as ritzy and unique as it once was, but  it is still the embodiment of the leisure life. There is, of course, more shopping everywhere, including a Barney’s across from Rodeo. There are less discreet 5-star hotels right on Wilshire Boulevard (like the Regent Beverly Wilshire, as seen in the film Pretty Woman) and more discreet 5-star Hotels closer to the mountain range – too many to name. The Merv Griffin Beverly Hills Hilton is nearby, where the Golden Globes are held every year.

Above Santa Monica Blvd are where the mansions start. Buy a star map to catch some older star homes.

In the mid-Wilshire area are the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the well known George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries and the La Brea Tar Pits.

Got your sights set on the stars? Beverly Hills and nearby West Hollywood are studded with celebrity-owned and frequented cafés, clubs, and restaurants. The stars might just come out at night, so keep a camera handy.

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Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles,California,United States, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles.

Due to its fame and Cultural Idenity as the historical center of movies studios and movie stars the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonym of American Cinema. The nickname Tinsel town refers to the glittering, superficial nature of Hollywood and the movie industry. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing,effects, props, post-production and lighting companies, remain in Hollywood, as does the back lot of Paramount Pictures.

Many historic Hollywood theathers are used as venues and concert stages to premiere major theatrical releases and host the Academy Awards. It is a popular destination for nightlife and tourism and home to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 

Malibu is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Malibu is primarily a residential and recreation area. With very few hotels, it is not especially known for its hospitality industry, though it hosts millions of visitors annually to its beaches and piers. One public pier, an historic Malibu pier with unique dual (domed) buildings, and Paradise Pier, on the private restaurant /beach at Paradise Cove, where the public can park at and dine, offer vacationers unique experiences not soon forgotten.

Or if you are just visiting and are living within your meager means, you can stay in the affordable Malibu Creek State Park Campground. It is open all year round and is located just 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The park has over 4,000 acres, featuring hiking, fishing,  bird watching and horseback riding opportunities. There are 15 miles of streamside trail through oak and sycamore woodlands an chaparral-covered slopes. Twenty-five-mile Malibu Creek in the park is the principal water-course of the Santa Monica Mountains - from Boney Mountain t Malibu  Lagoon. The park was the center of Chumash Native American life for centuries and was once  used to film numerous movies and TV shows, such as Planet of the Apes and M*A*S*H.

Drawing locals and world travelers alike

Downtown Santa Monica is a popular Southern California coastal destination, minutes from beaches and the Pacific Ocean. The world-famous Third Street Promenade is known for its weekly farmers’ markets, fabulous dining, terrific shopping and engaging street performers.

Downtown is the heart of this beach community, which is situated on the bluffs overlooking Santa Monica Bay.

Anchored by the pedestrian-friendly Third Street Promenade, Downtown is
30 city blocks of retail stores, entertainment and dining. Within blocks of the Promenade are the beach, Palisades Park and Santa Monica Pier.

Parking is available at seven public parking garages, as well as at metered street spaces. Visitors also can take the Tide Shuttle to nearby shops and hotels in the Main Street district.

Downtown Santa Monica is located only 12 miles north of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and is easily accessible by car or bus. Popular areas such as Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Downtown Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, Malibu and Venice all are within a 40-minute drive.

Enjoy your visit to Downtown Santa Monica!

From your favorite boutiques and restaurants to choreographed fountains,

For shopping, dining and simply loving life, The Grove is your ultimate entertainment destination. From your favorite boutiques and restaurants to choreographed fountains, free live concerts in The Park and the adjacent historic Farmers Market, you'll enjoy an experience like no other in Los Angeles. Come live the magic of The Grove

For travelers to Los Angeles, The Grove is a definite must-see. To make your visit more convenient, we’re happy to provide a list of quality hotels in the surrounding area. area

 

Laguna Beach holds the distinction of having one of the greatest number of localized beaches of any city on the California coas

The best tie pools, diving opportunities, and best sunsetson this region of California coast are right in Laguna Beach.  Home to mansions and quaint cottages that line bluffs above the sandy coves, for over 100 years, tourists have flocked to a little piece of paradise to scuba dive, to paint the colors of nature which seem more vibrant there and to enjoy natural beauty not seen elsewhere. Laguna Beach enjoys healthy tourism with over 3 million visitors each year. Note: These numbers do not factor in local day visitors within a close radius to Laguna Beach. 

