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• Best Place to Watch Soccer

  Alpine Village

  Say you're a die-hard soccer fan who wants to watch the Galaxy when they're out of town, or even a particular foreign match. Unless you've got a super-amazing cable package, you're out of luck, because your local sports bar isn't likely to change the channel from golf. Fortunately, the folks out at Alpine Village have dedicated themselves to showing every… More >>

• Best Bowling Alley

  AMF Mar Vista Lanes

  If there were an alien invasion, or an outbreak of Ebola virus, or nuclear fallout on the Westside, self-contained neighborhood hub Mar Vista Lanes would be the place to hole up for a few weeks. Besides air hockey, a full arcade and $10 unlimited bowling from 9 p.m. till midnight Monday through Thursday, Mar Vista Lanes is home to Pepy's… More >>
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  Best Outdoor Stair Workout, Eastside

  Tomato Pie Walk

  The 3-mile Tomato Pie Walk in Silver Lake sounds like no big deal until you realize it involves climbing up 735 steps and down 610 steps. Somehow you end up right where you started — the Tomato Pie Pizza Joint. It's a serious workout, followed by a serious helping of pizza. The Los Angeles Stairstreet Advocates, led by Dave Ptach,… More >>

• Best Rockout Workout

  Pound

  Got aggressions that need to be worked out? Love heavy music? Wanna be as lean as Tommy Lee? Kirsten Potenza and Cristina Peerenboom, who love drumming, dance and fitness, have developed what may be the next major phenomenon in exercise: Pound. Slamming drumsticks into the floor as hard as you can while doing specially tailored Pilates and cardio routines might… More >>

• Best Place to Learn the Art of Bellydancing

  Dance Garden L.A.

  Baring one's body (especially the belly area) obviously takes a certain level of confidence and comfort, but covered or uncovered, moving the tummy and hips in a focused and sensual manner is not easy. At Dance Garden L.A., even the most timid will learn to love doing both if they keep up with classes. The intimate Atwater Village studio, owned by… More >>

• Best Place to Learn the Art of Burlesque

  Hells Belles Burlesque

  Move over, Dita Von Teese. Burlesque isn't just for the stage anymore, thanks to Hells Belles Burlesque, a five-person troupe whose training ranges from ballet to fire dancing, which has transformed the centuries-old seductive art form with a rock & roll twist. Tucked in a high-rise dance studio near Hollywood & Highland, the troupe teaches classes and workshops to students… More >>

• Best Vintage Bowling Alley

  Montrose Bowl

  One of the smallest and oldest bowling alleys operating in Los Angeles County, Montrose Bowl has been around since 1936 on small-town Montrose's quaint main shopping boulevard. With its 1950s decor, manual scoring system, jukebox and eight lanes, Montrose Bowl specializes in hosting birthdays, reunions, wedding receptions and baby showers. You actually rent the entire bowling alley (capacity 95 people)… More >>

• Best Outdoor Stair Workout, South L.A.

  Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook

  When it's too nice to be in a gym and thoughts of the Santa Monica stairs (parking and tourists!) and Runyon Canyon (parking and hipsters!) turn sour, there is a relatively quick, family-friendly way to get buns of steel at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. In less than half an hour, visitors to this public park can sprint, jump or… More >>

• Best Cycle Instructor

  Ellie Wenzel-Wright

  The L.A. Fitness on La Cienega and 18th Street is a worn-down, overcrowded swampland, but every Saturday morning it's home to a stampede, as members of all ages and sizes clamor for one of the coveted spots in Ellie Wenzel-Wright's cycle class. A BMX champion with more than 30 years of aerobics teaching experience, who also practices kickboxing and step… More >>

• Best Gym

  Crunch Fitness, Burbank

  Pole-dancing classes mean never say die! This chain, known for its multitude of cutting-edge classes, such as the famous spin workouts and the more unusual AntiGravity Yoga and X-Pole Dancing, offers the perfect mix: the reliability of a chain with the creativity of a boutique gym. The Crunch Fitness Burbank location opened across from Ikea at the beginning of April… More >>

• Best Adult Ballet Classes

  The Colburn School

  The ballet world isn't all Black Swan, although the film boosted the popularity of this classical dance style. Adults are flocking to classes, some to brush up on technique, others to stretch their toes for the first time. At the Colburn School downtown, beginning and intermediate classes for adults (along with music and dance programs for youth) draw a dedicated… More >>
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  Best Hike to an Elfin Grotto

