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• Best Place to Send It Soaring

  Silver Lake Meadow

  The south side of the Silver Lake Reservoir has long been popular for its playground, basketball court and (stinky) dog park. But earlier this year we finally saw the debut of the Silver Lake Meadow, a mellow, grassy haven located on the east side of the water. The no-dogs-allowed, bare-feet-welcome space is considered a "quiet place," and so far it… More >>

• Best After-Work Hike

  Cobb Estate

  Four miles north of the 210 freeway in Altadena, the Cobb Estate sits at the top of Lake Avenue at the corner of Loma Alta Drive. If you want a quick commune with nature after work, take the half-mile loop around the grounds, filled with eucalyptus, pepper and acacia trees, wild buckwheat and mustard. Your leashed dog is welcome. Enter… More >>

• Best Tree Swinging

  Navitat Canopy Adventures' Zipline Tour

  Until now, Wrightwood has been a place Angelenos visited only during the winter. Tucked away in the San Gabriel Mountains, a mere 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, the town's relative proximity to L.A. has made it a frequent destination for skiers, snowboarders, sledders and other people who like snow — or just wanted to be reminded of how it… More >>

• Best Mile-and-a-Half Soft Track Run

  Evergreen Jogging Path

  Rededicated in 2008 after a partial closing for Gold Line construction, the Evergreen Jogging Path encircles one of the oldest cemeteries in L.A., home to more than 300,000 departed souls since it was established in 1877. With less drastic upward inclines if the course is taken counterclockwise, the rubber-coated running track has turned a formerly severe section of sidewalks into… More >>

• Best $2 Ever Spent on a Gated Park

  Lacy Park

  The gated and enclosed Lacy Park in swank San Marino is designed for anyone wanting to escape the frustrations of urban life. Run the outer path (about one mile in distance) encircling the park. Or take your racket and partake of some tennis on one of the park's six courts. Put a couple teams together and utilize the baseball field.… More >>

• Best Cemetery for Departed Carnies

  Evergreen Memorial Park and Crematory

  Evergreen Memorial Park and Crematory is the final resting place for more than 300,000 Angelenos, from L.A. mayors and City Council members to Chinese immigrants, Japanese Issei pioneers and, yes, even carnival workers. Also buried at this Boyle Heights landmark are the likes of Matthew Beard, aka Stymie from Our Gang; Charles Price Jones, founder of the Church of Christ;… More >>

• Biggest Chinese Buddhist Temple in the West

  Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple

  If you've always wanted to visit a Chinese Buddhist temple, but you don't feel like going all the way to China, the Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple is better than next-best — it's the real deal, and much closer to home. The massive complex is a traditional Chinese Mahayana Buddhist monastery on 15 acres in the foothills of Hacienda… More >>

• Best Jewish Reform Synagogue Built by Hollywood

  Wilshire Boulevard Temple

  Established in 1862, Congregation B'nai B'rith is the oldest reform synagogue in the city. Its home is the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a striking, stately structure on the edge of what's now a congested stretch in Koreatown. Built in 1929, the temple was designed by A.M. Edelman, son of the congregation's first rabbi, Abraham Edelman. During the Golden Age of Hollywood,… More >>

• Best Wildflower Trail Above the Freeway

  Elysian Park

  Mention wildflower viewing and people immediately think Joshua Tree or the Lancaster desert. But wildflowers proliferate in our own backyard — in Elysian Park. Spring brings out carpets of wildflowers and flocks of songbirds, not to mention joggers, hikers, dog walkers and the occasional disgruntled Dodger fan. Elysian Park's Wildflower Trail is an easy 2.8-mile hike that loops around the… More >>

• Best Picnic Oasis Inside Griffith Park

  Amir's Garden

  Ever want to get away from the city and enjoy a picnic without having to face crowds or a punishing hike? You can toss your picnic in a backpack and walk up the wide, easy fire road in no time to Amir's Garden in Griffith Park. Halfway up you'll pass Water Tank #73 — Amir's Garden is past the next curve.… More >>