The list includes the northern beaches of Irvine Cove, Crescent Bay, Shaw's Cove, Boat Canyon, Diver's Cove, Picnic Beach and Rockpile. Central Beaches include Main Beach, Sleepy Hollow, St. Ann's Street, Thalia Street, Oak Street, Brook's Street and Mountain Road Beach. Southern Laguna Beach (South Laguna Beach) beaches include  Bluebird Canyon, Pearl Street, Wood's Cove, Moss Point, Rockledge, Victoria Beach and Treasure Island. Guarded by a premier force of lifeguards, Laguna Beaches are operated under the City of Laguna Beach Lifeguard Services.

Best Movie-goin expirience in L.A. With 19 ginormous movie screens, brand new digital surround sound, and more than 3,500 ultra-plush rocker seats

Disneyland is an American theme park in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of The Walt Disney Company

It was dedicated with a press preview on July 7, 1955 and opened to the general public July 18, 1955. Disneyland holds the distinction of being the only theme park to be designed, built, opened, and operated by Walt Disney himself. Currently the park has been visited by more than 515 million guests since it opened, including presidents, royalty and other heads of state. In 1998, the theme park was re-branded "Disneyland Park" to distinguish it from the larger is Disney Resort complex. In 2007, more than 14,800,000 people visited the park making it the second most visited park in the world, behind the Magic Mountain at Walt Disney World.

The dedication to all Disney magic kingdom-style parks begins with the phrase "To all who come to this happy place, welcome ..." with the exception of Magic Kingdom Park in Florida. The dedication there begins "Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney ..."

"To all who come to this happy place - welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world

 

 

Knott's Berry Farm is a brand name of two separate entities in California

Knott's Berry Farm is a brand name of two separate entities in California: a Theme Park in Buena Park California, and a manufacturer of food specialty products (primarily jams and preserves) based in Placienta California. Together, the two entities have almost a 90-year legacy in the United States. In addition, Knott's has developed three Soak Cities Theme parks in Southern California.

SeaWorld is a chain of Marine mammals park in the United states. The parks feature Captive Orca,

Sea Lion and Dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals. The parks' icon is Shamu, the Orca. There are operations in Orlando,Florida;San Diego,California;San Antonio, Texas; and previously Aurora,Ohio. On March 5, 2007, SeaWorld Orlando announced addition of the Aquatic water park to its adventure park family, which already includes SeaWorld and. Discovery Cove On February 28, 2008, Busch Entertainment announced plans to open a fourth SeaWorld park in Dubai,UAE^] but these plans have been shelved for now due to the international credit freeze.

SeaWorld parks also feature a variety of thrill rides, including Roller Coaster like Kraken at Seaworld Orlando and Steal Eel and The Great White at Sea World San Antonio. Journey to Atlantis, a combination Roller coaster and splashdown ride, can be found at all three US parks. The parks are owned by Busch Entertainment Corp, the family entertainment division of Anheauser-Busch, which is best known for brewing beer but also owns nine theme parks. Some of the Budweiser Clydesdales are also kept at each park as an additional non-marine-oriented attraction.

One of the biggest attractions is the Shark Encounter, in which guests are carried through a submerged acrylic tube into the sharks' tank. Another famous ride is Wild Artic simulating a helicopter ride to the Artic. After the ride, the guests arrive at a simulated base station, where they can observe Polar Bears. Pacific walruses and beluga whales During the Christmas holiday season, Wild Arctic is transformed into the Polar Express Experience which offers the park's guests the opportunity to ride the Polar Express to the North Pole and meet Santa Claus in addition to the Polar Bears, Pacific walruses, and beluga whales that are at the Wild Arctic exhibit year round. Another attraction is the Penguin Encounter, showcasing a variety of penguins. In addition, an attraction features endangered Florida manatees. The park has an extensive playground for children, named Shamu’s Happy Harbor. It used to have a different playground named Cap'n Kids World.

 

Six Flags Magic Mountain is an amusement park located in Valencia, California north of Los Angeles

 It opened on Memorial Day weekend on May 29, 1971 as Magic Mountain, by the Nehall Land and Farmin company In 1979, Six Flags purchased the park and added the name Six Flags to the park's title.

