ENJOY PERFORMANCES | RELAX | DISCOVER THE REAL L.A. | DINE

ENJOY PERFORMANCES

Alex Theatre

Ford Amphitheatre
Credit: Paul Antico

The great resource for finding out what's going on in L.A. is ExperienceLA.com. The site is home to the L.A. County Cultural Calendar, sponsored by the L.A. County Arts Commission. This database is searchable by date, geographic area and type of performance, as well as other criteria, and provides links to transportation information. Log on to plan your visit to any of the venues below!

The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center, home of L.A. Holiday Celebration, and the nearby Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, are probably the most well known performance venues in the area. Disney Hall is the home of the Los Angeles Master Chorale which presents an October through May season of choral programs. Iris Levine of Vox Femina finds the chorale's concerts the most inspirational events in the area.

Just down the block from Disney Hall, in L.A.'s downtown cultural corridor, is Grand Performances, where a series of outdoor stages on a plaza with a backdrop of waterfalls offers free performances during the summer months. Ramaa Bharadvaj of Angahara Dance Ensemble loves to perform in the space. Sophiline Cheam Shapiro of Khmer Arts Academy likes to relax and unwind there. A particular favorite of TRIP Dance's Monica Favand is REDCAT (The Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre), tucked in one corner of the Disney Hall complex; it is a small, state-of-the art mecca for cutting-edge performances.

The Alex Theatre, a former movie theatre beautifully restored to its 1920s splendor and transformed into a performing arts center, is a meaningful landmark for Glendale resident Anna Djanbazian of Djanbazian Dance Company. The theatre was a major element in the revival of Glendale's downtown main artery, Brand Boulevard. The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles is one of the theatre's resident companies and stages its home season there.

Salvation Army Tabernacle Choir director Barbara Allen says the Hollywood Bowl is her favorite place to sit under the stars and listen to music. Also in the Hollywood Hills and across the freeway from the Bowl is the historic Ford Amphitheatre, an intimate (1200-seat) open-air space set against a dramatic backdrop of chapparal and cypresses. The musicians of Los Pinguos, Pat Taylor of JazzAntiqua and Anna Djanbazian all enjoy the season of world music, dance, jazz, film and family events there. Hollywood is home to many small theatres, many clustered along and just off Santa Monica Boulevard. One that TRIP's Favand especially likes is the Unknown Theater, which has an especially spacious stage for a sub-99-seat theatre and where dance and theatre performances alternate.

On the west side of Los Angeles, the queen of venues is Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA, known for its adventurous fare and especially its annual international theatre festival. UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures in the new Glorya Kaufman Hall, presents performances and lectures that span the globe. TRIP's Favand loves watching performances both places. Santa Monica resident Adrian Buono of Los Pinguos names Temple Bar, the Santa Monica lounge featuring thematic evenings of different musical genres and an eclectic menu of eats and specialty cocktails, as his favorite place to play.

RELAX

Descanso Gardens

Angeles National Forest

Griffith Observatory

Long Beach Museum of Art

Exceptional public gardens abound in Southern California. A favorite of Anna Djanbazian of Djanbazian Dance Company is the 160-acre Descanso Gardens. Descanso, once claimed for the King of Spain by explorer Gaspar de Portola, is famed for its collections of camellias, roses, lilacs and California native plants.

The Central Garden at the Getty Center in Brentwood lies at the heart of the hilltop complex in the Santa Monica Mountains. The 134,000-square-foot garden design features a natural ravine and tree-lined walkway leading to bougainvillea arbors and a pool encircled by specialty gardens. Pat Taylor of JazzAntiqua's Dance and Music Ensemble names the Getty as her favorite place to take a break and she has a lot of company. As the tram from the parking area climbs to the gleaming Travertine stone center, the world melts away.

Los Angeles County is a place where open space co-exists easily with urban density. Cindy Shea of Mariachi Divas likes to unwind in Griffith Park. The largest municipal park with urban wilderness area in the United States (4,210 acres), this magnificent preserve offers 53 miles of hiking trails, horseback riding, a railroad museum, a newly refurbished observatory, golf courses and an astonishing array of plant life. It's a 10-minute drive from the bustle of Hollywood and Vine.

TRIP's Monica Favand finds the even wilder reaches of the Angeles National Forest inspiring. Occupying a large swath of the northern part of L.A. County, the mountain retreat (elevations above 10,000 feet in some sections) is within an hour's drive of L.A.

The Pacific Ocean is a huge draw. Anna Djanbazian cites Malibu Beach as her no. 1 relaxation spot. Monica Favand of TRIP Dance Theatre favors a spot west of Malibu, El Matador State Beach, a pocket beach with sea caves and sandstone pillars. Larry Rowland of Harmonic Bronze Handbell Ensemble enjoys kayaking off Catalina Island, 26 miles out in the Pacific and light years away from L.A.

The City of Long Beach offers much beyond oceanside walks and fun in the sand. Long Beach resident Sophiline Cheam Shapiro cites The Queen Mary as the most significant local landmark. The luxuriously appointed ocean liner, which served as a troop transport as well as a four-star cruise ship, offers a host of activities including tours, brunches, teas and even dinner with the ship's spirits. The Long Beach Museum of Art, known particularly for its ceramics collection, offers a breathtaking seaside prospect, an outdoor café on the patio of a historic house and an excellent museum shop on the house's first floor.

