Westside Guide
Affluent and influential, the Westside is pure LA glamour. Even Westside neighborhoods have as much fame as the celebrities who live in them: Brentwood, Bel-Air, Westwood, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Culver City, Century City. It’s a place of movie stars and movie moguls, swimming pools and sports cars — but don’t forget the world-famous cultural institutions, hotels, shopping and dining that round out the Westside experience.
Westside Overview
Where to Eat: Dine and Design
Where to Shop: Fab Fashions
What to See: Moments You’ll Remember
Where to Stay: Chic Westside Hotels
Westside Overview
In Brentwood, the Getty Center sits like a shining city on a hill with centuries’ worth of art and design in a stunning architectural setting. Meanwhile, the mansions of Brentwood and Bel-Air stud the surrounding hills like diamonds on a lush, green pillow, giving you a glimpse of what Westside is all about.
Legendary Sunset Boulevard takes you east through Westwood and Beverly Hills, where Rodeo Drive is just one avenue in the world’s most famous shopping district. And on Beverly Hills’ palm-lined byways, you may think you’re in a movie yourself.
The Sunset Strip in West Hollywood is one of America’s classic drives. Running through the shadow of the Hollywood Hills and looking out over the entire city, it’s lined with chic clubs, hotels, restaurants and the faces of the famous beaming down from larger-than-life billboards. The strip became so crowded with see-and-be-seen drivers that the police had to decree it a "No Cruising Zone."
Farther east, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the largest encyclopedic museum in the western United States, and its new addition, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), has already gained a reputation as one of the most impressive contemporary art venues in the country.
The LACMA campus anchors Museum Row along Wilshire Boulevard, which also includes the La Brea Tar Pits, the Petersen Automotive Museum and the Craft and Folk Art Museum.
Where to Eat: Dine and Design
La Cienega Boulevard is LA’s most high profile restaurant row. Before legendary chef Nobu Matsuhisa became known as simply Nobu, he opened a tony eatery here that still bears his last name. Other La Cienega highlights include Korean barbecue, Brazilian churrascaria (Fogo de Chão) and all-American roast beef (Lawry’s The Prime Rib). Other restaurants of note on La Cienega include favorites such as Simon LA and The Stinking Rose.
The Westside’s newest hot eat street is West Third Street. Visit for takeout, casual or elegant dining options. To its north, Beverly Boulevard and Melrose Avenue feature old-time favorites and modern American-style cooking.
The Sunset Strip offers a constant crop of new restaurants for a forever hip crowd, such as Blowfish LA. The Sunset Plaza area is lined with French and Italian sidewalk cafés filled with sunglass-wearing patrons.
In Beverly Hills, Wolfgang Puck’s Spago defined California cuisine for the world. His newest venture, Cut, has garnered as much acclaim as his original flagship. And if you're looking to get clubby with the movers and shaker, stop by The Polo Lounge.
Farther west, The Restaurant at the Hotel Bel-Air could hardly be more romantic. Or in Westwood, sample Persian specialties or student eats around the UCLA campus. An ice cream sandwich between two fresh-baked cookies at Diddy Riese is a rite of passage, and Korean-style frozen yogurt at Pinkberry is the newest chic treat. Sawtelle Boulevard, west of the 405 Freeway, is the Little Tokyo of the Westside; it bustles with yakitori houses, ramen shops and sushi bars.
Where to Shop: Fab Fashions
Pull out all the stops and the credit cards because shopping in the Westside is a way of life. Recent renovations and openings have made the Westside more of a shopping destination than ever.
Start at the Beverly Center, an iconic, upscale shopping mall. Newly renovated, it features international brands ranging from Hugo Boss to Hello Kitty. A short drive east on West Third Street takes you through a hip shopping strip of women's accessories and quirky gifts, cook stores and travel goods. Soon you’ll reach The Grove, one of LA's most popular retail complexes, home to Nordstrom, American Girl Place and the West Coast flagship store of Abercrombie & Fitch, plus restaurants, movies and a dancing fountain. An old-fashioned trolley makes the two-minute run to the historic Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax.