In 1969, the Newhall Land and Farm Company formulated the idea to create a more thrilling alternative to the disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm amusement parks. The company selected Valencia as its location, and construction began that year. The park was the result of a joint venture between Sea World and NLFC and cost approximately 20 million dollars to build. When the park opened on May 29, 1971, there were 500 employees and 33 attractions, many of which were designed and built by Arrow Development Co. which designed and built many of the original attractions at Disneyland. The admission price in 1971 was $5 for adults, and $3.50 for children between the ages of 3 and 12.

In 2008, the park started work on creating the Magic of the Mountain museum at the top of the Sky Tower with memorabilia throughout the park's history, including old television commercials, park maps, models, and parts of rides.In October, the park announced The Terminator Salvation; The ride, a wooden roller coaster that opened on May 23, 2009

Aerial view of Magic Mountain, August 2007

At its 1971 opening, the rides included Goldrusher a steel coaster, the Log Jammer log flume, the Sky Tower Observation Tower, Grand Prix (similar to Disneyland's Autopia ride), El Bumpo, Funicular, The Metro (a monorail ride that encircled the park), "Eagles Flight" Skyride, a Carousel, and other smaller rides. The Showcase Theater (now known as the Golden Bear Theater), was part of the original park and featured Barbra Streisand as the first of many headline performers who would appear at Magic Mountain over the years.

Sitting in lush farming land, replete with manicured golf courses, condominiums and millionaires,

Palm Springs, CA  Information by Rough Guides

PALM SPRINGS does not conform to any typical image of the desert, embodying a strange mix of Spanish Colonial and mid-century modern styling. The massive bulk of Mount San Jacinto looms over its low-slung buildings, casting a welcome shadow over the town in the late afternoon. Ever since Hollywood stars first came here in the 1930s, laying claim to ranch-style estates and holing up in elite hotels, the clean dry air and sunshine, just 120 miles east of LA, have made Palm Springs irresistible. For years, high-school kids arrived in their thousands for the drunken revelry of Spring Break, until civic zeal ran them out of town, while others come specifically to sober up: the Betty Ford Center in nearby Rancho Mirage draws a star-studded patient list to its booze- and drug-free environment, attempting to undo a lifetime's worth of behavioral disorders in an $11,000 28-day stay. The town is also regarded as the country's largest gay resort.

Palm Springs wasn't always like this. Once it was the domain of the Cahuillan Indians; they were allocated this land in the 1890s, but exact zoning wasn't settled until the 1940s, by which time the development of hotels and leisure complexes was well under way. Under an odd checkerboard system, every other square mile of Palm Springs forms part of the Agua Caliente (Spanish for "hot water") Indian Reservation, and high rents have made this the second richest tribe in America, worth more than $2 billion – wealth that's been increasing with the new Casino Morongo, right in the heart of town.

 

California's second largest city gets millions of visitors and with good reason.

San Diego is the top Southern California vacation and one of the most popular destinations in the U.S. Ranked as one of the top 6 safest cities in the US, San Diego offers a beautiful convention center located along the water, world-class San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, Sea World marine and entertainment park, art and space museums in an historic Balboa Park, a mission, Point Loma Lighthouse, historic Old Town, the San Diego Padres baseball team, the red trolley for day trips to Tijuana, Mexico and scenic Coronado Island. And that's just for starters!  We've researched all of California and have determined that hands down, San Diego is the number one beach resort in all of California. No other city compares with the number of hotel rooms, unique beach locations and amenities at a variety of beach resorts that include boat cruises, gondola rides, sailing, swimming, skating and amusement rides outside your hotel door.

San Diego, California enjoys a southern warmth all year long and holds onto some of the Hispanic cultural influences seen in architecture, infused food dishes and events with mariachis, margaritas and mucho fun.For tours of the San Diego bay area there are Boat Touts& Cruises  ranging from a dinner cruise, to tours of military ships.San Diego includes thousands of restaurants ranging from fast food and chain restaurants to upscale night clubs with live music and live entertainment.No matter what you chose, the things you'll find in San Diego are an abundance of amusements and attractions, plenty of ocean and bay views offered at dozens of hotels, lots of waterfront dining and some wonderful foods.