  Escondido Falls, Malibu

  The hike to Escondido Falls starts in a dusty little parking lot just off Pacific Coast Highway on a road called Winding Way, and climbs up past sprawling homes with stables, batting cages and vineyards, through coastal scrub and chaparral, before descending into shady Santa Monica Mountain oak groves, which are home to cottontailed bunnies and fawns. The halfway point… More >>

• Best School Based on the Qabalah

  Builders of the Adytum

  In 1922, occultist, writer and teacher Paul Foster Case founded the nonprofit Builders of the Adytum on Figueroa Avenue in Highland Park. Case established BOTA after quitting an offshoot of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a late–19th century fellowship of Freemasons and Rosicrucians in Great Britain. Since its members pledged vows of secrecy, it's practically impossible to understand… More >>

• Best In-Town Outdoor Running Track

  Silver Lake Reservoir - CLOSED

  As much as we brag about our weather, we do see some sweltering days that leave us sopping wet and cursing yet another boring 30-minute treadmill run in our under–air-conditioned gym. That's when we head to the 2.2-mile track surrounding the Silver Lake Reservoir. Cool breezes come off the water, and just when the sun's beating down a bit too… More >>
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  Best Rock Climbing

  Texas Canyon

  A painless 30-minute drive out of the San Fernando Valley transports you to Texas Canyon, a nearly pristine desert landscape free from the bustle of the city. This area boasts a towering dome of sandstone conglomerate (for all you geology geeks), with stacks of surrounding boulders and pinnacles on rolling hills, which fade into the horizon. You'll find a variety of… More >>

• Best Running Trail

  Betty B. Dearing Mountain Trail via Mulholland

  This beautifully wild, seemingly remote pocket of nature, the Betty B. Dearing Mountain Trail via Mulholland, runs in a 3.3-mile loop from the Nancy Hoover Pohl Overlook off Mulholland Drive in the Studio City/Laurel Canyon area. However, some people approach the narrow dirt track from TreePeople's site, via Iredell Street, a 7-mile-plus round trip. As you fly through the native… More >>
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  Best Garden Tours

  Surfrider Foundation Ocean Friendly Gardens

  Self-guided and group walks lead you to private homes where Surfrider Foundation's Ocean Friendly Gardens designation has been granted. The foundation is committed to training Angelenos to personally fight the No. 1 preventable cause of ocean pollution: our urban runoff. Before you take one of Surfrider's group tours of certified yards or go on your own self-guided tour, learn from… More >>

• Best Hidden Mini-Golf Course

  Arroyo Seco Golf Course

  Why is croquet so refined but mini-golf is not? Is it the windmills? Is it the bright orange golf balls? Located a mere five-iron from the 110 in South Pasadena, nestled between the driving range and the par-three course, is Arroyo Seco Golf Course, an adorable, nine-hole mini-golf course that provides endless challenges. It doesn't have any lakes or fire-breathing… More >>

• Best Place to Learn About Thoroughbreds

  Clocker's Corner

  Famous not just for its location shots (think HBO's Luck and the movie Seabiscuit), Clocker's Corner, next to where the horses train at Santa Anita Park in the mornings, takes you back to racing's glory days. The little café is tucked away at the west end of the racetrack, accessible through Gate 8. Once there, instead of bumping elbows with… More >>

• Best Easy Bike Trail

  Duarte Bike Trail

  When Angelenos think of bike trails, the picture that comes to mind is either an asphalt route along a concrete channel or a crowded beach path à la Three's Company, where the ride is overshadowed by playing Frogger with pedestrians. But away from the madding crowd lies Duarte Bike Trail, a well-shaded, 1.6-mile, multi-use path sandwiched between a solid middle-class… More >>

• Best Men on Wheels

  Drive-By City Rollers

  Think of Roller Derby and you'll likely come up with images of some real tough women on a real tough track. However, L.A. finally has its first men's team as well, the Drive-By City Rollers. Taking on the same bravado and the penchant for battle-ready nicknames as women's Roller Derby, the Drive-By City Rollers have been in existence for a… More >>

• Best Non-Bikram Sweaty Power Yoga

  Yoga at the Village's Natasha Snow Needles

  It's only when you have a bad yoga instructor — like the occasional one at 24 Hour who, 15 minutes into class, is still chatting about achieving Ohm status — that the good can truly be appreciated. Yoga at the Village's Natasha Snow Needles, who teaches the Power Form and Flow class on Sunday evenings, is in the truly good… More >>