• Best Chance to See the Ghost of a 49'er

  The Dawn Mine Hike

  While the Gold Rush took place mainly in Northern California, Southern California had its share of claims, including the Dawn Mine north of Altadena. The Dawn Mine Hike along Sunset Ridge Trail is a beautiful trek through some of L.A.'s enduring wilderness. You'll cross a creek more than two-dozen times and boulder-hop for three miles while enjoying the sounds of… More >>

• Best Potentially Haunted Hiking Trail

  Corralitas Red Car Property

  You hike in Malibu for the ocean views, and you trek through Griffith Park to get your hippie fix, but where to go when you want to see a ghost train? Corralitas Red Car Property sits on land formerly part of the Pacific Electric Streetcar line, which cut through Silver Lake on its way to Glendale, until it was decommissioned… More >>

• Best Yose-mine Hike

  Eaton Canyon

  No need to drive six hours to see a waterfall. Eaton Canyon hikes start with a city view and end with a 50-foot cascade into a reflecting pond. The easy, almost flat walk suitable for children begins with a surreal cityscape of downtown Los Angeles; soon you're crisscrossing a shallow creek on stepping stones and meandering on a nearly 1.5-mile… More >>

• Best Actual Rivers in L.A.

  Amigos de los Rios

  To many Angelenos the word "river" conjures up not pastoral images but trickles of water encased in concrete abutting crowded neighborhoods full of warehouses and chain-link fences. To Amigos de los Rios founder Claire Robinson, the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers are physical manifestations of the dynamic intersection of the past and the present. Through forward-thinking, environmentally sustainable projects… More >>

• Best Local Movement: Dodger Fans Buy the Team

  Own The Dodgers

  There's an Own The Dodgers movement to buy into Blue by selling shares to raise $1 billion to buy out the McCourts. It's a takeoff on the Green Bay Packer business model, where the town owns the team. What do you get for your money? The satisfaction that we'll never have to put up with a deadbeat owner again. Just… More >>

• Best Condescending Tone in the Whole Issue

  Monrovia Canyon Park

  If your weekly workout regimen consists of alcohol-laden Art Walk gallery-hopping, it's time to get out a little, like into nature. Close enough to the city to feel secure knowing urban pleasures aren't too far away but rugged enough to get a good sense of what the San Gabriel Mountains have to offer, Monrovia Canyon Park's Falls Trail is a… More >>

• Best Stairways to Healthiness

  Los Angeles' Historic Staircases

  Los Angeles is famous for its gym culture. But if you're intimidated by all the hard bods at Gold's — or if you just want to take the jogging path less traveled — the city's network of historic staircases is an ideal way to stay fit. City planners originally installed the public staircases in the 1920s as direct routes for… More >>

• Best Tribute to a Dead Kennedy

  Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park

  The likelihood of Robert F. Kennedy becoming a president of the United States disappeared in a pool of blood following a victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel just after midnight on June 5, 1968. Today, the Ambassador is gone, having been replaced by the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, a sprawling colossus comprising six schools that will accommodate approximately 4,000… More >>

• Best Place to Wish Upon a Star

  Walt Disney's Barn

  A free Disney attraction sounds like a fairy tale, but on the third Sunday of every month, a little slice of Brigadoon appears in Griffith Park when Walt Disney's private workshop opens up from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Built in 1950 in what was then Walt's backyard, the barn is a re-creation of one from his childhood Missouri farm,… More >>

• Best Saddest Place on Earth

  Forest Lawn

  As its creepy but inspiring "Builder's Creed" tells the stone kids with their puppy standing before it outside the Great Mausoleum, Forest Lawn's original location is as "unlike other cemeteries as sunshine is unlike darkness." Hubert Eaton's 1917 vision of what depressing burial sites could become rivals Disneyland for chutzpah and American ingenuity, and has resulted in a lovely but… More >>

• Best Place to Spot Blue-Blood Zombies

  San Gabriel Cemetery

  We're not saying zombies are real. But if they were, and if they were listed in the Social Registry in life, you might find them at San Gabriel Cemetery after death (and re-animation), clasping their tattered copies of the Blue Book as they search for fresh, er, sweetbreads. Founded in 1872 by some of the area's foremost pioneers, the cemetery… More >>

