Art of the City: Kimchi, Craft Beer, and Urban Light in Los Angeles

Los Angeles can be a dream or a nightmare. For the uninitiated, it’s easy to fall into the superficial tourist traps and spend hours trying to make your way across the city’s massive urban sprawl through the tangle of freeways that sometimes feel less functional than clogged arteries.

I’ve had more than one person tell me they didn’t like Los Angeles. From personal experience, I know that it can be an acquired taste. But once you accept the fact that it will take you 30 minutes to go 5 miles and you start exploring by neighborhoods instead of trying to swallow whole, you’ll see that this city is anything but shallow.

Los Angeles has long been a city of transplants, with so many coming to realize their dream. But that’s made everything from the people to the food to the art scene an eclectic mix that is constantly reinventing itself, almost like a perpetual renaissance. Even classic spots find ways to put on new twists. Whether it is your first visit or fifteenth, here’s a fresh and fun guide to all the things to do in Los Angeles to celebrate the city’s artistic roots.

If you’ve done a weekend in Los Angles right, you’ve spent most of your time basking in the sunshine, not the glow of the brake lights in front of you (download Waze and thank me later). Since you’ve only just skimmed the surface, start planning your next weekend back soon.