• Best Skate Park to Spot a Pro

  Channel Street Skatepark

  Channel Street Skatepark in San Pedro is unlike any other skatepark in Los Angeles, and for good reason. It's a hand-built, donation-driven park that's the product of skateboarders cutting through red tape and emerging victorious. Though it's nestled under the 110 freeway and next to a set of Port of Los Angeles train tracks, Channel Street is a communal place,… More >>

• Best Park for Doing Your Computer Work

  Angels Knoll Park

  Angels Knoll Park is a small, tranquil slope crammed in among some of downtown's busiest spots: It's across from Grand Central Market, below California Plaza and adjacent to Angels Flight and the Metro Rail station at Pershing Square. The knoll is best known as the favorite spot of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character in (500) Days of Summer. In sharp contrast to… More >>

• Best Labyrinth Walk

  Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens

  The Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens, a West Adams day retreat on the grounds of the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, offers harried Angelenos a chance to try the ancient practice of labyrinth walking. Labyrinths have been used for centuries as part of mystical and religious traditions; while the center offers classes and seminars related to the… More >>

• Best New Playground

  Culver City Park

  There tend to be two kinds of playgrounds. You have the standard setup: swings, slides and seesaws. And then there is the ambitious playground, which tends to feature a giant ship or a castle or something. For its newest playground, Culver City Park shunned both approaches and instead did something weird. The city turned to KOMPAN, a Danish company, which… More >>

• Best Educational Tour for Your Nose

  Hyperion Treatment Plant

  The distinctive, red-and-white-striped steam stacks of the Scattergood Generating Station in Playa del Rey, visible from miles away, have been a landmark for decades. They also point to one of L.A.'s less lovely but critical pieces of infrastructure, the Hyperion Treatment Plant. There are free walking/tram tours of the facility; visitors are warned in advance that the smell may be… More >>

• Best Chin-Ups and Dirt Track Workout

  Bellevue Recreation Center

  "The secret to get good at chin-ups? Knock out 20, every hour, all day, every day," the teardrop-tattooed man instructs, lats flaring. "That takes a lot of time." "Oh, I had time ..." Talking training in public parks can teach you far more than what you learn in some patronizing, bougie health club. Some parks shine in this regard, and… More >>

• Best Popular-Dance Classes

  3rd Street Dance

  If you are a wallflower too timid to tango, or a regular Joe who wants to impress the ladies but happens to have two left feet, then 3rd Street Dance is for you. A neighborhood fixture for 33 years, this quaint little studio specializes in dances of the social variety. You won't find any ballerinas here. This is the place… More >>

• Best Twist on Pilates

  Cyclelates

  Fabulously located on the corner of Sunset and Vine, Cyclelates offers an array of classes to help you obtain personal training results without the personal training price tag. Its namesake Cyclelates class is a hybrid workout that combines an intense 35 minutes of Pilates on the reformer with a sweat-inducing 20 minutes of cycling. This super-effective class will leave you… More >>

• Best Hotel Pool to Sneak a Swim

  The Langham Huntington

  Pasadena's Langham Huntington boasts the old-school grandeur of a Ritz-Carlton (and it was one, once), and is tucked into an upscale residential neighborhood — putting it out of view and out of the way. The grounds are lovely, containing well-groomed courtyards, a Japanese garden and the Picture Bridge, which overlooks the pool. Its calm milieu compared to central L.A. hotels… More >>
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  Best Difficult Bike Trail

  Golden Eagle Mountain Biking Trail, Angeles National Forest

  It could alternately be called the best or worst, depending on how many times you crash, but the 16 miles of single-track trail — cutting across oak-dotted hills and a dusty, manzanita-covered mountainside with views of Pyramid Lake, Quail Lake and the Antelope Valley — is breathtaking either way. The Golden Eagle Mountain Biking Trail in Angeles National Forest starts… More >>
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  Best Beach Volleyball Alternative

  Venice Beach Dodgeball Saturdays

  If you sometimes fantasize about taking that beach volleyball and nailing your opponent with it, you might want to consider Venice Beach Dodgeball Saturdays, a monthly event in which you can try out a new sport while still getting your fix of sun, sand and sea. Players' faces may be fierce, but this is a friendly environment. Dodgeballers of all… More >>
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  Best Gender-Specific Hikes

