Los Angeles

Finding Hollywoodland

So, you're going to Los Angeles and you want to experience some of that old-fashioned Hollywood glitz from the golden age of cinema. Walking in the footsteps of Bogart, Dietrich, Gable, or Monroe is easy if you know where to look. The legendary likes of Ciro's, the Garden of Allah, the Mocambo, Pickfair, and Romanoff's may have long been confined to the realms of our wild imaginations, replaced with malls and 7-Elevens. But it is still possible to immerse yourself in that quintessential Hollywood Babylon experience.

Sinatra's Los Angeles wasn't the city of freeways and juice bars that it's become. It was a city of dimly lit Italian restaurants, hotel bars where nobody bothered you, and booths at the back of rooms where deals were done over steaks and martinis. Remarkably, many of the places he frequented are still open.

" Harry Cohn, founder of Columbia Pictures, famously said: "If you're going to get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont."

Museums and Landmarks

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, opened in 2021 on Wilshire Boulevard in the stunning art deco May Company building (with a Renzo Piano-designed glass sphere attached), is now the definitive museum of cinema in the United States. Its galleries house the Rosebud sled from Citizen Kane, Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, and the sole surviving mechanical shark from Jaws. Don't miss the Oscars Experience, where you can hold a real Academy Award. Admission around $25; under-17s free.

The Hollywood Museum, set in the old Max Factor building on Highland Avenue, gives you the most bang for your golden-era buck — Jane Russell's torn dress from The Outlaw, Elvis's bathrobe, and the make-up rooms where Monroe, Rita Hayworth, and Elizabeth Taylor were transformed into glamour icons. Admission around $15. The Larry Edmunds Bookshop, opened on Hollywood Boulevard in 1938, is one of the last independent film bookshops of its kind in the world.

For the truly devoted, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is the resting place of Cecil B. DeMille, Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, and Bugsy Siegel, and hosts Cinespia outdoor movie screenings projected onto the side of a mausoleum during summer. Forest Lawn in Glendale holds Humphrey Bogart, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, and Elizabeth Taylor.

The Hollywood Sign

The Griffith Observatory trail to the Hollywood Sign is one of the most popular hikes in LA and offers spectacular views of the city and the sign itself. The sign was originally erected in 1923 as an advertisement for a housing development called "Hollywoodland" — the "land" was removed in 1949.

Classic film fans will know that the sign plays a central role in the story of Peg Entwistle, a struggling actress who climbed to the top of the letter "H" and jumped to her death in 1932, becoming one of Hollywood's most tragic figures. The hike is moderate, about 5 miles round trip, and best done in the morning before the heat kicks in. Free.

Where to Stay

It's pricey, but there is nowhere better to stay in town for the quintessential Hollywood experience than the Beverly Hills Hotel. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks resided in the hills behind it at their legendary Pickfair estate. The infamous bungalows were used by Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marlene Dietrich to conduct their much-gossiped-about love affairs. Taylor and Burton's favourite was Bungalow 5; lucky number 7 was Marilyn's, and is named Norma Jean in her memory. Rooms from around $700 per night; bungalows from considerably more.

The Hollywood Roosevelt was opened in 1927 by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Sid Grauman, and Louis B. Mayer. The first Academy Awards ceremony was held in its Blossom Room in 1929, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard carried on their affair in the penthouse, and Marilyn Monroe lived here for two years as her modelling career took off. Rooms from around $250 per night. For privacy rather than publicity, the Hotel Bel-Air, opened in 1946 in 12 acres of gardens in Stone Canyon, was the choice of Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, and Gary Cooper — its Swan Lake, complete with actual swans, is one of the most peaceful spots in Los Angeles. Rooms from around $600 per night.

The Culver Hotel, a 1924 art deco gem in the heart of Culver City, has one of the best old Hollywood stories of any hotel in LA: the Munchkin actors from The Wizard of Oz stayed here during filming at the adjacent MGM lot in 1938. Rooms from around $200 per night. Downtown, the Millennium Biltmore hosted the Academy Awards several times in the early years (1931, 1935-1939, and 1942), and its ornate lobby has appeared in everything from Ghostbusters to Chinatown to The Bodyguard. Rooms from around $180 per night.