• Best Place We're Glad the McCourts Don't Know About

  Solano Canyon Community Garden

  Next time you're near Dodger Stadium, pay attention to the 110 north on-ramp in Elysian Park. A spot of green in the smog marks the Solano Canyon Community Garden, a five-acre hillside garden that runs along the highway and expands to cover the second tunnel over the freeway's northbound lanes. Pull over, and you'll find an oasis of carefully tended… More >>

• Best College Sculpture Garden

  Pierce College

  UCLA's sculpture garden is nice if you like pretty, but if you actually want to learn something from your institution of higher learning's statuary, head for the Old Trapper's Lodge Statues at Woodland Hills' Pierce College. There, you'll see how the West was won: on a trail soaked in the blood of outlaws, Injuns and dance-hall whores. The aging cement… More >>

• Best Place to Get Lost During Your Lunch Break

  Vasquez Rocks

  Most Vasquez Rocks visitors scurry straight up the towering rock that leans, like hands in prayer, over the park's dusty main parking lot. But amble off in the opposite direction — into colossal folds of pallid red stone collared with cowering scrub — and you may not see your car again for hours. Though it covers just 900 acres and… More >>

• Best Street to Step Back in Time

  Carroll Avenue

  Among the sloping hills of Angelino Heights is a street where time stands still. On Carroll Avenue trees are tall, the nearby 101 freeway is a distant hum and relics of Los Angeles' past reside. The Echo Park–adjacent avenue is dotted with beautifully maintained Victorian manors from the late 19th century. Located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in L.A.,… More >>

• Best Architectural Variety of 1920s and 1930s Apartment Buildings

  Oxford, Serrano and Hobart East of Western Avenue

  To see a stunning array of buildings that shows how L.A. really knew how to do period-revival style and art deco apartments back in the day, stroll Oxford, Serrano and Hobart east of Western Avenue between Eighth and San Marino streets. While the area isn't pristine, thanks to teardowns and some unfortunate in-fill development, this section of the Pellissier Square… More >>

• Best Secret Garden

  Trancas Canyon Nursery

  When a developer linked to Wal-Mart threatened to wipe out Trancas Canyon Nursery to build a strip mall, furious Malibu residents including Martin Sheen and Katharine Ross (The Graduate's Elaine) turned out in full force to help preserve their best-kept secret. The nursery is run by a sweet Latino man, and although it does sit on Walmart family land, it… More >>

• Best Outdoor Barbecue

  Paul Carlson Memorial Park

  If you're trying to find a place to have a cookout or relax during a quiet weekend, Paul Carlson Memorial Park (named after a medical missionary martyred in the former Belgian Congo) is the place to be. You can rent a party area through the parks website, or just show up with a group, and choose from conventional charcoal grills… More >>

• Best View of Downtown L.A. and Beyond

  Tom Bradley Room

  The City of Los Angeles government and all of its buildings are owned by the residents (aka taxpayers) of L.A. That means we own City Hall. It's a public building, but we just went to the city's home page and couldn't find anywhere where our city welcomes us to visit and tour City Hall, arguably the most historic, and inarguably… More >>

• Best Place to Pretend You're at an Island Getaway

  Terranea Resort

  As the crown jewel of the ritzy 'burb of Rancho Palos Verdes, Terranea Resort offers eight restaurants, posh villas and a dreamy sense of escape. With your first step onto the lobby's gleaming marble floor, you are transported into a travel brochure — the overly friendly concierge, the extravagant floral arrangements on every accent table in sight, the expansively perfect… More >>

• Best Shortcut Southbound Through Downtown

  Shortcut Next to the 110

  Bumper-to-bumper on the 110 got you bummed? There's a popular shortcut next to the 110 that'll let you breeze by hundreds of cars. If you're coming from Dodger Stadium or the Nickel headed south to the Santa Monica Freeway, get in the right lane as you pass under the 101 Hollywood Freeway. There's a sign that says, "110, 6th Street,… More >>