The six-lane coastal freeway that races past oil wells and offshore drilling platforms slows to a leisurely pace a hundred miles north of Los Angeles

SANTA BARBARA. Beautifully sited on gently sloping hills above the Pacific, the town's ubiquitous red-tiled roofs and white stucco walls of its low-rise buildings form a backdrop to some fine Spanish Revival architecture, while the golden beaches are wide and clean, lined by palm trees along a curving bay. Although a large portion of downtown has been replaced by a vast, upscale shopping mall, Santa Barbara has managed to retain its quaintly upscale yet relaxed character.

The mission-era feel of Santa Barbara is no accident. Following a devastating earthquake in 1925, the entire town was rebuilt in the image of an apocryphal Spanish Colonial past, with numerous arcades linking shops, cafés and restaurants, and a pedestrian-friendly layout that serves visitors well – a far cry from LA's all-consuming auto-worship. State Street, the main drag, is home to an appealing assortment of diners, bookshops, coffee bars and nightclubs. The few remaining genuine mission structures are preserved as El Presidio de Santa Barbara (daily 10.30am–4.30pm; suggested donation). At its center, the 200-year-old barracks, El Cuartel, stands two blocks off State Street on Perdido Street; the second-oldest building in California, it now houses historical exhibits and a scale model of the small Spanish colony. The more recent past is recounted in the nearby Santa Barbara Historical Museum, 136 E de la Guerra St (Tues–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun noon–5pm; suggested donation), full of Spanish and Victorian memorabilia.

State Street leads half a mile down from the town center to wooden Stearns Wharf. Built in 1872, it was nearly destroyed in November 1998, when a third of the pier was engulfed in flames; restoration efforts have now made it home to an array of shopping stalls and food vendors, with magnificent beaches stretching in either direction.

In the hills above the town is the beautiful Mission Santa Barbara (daily 9am–5pm; $4), with a colorful twin-towered facade, the so-called "Queen of the Missions," though it was one of the later ones constructed in California. A small museum displays artifacts from the mission archives. Other missions in the area are Santa Inés, just outside the kitsch Danish town of Solvang heading north on US-101, and La Purísima, the most completely restructured of all the missions, about twenty miles northwest of Solvang on Hwy-1.

 

Shimmering from the desert haze of Nevada like a latter-day

Las Vegas never dares to rest on its laurels, so the basic concept of the Strip casino has been endlessly refined since the Western-themed resorts and ranches of the 1940s. In the 1950s and 1960s, when most visitors arrived by car, the casinos presented themselves as lush tropical oases at the end of the long desert drive. Once air travel took over, Las Vegas opted for Disneyesque fantasy, a process that started in the late 1960s with Caesars Palace and culminated with Excalibur and Luxor in the early 1990s.

 These days, after six decades of capitalism run riot, the Strip is locked into a hyperactive craving for thrills and glamour. First-time visitors tend to expect Las Vegas to be a repository of kitsch, but the casino owners are far too canny to be sentimental about the old days. Yes, there are a few Elvis impersonators around, but what characterizes the city far more is its endless quest for novelty. Long before they lose their sparkle, yesterday's showpieces are blasted into rubble, to make way for ever more extravagant replacements. The Disney model has now been discarded in favor of more adult themes, and Las Vegas demands nothing less than entire cities. Replicas of New York, Paris, Monte Carlo and Venice now jostle for space on the Strip.

The customer is king in Las Vegas. What the visitor wants, the city provides. If you come in search of the cheapest destination in America, you'll enjoy paying rock-bottom rates for accommodation and hunting out the best buffet bargains. If it's style and opulence you're after, by contrast, you can dine in the finest restaurants, shop in the most chic stores, and watch world-class entertainment; it'll cost you, but not as much as it would anywhere else. The same guidelines apply to gambling. The Strip giants cater to those who want sophisticated high-roller heavens, where tuxedoed James Bond lookalikes toss insouciant bankrolls onto the roulette tables. Others prefer their casinos to be sinful and seedy, inhabited by hard-bitten heavy-smoking low-lifes; there is no shortage of that type of joint either, especially downtown.