Los Angeles may regularly battle furious fires roasting a good couple hundred thousand acres or so, and sure, the city can reach a toasty 100+ degrees Fahrenheit on an average summer day, and yes, the word “drought” is as ubiquitous as the word “juicery”—in fact, Los Angeles has all the ingredients for a wasteland (no, not the Melrose thrift store). And yet it’s not.
It’s been over a year since I last left LA and moved to Jeju Island, “the Hawaii of Korea,” to teach English and travel. And though I’ve left Los Angeles hundreds of times, I’ve never quite experienced this kind of homesickness. After all, I’d moved to Florida, Thailand, and Prague, and never really looked back while living in any of those places (except Florida. Florida sucks.).
I’ve missed very few places the way I miss California. It’s a place that keeps giving and is full of surprises (don’t believe me? Here are some interesting facts about California you may not be aware of). And sure, California’s got Joshua Tree, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara…but guess what, they’re all easily reachable by LA!
There are a million cool things to do in LA, but is Los Angeles worth visiting? Let’s dig into it.
Before You Go
- Read our guide on how to score the cheapest flights
- Review our carry-on packing list
- Learn everything you need to know about traveling through airport security
- Pack the right travel cameras and comfortable travel clothes
- Check out our LA Bucket List for the coolest things to do in LA
- Book your stay at an affordable Los Angeles hotel
- Secure your LA car rental here.
- Plan which of the best LA restaurants you’ll eat at
- See all our Los Angeles blog posts
- Get discounts on LA activities & tours
- Get a good ol’ fashioned paperback LA guide. We like this one.
Contents
- The LA Some Know
- My Los Angeles is an LA of grit.
- My Los Angeles is an LA of many.
- My Los Angeles is home.
- My Los Angeles has something for everyone.
- The LA Caveat
- So Is Los Angeles Worth Visiting?
- Additional LA Guides
- Like this post?
- You Might Also Appreciate…
- What place will you always call home no matter where you go?
The LA Some Know
The Los Angeles many non-LAers know is a cut-and-paste grid of Rodeo Drives and Santa Monica Piers, a “land of plastic,” of Calabasas TV stars and Beverly palm trees and Chatsworth pornos and frozen faces and red carpets and Universal Studios and Whole Foods to-go boxes. But this isn’t the LA I know. (Entirely.)
And this is certainly not why I love LA.
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My Los Angeles is an LA of grit.
A golden grit that clouds your lungs and your eyes and your judgement in the best way and the worst way.
A grit made from the particles of a gamma-ray burst shooting from Jim Morrison’s infamous urine stream on the bar of WeHo’s Barney’s Beanery.
A grit trekked through Hollywood gutters and Walk of Fame stars on wedge booties, encrusted in the tires of Valley SUVs, fairy dusting those red carpets that look so much dirtier in person, and in the sun-beaten face lines of the people who aren’t plastic.
My Los Angeles is an LA of many.
LA is diverse and it’s beautiful.
Latino, Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Japanese, Thai, Indian—my LA fits so many worlds in one city. So many worlds, representatives flashing red or white in an almost constant ribbon down the 405. After all, nobody walks in LA (unless it’s from bar to taco truck).
LA is definitely not one of the cheapest places to live in California, but many people, and many kinds of people, certainly still choose to live there.
Don’t miss our guide to the dopest places to eat in LA–stuffing your face with cuisines from around the globe is part of the LA experience, brutha!
| Nobody Walks in LA
Los Angeles is notorious for its less-than-stellar public transportation, so you’re DEFINITELY going to want to rent a car. |
So many worlds, and with so many people, my LA is a city of Angels (and demons). And no, it’s not perfect. And as sunny as it may be, its eyes are nothing like the sun (that’s a Shakespeare reference, sorry).
And maybe the LA I know will cease to exist in the next few years, reduced to rubble in some San Andreas tantrum. But it’s home. And there’s this: it’s f****ing awesome.
Cannabis Cafe? Mexican luchador wrestling? Clown-centric macabre freak show bar? Bob Barker marionette show? Alien party?! Find all this and more on our LA Bucket List. THIS is why I love LA.
And make sure you have a solid LA itinerary to navigate your way around. We also have our own 5 Day LA Itinerary.