• Best Spot for Beach Football Not on the Beach

  Beach Park 1

  Who's the guy in charge of naming Santa Monica parks? Surely they could find some more inspiring moniker than Beach Park 1 for this spectacular swath of buzz-cut-thin grass accented by towering palm trees, a place that solves the age-old "Everyone wants to be near the beach but no one wants to deal with sand" paradox. The north-side strip is… More >>

• Best Place to Watch July Fourth Fireworks

  Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook

  L.A. is a tough act for the fireworks enthusiast. Anything that explodes up into the air and is any dang fun is strictly verboten, and even July Fourth staples, such as sparklers are banned in Los Angeles and the unincorporated communities of L.A. County. This means that finding the right perch from which to gaze at any of the sanctioned… More >>

• Best Place to Figure Some Shit Out

  Institute of Cultural Inquiry

  An independent research and exhibition center with its own small but salient publishing arm, the Institute of Cultural Inquiry lives up to the lofty and slightly Poindexter promise of its name, using a variety of approaches to articulating how technology is affecting our collective experience of artistic, social and political culture. At times the ICI's projects are traditionally formatted gallery… More >>

• Best Surf Spot in Los Angeles

  El Porto Beach

  Just a 10-minute drive from LAX — take Lincoln south to Imperial west to Vista Del Mar south — is the biggest and cleanest beach with the most reliable surf break around, thanks to an underwater canyon that creates fine waves. El Porto Beach looks like what out-of-towners envision when they dream of California beach life: endless white sand, blue… More >>

• Best Secret Bird Therapy

  Serenity Park Parrot Sanctuary

  On the sprawling grounds of West L.A.'s Veterans Administration complex, you might hear an exotic, 100-decibel din. "Every day I hear the birds squawking and screaming," Glenn, a Desert Storm vet, tells us. "And then their people show up, and they're happy." The people he's referring to are residents of New Directions, a rehabilitation program for veterans suffering from PTSD,… More >>

• Best Psychedelic L. Frank Baum Overdose

  Garden of Oz

  Somewhere off of Beachwood Canyon, way up high, there's a hidden garden that I heard of, once in a lullaby. And though its exact location is a closely held secret, I set off to find it, my only clue the refrain of a half-remembered song from childhood — "Follow the Hollywood Sign. Follow the Hollywood Sign." So I drive up,… More >>

• Best Exhaustive and Exhaust-Filled L.A. View

  Grove Parking Lot

  When I have out-of-town visitors, I take them to the Grove, but not to shop, see a movie, sight a celeb or do anything associated with the commerce on the ground. As soon as we're parked, we hit the elevator and go to the very top. Yes, we're here for the parking garage. The top floor of the Grove parking… More >>

• Best Middle-Earth in L.A.

  Beaudry Loop

  There's something mystical about Glendale. It's a landlocked otherworld whose invisible defense shield of dullness masks its hidden transcendence. The shield repels tourists, gentrifiers and all but the bravest and most intuitive of hipsters — which brings us to the Beaudry Loop hike. If you're sick of dodging doggie doo in Runyon, if you're weary of the mellow-harshing freeway views… More >>

• Best Spot for a First Kiss

  Hollenbeck Park Floating Bridge

  Stretching across the narrowest part of a two-block-long lake, Hollenbeck Park Floating Bridge floats on thick pontoons barely visible under the intentionally aged wood planking. Made to rise and fall with water levels, the structure lends itself to the kind of romance you'd see in a Sofia Coppola film. The latest incarnation of the bridge was inaugurated in 2009, but… More >>

• Coolest Place to Ride Pint-Size Trains

  Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum

  Unleash your inner trainiac and hop onboard one of the miniature steam engines that chug over bridges, through tunnels and in between ghost towns at Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum in Griffith Park. You don't even have to be a kid to do it — no one will give you strange looks, promise. Even if you arrive in overalls… More >>

• Best Culturally Diverse Pickup Basketball Scene

  Pan Pacific Park

  The courts at the top of Pan Pacific Park are mediocre — cracked concrete, double rims, wooden backboards. On Saturday mornings, the players are, too — some decent and some, in encouraging coach doublespeak, "still learning the game." While a few pickup runs around the city draw crowds, these games attract less attention than the kiddie soccer scrums tumbling through… More >>