Where to Eat

Musso and Frank Grill, opened in 1919, is a must for anyone looking to experience old Hollywood as the stars once did. The management refuse to clean the fading frescoes because the ceiling is stained with the smoke of Bogart's cigarettes. Take one of the secluded booths of dark wood where Bacall and Sinatra once sat. The martini, served with a sidecar of the excess in a small carafe, is the thing to order. Mains from around $30.

The Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax, established in 1934, has over 100 vendors and has been frequented by the stars ever since — Ava Gardner used to shop here, and Patsy D'Amore's claimed to sell Frank Sinatra's favourite pizza (a slice of Ol' Blue Eyes's pizza pie costs less than $5). The Formosa Cafe, where Sinatra spent many lonely evenings in the 1950s as his marriage to Ava floundered, was beautifully restored and reopened in 2019 with its vintage memorabilia intact. Dan Tana's on Santa Monica Boulevard has been serving Hollywood royalty since 1964 — Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. were regulars; reservations essential.

La Dolce Vita in Beverly Hills is another essential stop: Sinatra didn't just eat here, he funded the restaurant, and you can still request his personal booth. For deeper roots, Tam O'Shanter is LA's oldest restaurant (1922) and Walt Disney's favourite, while Philippe The Original (1908) claims to have invented the French Dip sandwich — a claim disputed by Cole's across town.

Where to Drink

Sinatra and the Rat Pack spent many drunken nights at the Beverly Hills Hotel's legendary Polo Lounge, still the power-lunch spot of choice for Hollywood's upper echelons. The Tower Bar at the Sunset Tower Hotel occupies a former luxury apartment complex where Bugsy Siegel, Mae West, Errol Flynn, and Jean Harlow lived; Truman Capote described it as "where every scandal that ever happened, happened."

The Chateau Marmont, perched somewhat menacingly above Sunset Boulevard, has been steeped in Hollywood legend since it opened in 1929 — Greta Garbo lived here, F. Scott Fitzgerald had a heart attack here, and James Dean jumped through one of its windows to impress Nicholas Ray before he cast him in Rebel Without a Cause. It has transitioned to a members-only private club in recent years, though non-members may still be able to access the restaurant with a reservation.

For something divier, the Frolic Room near the Pantages Theatre began as a speakeasy in the early 1930s and was the last place the Black Dahlia was seen alive; Boardner's, opened in 1942 off Hollywood Boulevard, is one of the oldest continuously operating bars in Hollywood, where Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart drank. The Spare Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt offers classic cocktails and two vintage bowling lanes from the 1930s.

Studios and the MGM Lot

The Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood is the one for classic film fans: the dedicated TCM Classic Films Tour, hosted on video by Ben Mankiewicz, Eddie Muller, and Jacqueline Stewart, walks you through soundstages where Casablanca, My Fair Lady, and A Star Is Born were filmed. The standard tour is $70 adults, $60 children.

Paramount is the only major studio still located in Hollywood proper. Its Bronson Gate on Marathon Street is the most famous studio entrance in the world, but for Sunset Boulevard fans the real pilgrimage is the cemetery gate on Lemon Grove Avenue — the arched gate Gloria Swanson's car passes through as Norma Desmond declares herself "ready for my close-up." The Sony Studios lot in Culver City was once home to MGM, the studio that made more stars than any other; Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, and Clark Gable all worked here. Tours from around $50.

Hollywood Homes

One of the great pleasures of exploring old Hollywood is driving past the homes where the legends actually lived. None are open to the public — these are private residences, so please be respectful — but many are visible from the road, and a slow drive through Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, and the canyons is an atmospheric way to spend an afternoon.

10615 Bellagio Road in Bel-Air was the bachelor pad shared by Cary Grant and Randolph Scott during the 1930s, where they threw legendary pool parties. Marilyn Monroe's last home, where she died on 4 August 1962, is a modest Spanish-style bungalow at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood — the most visited private residence in Los Angeles. Rudolph Valentino's "Falcon Lair" stands at 1436 Bella Drive in Beverly Hills, and at 2707 Benedict Canyon Road, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall rented Hedy Lamarr's "Hedgerow Farm" from April 1946. A number of companies offer guided Hollywood Homes tours by bus or van; tours from around $50.