24 Hollywood tourist attractions you shouldn’t miss

This gorgeous outdoor amphitheatre has been hosting concerts since the LA Philharmonic first played here in 1922. Nestled in an aesthetically blessed fold in the Hollywood Hills, the 18,000-seat venue can bring out the romantic in the terminally cynical. It’s the summer home of the LA Phil (and boozy picnics); as long as there’s no performance, it also doubles as a public park.

Fly high on a Hollywood helicopter tour.

There are easier ways to meet your favorite stars than stalking their homes, or trying to sneak your way into the VIP areas at expensive clubs. Simply head to Madame Tussauds Hollywood and hang out with the likes of Brad Pitt, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Marilyn Monroe. And the best bit? They’ll stay still for all your snaps. Nobody will ever know...

The forecourt of this iconic movie theater, filled with foot and hand prints of Hollywood icons, is kind of a tourist-choked hot mess. Most people flock here to measure their own extremities against the likes of John Wayne and Judy Garland. But past that, it’s an entirely different story. You can avoid the crowds by catching a flick inside, where the auditorium is as stunning as the IMAX screen’s laser projection quality (perhaps the best in town).

Take a Hollywood and Beverly Hills minibus tour.

Originally created in 1923, the then “Hollywoodland” sign was supposed to be up for only a year and a half, yet here it is a century later. Getting close to the Hollywood Sign, though, is an often contentious issue thanks to pressure from local homeowners. You can catch a dead-on glimpse of the sign on Beachwood Drive, or farther up the hill near Lake Hollywood Park. Looking to get even closer? Go horseback riding at Sunset Ranch or—of you’re alright with a view from behind—lace up for a trek along the otherwise off limits road on Mt. Lee Drive to where you will be standing directly above the Hollywood Sign and can experience a total 360-degree view of the cityscape.

Book a horseback ride tour near the Hollywood Sign.

This 1927 landmark, a beautiful example of Spanish colonial design, once welcomed the A-listers who frequented it during Hollywood’s heyday. It’s worth walking into the Hollywood Roosevelt just to explore its dramatic downstairs lobby—or to bowl a few frames inside swanky bar the Spare Room.

If you can stomach the suspect superheroes, claustrophobia-inducing crowds and never-ending line of gift shops, tattoo parlors and lingerie stores, there’s actually a fair amount of old Hollywood history and glamour to discover along the Walk of Fame. The immortalized names on those famous five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars run from the Walk’s western extreme at the Hollywood and La Brea Gateway to the W Hotel and Pantages Theater at Gower, and additionally on Vine from the Capitol Records Building down to Sunset, near where the original movie studios sprang up a century ago.

For a Hollywood Boulevard Walking Tour, click here. 
 

This 160-acre park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains has one main loop, plus a bevy of dirt hiking trails. The sea of buff trainers and their sleek, sweaty clients can get to be too much during the busy morning and weekend workout traffic, but you’ll be rewarded with some of the best views of the city (and, if you’re lucky, a chance to gawk at power-walking celebs). The southern entrance is at the end of Fuller Avenue in Hollywood; the northern entrance is off the 7300 block of Mulholland Drive.

Any cemetery that houses the remains of such celluloid luminaries as Cecil B. DeMille, Jayne Mansfield, Rudolph Valentino and Mel Blanc was bound to become a tourist attraction. Aside from popular posthumous celebs, Hollywood Forever is also home to Cinespia’s summer outdoor movie screenings, an annual Day of the Dead festival and concerts, both outside on the lawn and inside the property’s Masonic lodge.

Visit famous Hollywood sites on a bike tour.

Known as Hollywood & Highland when it first opened, this shopping center helped usher in a commercial renaissance along Hollywood Boulevard—well, for a while, at least. Like many American shopping malls, it eventually became a shell of its former self, but a recent makeover that’s renamed the complex Ovation seeks to add a bit of sparkle back to the block. The parking entrances are on Highland Avenue and Orange Drive.

First known as the Kodak until its sponsorship swapped to Dolby in 2012, this 3,400-seat theater routinely hosts Broadway plays, high-profile screenings and the occasional concert. But the main attraction here, of course, is the Academy Awards: The annual star-studded broadcast will continue to be hosted here for the forseeable future, and all of the past Best Picture winners line the columns near the entrance.