)Find a trail to hike in the Santa Monica Mountains in MalibuFor good iconic views head up near dodger stadium. It is beautiful and huge and has the most amazing view of Montmartre from a little pavilion at the top of a hill in the middle. This went towards a spectacular and labyrinthine new complex, the Getty Center, which opened in 1997 after almost two decades of planning and construction.Linked to its lower car park by a hovertrain, the Getty Center is a multifaceted attraction.You’ll fall in love with architecture by Pritzker Prize-winner Richard Meier, the ever-changing Central Garden, the Cactus Garden, the outdoor sculpture and the knockout views, not to mention the astonishing art collection within (Medieval times to the present). This is hands-down the largest and oldest public market in the city.In the 2010s the market has turned itself into a trendy dining destination with a revitalisation project, and by welcoming a cosmopolitan line-up of new vendors.Here to tempt you there’s falafel, Nashville got chicken, wood-fired pizza, an oyster bar, ramen, Salvadorian streetfood, tacos, tortas, tostadas, currywurst, burritos, bento and BBQ, along with speciality food vendors for fresh bread, cheese, spices, Latin dry goods, herbs, fruit and vegetables.Linked to the posh Grove Mall in the Fairfax District is the permanent Farmers Market, trading seven days a week.You can use the market as a vibrant shopping amenity, calling in for groceries at the various butchers, bakers, fruit and vegetable stalls, and at speciality food stores for goodies like cheese, charcuterie, wine, olive oil and hard-to-find spices (Dragunara Spice Bazaar). The current shell is actually the fifth to have been built at the Hollywood Bowl.The second and third shells were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but only stood for a season each in the 1920s.The fourth shell, by the Allied Architects group lasted from 1929 to 2003, but was often criticised for its acoustics and replaced for the 2004 season.The Hollywood Bowl’s free museum is in the former Tea Room and is the first building you come to if you enter the site via Highland Avenue, with a permanent exhibition displaying programs and photographs of the venue since its birth in 1922.The oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny ordered this Beverly Hills Tudor Revival mansion, completed in 1928, as a lavish gift for his son, Ned.At the time the 55-room Greystone Mansion was the most expensive residence in California, costing more than $4m and housing a bowling alley.Ned Doheny died in a guest room in a murder-suicide with his secretary in February 1929, just four months after moving in.Ninety years later it is still unclear who killed whom.The house and its precise formal gardens have belonged to the City of Beverly Hills since 1965, becoming a public park a few years later.This is a prime shooting location, appearing in a wealth of TV shows and movies, like The Big Lebowski (1998), Ghostbusters II (1989), Spider-Man (2002) and Eraserhead (1977), while the bowling alley was restored for the grim end to There Will Be Blood (2007). The reason this 15-screen cinema makes the list is for the effort ArcLight goes to providing the ultimate movie-going experience.Along with superlative sound (THX) and picture quality, comfortable, pre-assigned seats, the screenings in the dome begin with a little talk by a member of staff with lots of movie trivia to unload.A couple of streets in from the Santa Monica Pier and you’ll be on Third Street Promenade in the middle of Santa Monica’s shopping zone.The promenade is three open-air car-free blocks, flanked by palms and jacarandas, and with a real diversity of upmarket and mid-market stores, restaurants, bars and movie theatres.For shopping think Sephora, Abercrombie and Fitch, Urban Outfitters, LUSH, H&M, Apple Store and Banana Republic, with a lot more waiting on the neighbouring streets or at the foot of the promenade on Santa Monica Place.The development goes back to 1965 and has picked up a reputation for its many street performers.You’ll come across musicians of every genre and style, as well as dancers, magicians, living statues and clowns, all at neat intervals down the street.Recently little touches like clusters of Adirondack chairs have started cropping up on the promenade, while Downtown Santa Monica Station on the new-ish Expo Line, connecting this city with Downtown Los Angeles.A separate attraction at Universal Studios, CityWalk is a neon-lit, high-energy promenade for shopping, entertainment and dining.CityWalk’s linchpin is the 5 Towers, an outdoor concert venue, with regular live music, while street performers are out in force most nights.Entrance is free, and CityWalk is often thronged on weekends for its AMC Universal Cineplex, and the wide fast food and casual dining options, from Bubba Gump Shrimp Company to Tony Roma’s, Buca di Beppo, Panda Express, KFC, Taco Bell and Subway.If you’re peckish for a snack there’s Wetzels’ Pretzels, Cinnabon and Ben and Jerry’s, to name a few.A California State Park, this viewpoint is to the south-west of downtown, at Culver City.Parking up on Jefferson Boulevard, there are two routes to the summit: You can navigate the switchbacks on a winding dirt track, or cut straight to the top on the Culver City Stairs.There are 282 steps in all, so the most direct route to the overlook is also the most gruelling.The best bet is to use the trail on the way up, enjoying the popcorn flowers and Californian aster in mid-summer, and return on the steps.At the summit you can contemplate sweeping panoramas of Los Angeles, the Pacific, the Hollywood Hills and the San Gabriel Mountains to the north-west, capped with snow in winter.The public transport system in Los Angeles is far better than its reputation, but is still growing.So if you’re here without a car an extended bus tour is a great way to pack in as much as of the city as possible.The trip begins at Sunset Boulevard, before setting a course for the Santa Monica Pier for a one-hour stop.You’ll visit the Third Street Promenade, the Farmers Market (one-hour lunch stop) and the Grove.Afterwards the bus makes the trip up to the Griffith Observatory for a whirlwind visit and to gaze at the Hollywood Sign, before descending to the Walk of Fame, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and the Dolby Theatre, home of the Oscars.This joyful botanical garden in La Cañada Flintridge was once part of a 36,000-acre rancho gifted by the Governor of California to Corporal José María Verdugo in 1784.