Family Friendly Los Angeles

Family Friendly Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California (D)

Welcome to Los Angeles, capital of the West. We are home to more than four million souls. Our city has plenty to offer to locals and smart travelers seeking out Family Friendly sites. LA is more than just a trip to Universal Studios, Disneyland, or Magic Mountain. There are a myriad of family friendly sites to visit. This guide will take you to eight exciting locations in Los Angeles County.
How it works: The full article is featured in the app "GPSmyCity: Walks in 1K+ Cities" on Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Download the app to your mobile device to read the article offline and create a self-guided walking tour to visit the sights featured in this article. The app's navigation functions guide you from one sight to the next. The app works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

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Sights Featured in This Article

Guide Name: Family Friendly Los Angeles
Guide Location: USA » Los Angeles
Guide Type: Self-guided Walking Tour (Article (D))
# of Attractions: 7
Author: Michael Thal
Author Bio: Michael L. Thal, an accomplished freelancer, is the author of The Legend of Koolura and Goodbye Tchaikovsky. He has written and published over eighty articles for magazines and newspapers including Highlights for Children, The Los Angeles Times, and San Diego Family Magazine. You can learn more about him at www.michaelthal.com.
Author Website: http://www.michaelthal.com
Sight(s) Featured in This Guide:
  • Santa Monica Pier
  • Venice Beach
  • La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum
  • Hollywood Boulevard
  • Olvera Street
  • Little Tokyo
  • Exposition Park
1
Santa Monica Pier

1) Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica Pier is a mecca of fun. There’s an amusement park, aquarium, and the historic Merry-Go-Round with specialty shops, restaurants, and an old-fashioned soda fountain. Rides include a Pirate Ship, Wave Jumper, and Sea Planes. Want to go fishing? You can do that too. If biking is your passion, there’s an 8.5 mile bike path passing the pier and places to rent bicycles. If you show up at the pier at night, there’s all-American live rock at Rusty’s.
Image Courtesy of Alex Proimos.
2
Venice Beach

2) Venice Beach

Abbot Kinney, a land developer, founded Venice Beach in 1905. The area became a magnet for tourists worldwide. Arnold Schwarzenegger got discovered at Muscle Beach and modern skateboarding was born here. The Venice Beach Skate Park is testament to that. As you stroll along the 3-mile boardwalk, expect to see the weird and unexpected. Numerous sidewalk cafes boarder the way accompanied by Henna tattoos, boutiques and Jamaican crafts. You’ll also encounter a fishing pier, paddle tennis courts, basketball courts, and much more.
3
La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum

3) La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum

Located in the heart of Los Angeles, the La Brea Tar Pits of Hancock Park are the most famous Ice Age fossil excavation site in the world. It contains about 59 species of mammal and more than 135 species of bird fossils. Also included are plant, mollusks and insects—more than 660 organisms can be found here. On the site is the Page Museum where Ice Age fossils are on display. These include the saber-toothed cat, dire wolves, and mammoths. Science also unfolds here as scientists in a Fish Bowl lab prepare fossils including “Zed,” a recently discovered male Columbian mammoth.
Image Courtesy of 3scandal0.
4
Hollywood Boulevard

4) Hollywood Boulevard

There’s so much to see on Hollywood Boulevard. First, there’s the Hollywood Walk of Fame where stars are immortalized in slabs of concrete with their foot and handprints preserved for all to compare. You don’t want to miss the Dolby Theater (Previously known as the Kodak Theater) where the Academy Awards have been held since 2002. The Ripley’s Believe it or Not Odditorium is close by where you can witness 300 items on display including a two-headed cow, shrunken heads, and human freaks. Next door is the Guinness Museum and down the street is the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. Restaurants and movie theaters including the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theater also line the Boulevard guaranteeing everyone a good time.
Image Courtesy of Ben Sherman.
5
Olvera Street

5) Olvera Street

Los Angeles wasn’t always our nation’s second largest city. Back in 1781, when Filipe de Neve, a Mexican provincial governor, founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Senor a la Reina de Los Angeles (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels) it was a sleepy village. As the years passed, the pueblo became the provincial capital of Alta California, a Mexican province. Today, this Los Angeles birthplace provides a historic setting for LA’s oldest street where you can find Avila Adobe, the oldest building in Los Angeles, The Sepulveda House, Plaza Firehouse, the Chinese American Museum, and rows of kiosks and shops where venders sell their Mexican wares.
6
Little Tokyo

6) Little Tokyo

Little Tokyo, a quiet corner near downtown Los Angeles was initially settled by Japanese immigrants during the 1860s. Today it is the heart of the largest Japanese population in the United States. Exciting places to visit there include the Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka Memorial, Japanese American National Museum, and the Go for Broke National Monument. It boasts of forty different restaurants, shopping malls, hotels and a fun nightlife.
7
Exposition Park

7) Exposition Park

Exposition Park offers visitors world-class museums, sport facilities, and recreational areas. The African American Museum has superb exhibits, educational programs, and workshops. The California Science Center presents interactive science exhibits and galleries including the Space Shuttle Endeavour. On the site of the 1932 Olympics, the Expo Center is a recreation area with a 50-meter competition pool, two gyms, sports field, and outdoor amphitheater. An IMAX theater is also at the park as well as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena. Finally, no visitor would want to miss the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum with its new “Dinosaur Hall,” the most extraordinary dinosaur exhibit in the world.
Image Courtesy of Richard H. Kim.

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