  Moving Men's Group and WoManifestation Circle Hikes

  Sometimes a hike is just a hike. Other times it's a way to commune with nature. But other times, it can be a way to commune with yourself and those around you. Such is the case if you join up with either the Moving Men's Group, for you gents, or the WoManifestation Circle Hikes, for the ladies. Each group-oriented, gender-specific,… More >>

• Best Place to Be Underwater (Without a Mortgage)

  Hollywood Divers

  Step into Hollywood Divers and feel the aquatic vibe. Peruse the spacious store's collection of wetsuits, scuba gear and tanks and you will half-expect to be tapped on the shoulder by an octopus, despite the store's inland Cahuenga Pass location. Blown-up undersea photomurals add to the marine feel. Hollywood Divers is the go-to place for neophytes and old salts alike.… More >>

• Best Fitness Boot Camp

  West Coast Boot Camp

  A workout boot camp is probably only as good as its drill sergeant ... er, trainer. Sure, West Coast Boot Camp's La Cañada location is pleasant and easily accessible from the 2 or 210 freeways, and the interior workout space feels clean and purposeful, with its neatly arranged weights and the craggy camo/netting landscape on the ceiling. But when owner/trainer… More >>

• Best Place to Paint the Town Red

  Time 2 Paintball

  Yes, we can all agree that war is bad. But wouldn't you rather have all this primal aggression released in a controlled environment, with humans hit with splatters of gelatinous paint rather than real bullets? Of course you would. And if you're ready to suit up and enjoy America's favorite and most intense fake-war simulation game, head on down to… More >>

• Best Go-Kart Track

  Racer's Edge Indoor Karting

  If you never got to slam somebody during bumper cars as a kid, or never had a go-Kart that went faster than a bicycle with a flat, Racer's Edge Indoor Karting is the place to finally get it right. These electric carts are billed as capable of 45 mph, so whether you're in the pack or out in front, it's… More >>

• Best Native-Plant Horticulture Classes

  Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers & Native Plants

  Gardening with native plants is all the rage in these drought-stricken days, and it makes sense: What better to plant than something that has evolved to be perfectly suited to our SoCal soil and climate. But it's not as easy as it looks, which is where the Theodore Payne Foundation comes in. In its air-conditioned classroom (a converted house) or… More >>

• Best Dog-Walking Trail

  Westridge Trail

  Fitdog in Santa Monica offers excellent dog training and boarding, but best of all is its list of hiking trails for dogs and their humans in Greater L.A. From a dog's perspective, we've chosen the not-yet-overrun Westridge Trail hike. It's a hidden gem that begins at the dead end of a road that winds through an attractive, upscale Brentwood neighborhood.… More >>
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  Best Stand-Up Paddleboard Yoga Class

  YOGAqua

  At this Marina del Rey yoga class, an unbalanced down-dog could land you in the Pacific. YogAqua teaches yoga classes atop stand-up paddleboards in the saltwater. Thirty minutes of the 90-minute class is spent paddling (excellent for the core, back and arms) and the rest is yoga practice on the board. Because the poses are performed on a moving surface,… More >>

• Best Ocean View Hike

  Portuguese Bend Nature Reserve

  Miles of trails on the hidden backside of Palos Verdes offer 180-degree views of the Pacific coast. This is how coastal California must have looked 100 years ago: unspoiled, rolling hills of coastal scrub, the waves crashing at the bottom of the cliffs below and, through the mist, Catalina Island hovering miragelike on the horizon. A web of intertwined trails at… More >>

• Best Beach Yoga

  Beach Yoga With Brad

  Armed only with a laminated sign on a stick stuck into the sand and his Beach Yoga With Brad Facebook page, Brad Keimach offers light to moderate yoga at the shoreline each weekend for a suggested minimum donation of 10 bucks — which is, without a doubt, better than paying $19 to a stanky studio. Get your Namaste on with… More >>

• Best Skydiving

  Skydive Coastal California

  The takeoff point for the impressive 12-minute flight to your dropzone might not be in L.A. — it's actually at the Camarillo Airport — but make no mistake, you will see L.A.! If you can keep your eyes open, that is. Sound scary? Don't worry, Skydive Coastal California specializes in first-time jumpers. The friendly staff with a generous sense of… More >>