As for shopping and browsing places, Reaksmey Lath of Khmer Arts Academy likes to hang out at Long Beach's Shoreline Village. The dining-shopping-entertainment options include sailing lessons, a boardwalk sketch artist, a chocolate factory and a carousel. Barbara Allen of the Salvation Army Tabernacle Children's Chorus likes The Grove, a complex on L.A.'s west side that has sprung up next to Los Angeles' venerable Farmer's Market. The market is an excellent place to shop for produce, snack and people watch.

For those who yearn for peace and serenity, Angahara's Ramaa Bharadvaj recommends the Yoga Works studios. There are several locations in greater Los Angeles, but the Center for Yoga in Larchmont Village claims to be L.A.'s oldest yoga studio. Larchmont, with its coffee houses, restaurants and specialty shops, is the kind of walking neighborhood visitors rarely expect to find in Los Angeles.

DISCOVER THE REAL L.A.

Fire Station No. 10

Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine (Courtesy of Self-Realization Fellowship)

While the glitz of Hollywood tends to grab the headlines, a closer look at L.A. reveals a richly textured culture shaped by wave after wave of settlers drawn to the region.

The African-American arts enclave of Leimert Park Village, located near Crenshaw Boulevard and 43rd Street, has special resonance for Pat Taylor of JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble. One of the areas most popular attractions is The World Stage home to jazz concerts, workshops, intimate conversations with jazz greats and literary evenings. Pat says she's always inspired by the performances there.

Los Angeles' Cambodian community is concentrated in Long Beach. Each year the Cambodian New Year is celebrated in El Dorado Park. This is the important cultural event for Sophiline Cheam Shapiro of Khmer Arts Academy along with The Culture Show at Cal State Long Beach. Khmer dancer Reaksmey Lath is drawn to a piece of Long Beach history in her community, Fire Station No. 10.

Angahara's Ramaa Bharadvaj cites the beautiful, serene Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades as her most significant local landmark, with the Bodhi Tree Bookstore, the self-described "metaphysical mecca" that is one of the busiest philosophical bookstores in L.A., as a close second.

Adrian Buono of Los Pinguos sees the 3rd Street Promenade, the pedestrian mall in the heart of downtown Santa Monica, as a cross-cultural meeting place where his group can share its music and roots with different people from around the world. The promenade and surrounding area are justly famous for street musicians as well as art galleries, clubs, bookstores and eateries.

TRIP Dance Theatre's Monica Favand relates to Barnsdall Art Park with its Hollyhock House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for heiress Aline Barnsdall, as well as an art gallery, theatre and commanding views of Hollywood. Hollyhock is one of several Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Los Angeles.

Larry Rowland of the Harmonic Bronze Handbell Ensemble finds particular significance in the large historic bronze school bell high above the original elementary school in the rural community of Antelope Valley. It ties together the area's colorful history - which includes Butterfield stage coach stops, a gold rush that preceded the one at Sutter's Mill in northern California and the aviation pioneers who tested planes at Edwards Air Force Base - with the local high school's handbell program.

DINE

Cafe Brasil

Los Angeles is a food lover's paradise offering cuisines of countless cultures.

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro of Khmer Arts Academy says Sophy's Restaurant in Long Beach serves some of Cambodia Town's best Cambodian food. One of her dancers Reaksmey Lath also recommends Siem Reap Restaurant.

Angahara's Ramaa Bharadvaj recommends the "yummy affordable South Indian food" at Vasantha Bhavan in Cerritos.

The Argentinian-born-musicians of Los Pinguos find a little bit of home on the west side of L.A. at Grand Casino Bakery, the only place in L.A. to get Argentine facturas (pastries) and Santino's restaurant/bar. JazzAntiqua's Pat Taylor likes the friendly, outdoor atmosphere of the reasonably priced Café Brasil also on the west side on the way to Marina del Rey.

The Middle Eastern fare at Shiraz in Glendale delights Anna Djanbazian of Djanbazian Dance Company.

Cindy Shea of Mariachi Divas is partial to the Cuban food at Guantanamera and the Italian fare at Pinocchio, both in Burbank. The all-American fare at a nearby landmark restaurant (est. 1946), The Smoke House is favored by the ARC Handbell Choir musicians.

The history of the west is reflected in two eateries in the Antelope Valley familiar to Harmonic Handbell Ensemble's Larry Rowland: Vincent Hill Station, which commemorates the area's historic railroads, and Sutter's Mill, a town favorite that recalls the gold rush era.

Yamashiro, favored by the ARC Handbell Choir's Jane Sarture, hovers high above Hollywood and offers Cal-Asian cuisine. Monica Favand of TRIP Dance Theatre finds more Asian treasures in the same neighborhood. She savors sushi at Sushi Ike and the Thai food at Torung.

The favorite sushi place of Vox Femina's Iris Levine is part of the bustling Culver City nightlife scene: Kaizuka. Levine also likes the French restaurant La Dijonnaise, in the historic Helms Bakery complex.

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