Robertson Boulevard between West Third Street and Beverly Boulevard booms with sleek boutiques for fancy jeans and skinny minis; not to mention paparazzi camped outside looking for celebs. Just beyond, Robertson and Beverly Boulevards, Melrose Avenue and Third Street are teeming with hundreds of home design shops, including the blue and green “whales” of the Pacific Design Center.
Sunset Plaza on the Sunset Strip has boutiques with fur-trimmed leather accessories, bright purses in fruity colors and antique furniture, as well as designer shops such as A/X, Cavalli and Anna Sui.
Mention Rodeo Drive anywhere on earth, and you’ve conjured up fashion from Armani to Zegna. On this main drag of Beverly Hills’ Golden Triangle, the streetlamps are chandeliers and Harry Winston bejewels the stars for award ceremonies. Two Rodeo is a destination in itself, with cobblestone streets and an Italian-style piazza, the better for you to model the Versace, Tiffany or Gianfranco Ferre you’ve just bought here. Along Wilshire Boulevard are top-name department stores including Saks Fifth Avenue.
Westfield Century City Shoppingtown offers many reasons to be outdoors, many of which include its specialty shops, department stores (Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s), movie theaters and shiny new food court. Or pick up that sweatshirt at the UCLA Store — go on, we know you’ve always wanted one — or the latest in Japanese manga and anime on Sawtelle Boulevard. Bring the kids, or at least bring something home for them.
And in Culver City, furniture sells like hotcakes in the former Helms Bakery building.
What to See: Moments You’ll Remember
LACMA, the La Brea Tar Pits and the Getty Center are only the highest profile venues on the Westside; there’s a wealth of sights and activities beyond.
The Farmers Market, next to The Grove, is a cherished LA tradition, with bakeries, candy makers, spin-the-globe ethnic cuisines, gourmet shops and informal picnic-style seating to eat what you buy.
Nearby, watch a TV show taping at CBS Television City, or relive your favorite moments of yesteryear at the Paley Center for Media. Nearby, the Museum of Tolerance makes for a sobering visit, touching on subjects from civil rights in America to the Holocaust.
The Fairfax district is the historic hub of Southern California’s Jewish population; go for a stroll and find rugalach, matzo ball soup and music from Israel. South of Fairfax Avenue is Little Ethiopia, while there’s a Brazilian presence along Venice Boulevard in West LA. And of course don’t forget the Japanese district along Sawtelle Boulevard.
Just beyond the Getty Center, the Skirball Cultural Center offers an overview of Jewish history in America. The newest addition is an 8,000-square-foot art installation about Noah’s Ark, a historic hands-on exhibit for children.
A nighttime drive along the Sunset Strip is the stuff of dreams. Make sure to stop at one of the celebrated nightclubs like Privilege. Take in a night of improv at The Comedy Store, or grab a show by a top-name performer at the House of Blues Sunset Strip (the Sunday gospel brunch there defines exuberance).
To cool your jets after all that activity, wander through the woodsy campus of UCLA in Westwood to see fine outdoor sculpture, and stop to browse the mix of bookstores and college coffee shops in Westwood itself.
Where to Stay: Chic Westside Hotels
The Westside has some of the hippest and most elegant hotels in the country, if not the world. You needn’t be a celebrity to receive the star treatment.
Hotel Bel-Air couldn’t be more secluded or fabulous. Cross a romantic bridge over a swan pond to this leafy estate, and enjoy a palatial room in a garden setting. The W Los Angeles – Westwood towers over Westwood, bringing its own contemporary style to the UCLA campus.
East along Sunset Boulevard, The Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows is a legendary pink palace ensconced among mansions. You saw the The Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel in Pretty Woman, and it’s still the anchor of Beverly Hills at the foot of Rodeo Drive. The Avalon Hotel in central Beverly Hills mixes 1950s retro-chic with a cool Zen vibe, especially around its gourd-shaped pool.
And who can resist the tantalizing city views from LA's hip hotel central, the Sunset Strip? The Sunset Marquis & Villas is a favorite of visitors in the music industry.
Several new hotels have joined the ranks in 2008. Hotel Palomar boasts 294 rooms as well as a destination spa, while SLS at Beverly Hills, set to open in the fall of 2008, is SBE Hotel Group’s new venture, with creative mastermind Phillipe Starck spearheading the design.