• Best Place to Sit Back and Think

  Loyola Marymount University

  The views from the Hollywood Hills and Malibu are the stuff of movies, but those locations certainly don't have a monopoly on attractive vistas. Our suggestion? Head to the lovely campus of Loyola Marymount University, where you'll see Los Angeles from a whole new perspective. Situated on a bluff overlooking the city, the university allows you to take in downtown,… More >>

• Best Place to Read a Book or Get Married

  Maguire Gardens

  Few recognize the name Maguire Gardens, but this charmingly landscaped, small but impressive green space on the western face of downtown's Central Library is familiar by description. It's one of the most unlikely and magically peaceful places in the city, and it's open to the public every day of the year. Lawrence Halprin, renowned landscape architect, designed the meandering pathways,… More >>

• Best Place to Pretend You're Enjoying Spring on the East Coast

  Descanso Gardens' Lilac Garden

  Los Angeles is a land of transplants, many from places that have normal seasons — like spring and fall and winter. We do have seasons here, albeit with gentler transitions. There is a place where you can inhale the fresh air of spring, just like back home: the Lilac Garden at Descanso Gardens. From mid-March to late April (depending on… More >>

• Best Place to Pretend You're in the Wilderness in the South Bay

  Hopkins Wilderness Park

  It's hard to find any true wilderness in the vast plain between LAX and the great Palos Verdes massif, which is what makes Hopkins Wilderness Park so much fun. Until 1977 this barren hilltop, perched on the border of Redondo Beach and Torrance, was home to a Minuteman site (the missile, not the militia), keeping our country safe from the… More >>

• Best Breathtaking View of Urban Humanity

  Mulholland Drive Parking Lot

  At the top of Mulholland Drive, there's a tiny parking lot with an overlook 20 paces up a path that reveals the Hollywood Bowl about a mile away, with Capitol Records just beyond, the freeway to the left and downtown in the distance. The house on the cliff above the overlook was built by basketball Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain.… More >>

• Best Interfaith Setting for Feeding Swans

  Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine

  We all know that life is nasty, brutish and short, which is why we should occasionally spend some time at a lake, preferably one with swans. The Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine provides a quiet setting for strolling, feeding fowl and, for the more existentially inclined, contemplating the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Dedicated in 1950, the gardens and… More >>

• Best Car Museum (and Then Some)

  Nethercutt Collection (and Museum)

  Think you love cars? J.B. Nethercutt loved cars, too. He just happened to have gone into business with his aunt, Merle Nethercutt Norman, helming the cosmetics giant for decades, all the while amassing a priceless automobile collection. In 1971, he opened Nethercutt Collection (and Museum), free to the public, which now houses an array of antique, vintage and classic automobiles… More >>

• Best Lofty Park With a View

  Ernest E. Debs Regional Park

  The more innocent, guileless part of our mind wants to describe Ernest E. Debs Regional Park as an amazingly underused place, a wild, hilly gem about 10 minutes north of downtown off the 110 freeway, and the third largest public park in Los Angeles. The more jaded part of our mind wants to describe it as a vantage point from… More >>

• Best Place to Revive Your Vintage Store Finds

  The Classroom L.A.

  On the east end of Echo Park is a pink and parrot green cottage that looks like it belongs in a fairy tale. This is the home of The Classroom L.A., a neighborhood space for Angelenos to learn to sew or make their own alterations. Inside the Classroom L.A. sparkling chandeliers and rustic paintings hang high, and roughly a dozen… More >>

• Best Hike to Observe, "It Actually IS Rocket Science"

  Lower Arroyo Seco

  Most Angelenos can go a lifetime without knowing the hiking possibilities in the San Gabriel Mountains, several just a speedy zip up the Glendale Freeway. The San Gabriels are real mountains, considerably taller than the East Coast's tallest peaks, but hikes often begin in the relatively gentle, lower foothills, so don't let fantasies of a 6,000-foot vert scare you away.… More >>