READ MORE| Learn about the best scenic drives in LA
| Experience How Awesome LA Is (On a Budget)
We highly recommend checking out the current Los Angeles deals, to get a feel for the kinds of discounted activities you can enjoy nearby. You’ll find discounts on everything from food & drink at the best LA restaurants, to amusement parks, whale-watching, sporting events, concerts, and TONS more. For Hollywood specific deals, it’s worth checking out the Hollywood deals. |
My Los Angeles is home.
I’m an LA girl, born and raised until I was 11, then returned to every summer until my 18 year-old brain decided to move back to the mistress that will always have my heart. Sure, LA’s got a lotta haters.
But they’re slanderers and you should ignore their heinous dribble.
And it may be dry and drought-ridden and dusty and smog-covered, but no wasteland I know offers such Edenic sprawls of glistening produce, such global variety in fruits and vegetables so easily taken for granted until it’s no longer there. This is why I love Los Angeles.
Supermarkets here on Jeju Island regularly play mean tricks on us, selling produce shipped over from California (but for 10 times the price), though we can find some wicked Jeju green tea fields and Jeju tangerine trees.
My Los Angeles has something for everyone.
From beaches to city life to music to free events to fantastic hikes (even LA hikes for dogs!) to cheap exotic produce to magical sunsets to eternal warm weather and easy and cheap access to global cuisine to all things both incredibly basic and legitimately incredible, my LA really does have something for everyone.
After all, LA is the entertainment capital of the world
And if LA itself isn’t enough, a short SoCal road trip away from Los Angeles you have just about everything else: desert, mountains, forest, and wine. Wuick trip to the wineries of Calistoga California, anyone?! Maybe some glamping in Joshua Tree?
LA also happens to have some incredible scenic drives too.
So off-with-their-heads to all y’all haters, I’m an LA girl.
The LA Caveat
(I’ll only add one.) While I wholeheartedly believe everyone should have their pants dropped by LA in their lifetime, it’s not the easiest city to penetrate in a short period.
The second largest urban region in the U.S., Los Angeles is a big, big [beautiful] girl, and her public transportation leaves loads to be desired (so definitely rent a car).
So Is Los Angeles Worth Visiting?
Yes. Duh.
But to really feel LA, you kinda gotta stick around and let it feel you. So screw it. Come on down, spend a few months in the City of Angels.
Take a California Road Trip or explore where the stars live in Tinseltown.
Soak up the blazing California sun at a Los Angeles hotel rooftop pool.
Make an ass out of yourself at an open bar app-launch party or break in your leather Zana Bayne bondage-mask and a very risque body harness at a Rhonda or a Bar Sinister. These all may or may not be personal experiences 🤣.
Go crazy. Be extra. This is why I love Los Angeles.
So hop on our LA travel itinerary and get yourself over to the Venice Boardwalk.
Shake your booty at a Houston Bros bar or leave that hoity-toity crap behind for some elbow-brushing with a few Hell’s Angels at a valley dive, or anything else on our Ultimate Los Angeles Bucket List.
And when it’s all done, watch the sun rise over the Santa Monica mountains with a belly-full of greasy tacos before your infrared sauna sesh and Thai tea macaron ice cream sandwich pickup at The Milk Shop the next day. Hell, get some botox (I hear all the kids are doing it). But really don’t.
Plan the rest of your LA trip! Check out the coolest things to do in LA, the best places to eat in LA, the best dog-friendly hikes in LA, the best scenic drives in the LA area, and consider decorating your own cake at the Ace of Cakes chef’s studio.
Also, learn tips and tricks for Universal Studios Hollywood, the best Halloween festival in LA, and why we think LA is freaking awesome.
Additional LA Guides
Want some further suggestions to help you plan a trip to Los Angeles? Have a peek at some of these dope posts (or you could always just check out our LA Pinterest board)!
- Dope Places to Eat in LA (Especially If You’re Meat-Free!)
- How to Visit LA Without a Car
- 25 Free Things to Do in LA
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Share it on Pinterest by hovering over one of the pictures below and clicking the red “Pin It” button!
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What place will you always call home no matter where you go?
Let us know in a comment below!