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• Mid-City West

Mid-City West

A museum-centric area boasts famous hot dogs and haute cuisine.

Even the casual observer wouldn’t mistake the skyscrapers of Downtown for the beach bungalows of Venice. On the other hand, some areas seem to justify LA’s reputation as a sprawl of burger joints and strip malls, with the odd Art Deco flourish and space-age sign thrown in. Mid-City West (south of West Hollywood and east of Beverly Hills) is one of these places, but don’t let the fact that it doesn’t feel like a neighborhood prevent you from exploring the incredible trove of culture here—from Pleistocene to contemporary and everything in between.

Basking in the company of the area’s star attraction and center of gravity—the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA; 5905 Wilshire Blvd.; 323/857-6000, lacma.org)—are some of the city’s top art galleries, along with excellent niche museums, on a stretch of Wilshire dubbed the Miracle Mile in its 1920s heyday. Nearby on Beverly Boulevard, a small, significant design district and a gourmet’s paradise have sprouted.

Last February, LACMA unveiled a three-story, $56 million extension, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM). While critics called Renzo Piano’s design—red jungle-gym beams on a concrete box with skylights—a bit underwhelming, modern-art lovers are pleased that artists like Damien Hirst and Cindy Sherman are given serious space. Make time to see the Pavilion for Japanese Art, where a stellar collection of works from the Edo period are displayed. Take a quick break from all the man-made objects at LACMA’s next-door neighbor, the La Brea Tar Pits and the accompanying Page Museum, which houses 40,000-year-old fossils (5801 Wilshire Blvd.; 323/934-7243, tarpits.org).

There are several worthwhile museums on the blocks on either side of LACMA, known as Museum Row (including Petersen Automotive Museum, which celebrates SoCal’s love affair with the car; 6060 Wilshire Blvd.; 323/930-2277, petersen.org). Before setting out, grab some lunch at a food stand in the nearby Farmers’ Market, where you can sample delicious international specialties (from a mole chicken burrito at Lotería Grill to French bistro fare at Monsieur Marcel). Farther east, in Koreatown, is a hidden treasure in an indoor mall: the Beverly Hot Springs (308 N. Oxford Ave.; 323/734-7000, beverlyhotsprings.com). Unwind with a soak or an as-painful-as-you-want massage.

Along Museum Row are blue-chip galleries like the Ace Gallery, which has shown Richard Serra and the paintings and photographs of actor Dennis Hopper since opening in the 1960s (5514 Wilshire Blvd.; 323/935-4411, acegallery.net). Many of the art spaces are hidden in large office buildings, such as 6150 Wilshire, home to a number of well-regarded galleries (including ACME; 6150 Wilshire Blvd.; 323/857-5942, acmelosangeles.com). Up La Brea toward Beverly, another cluster of galleries has gathered, including that of an area pioneer, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts (357 N. La Brea Ave.; 323/938-5222, jackrutbergfinearts.com).

For a different kind of gallery experience, drop into the home-design stores along Beverly, where it seems high-end artful living is a natural extension of the art scene. Zelen Home is known for its unique accessories (8055 Beverly Blvd.; 323/658-6756, zelenhome.com); go to Modernica for customizable Eames-style chairs (7366 Beverly Blvd.; 323/933-0383, modernica.net); Emmerson Troop (323/653-9763, emmersontroop.com) and its neighbor Orange (323/782-6898, orange.1stdibs.com), both at 8111 Beverly Boulevard, have impeccable vintage furniture; Shelter concentrates on mid-century-style basics (7920 Beverly Blvd.; 323/937-3222, shelterfurniture.com); and Twentieth (8057 Beverly Blvd.; 323/904-1200, twentieth.net) is reminiscent of the Manhattan design mecca Moss (which has just opened a smaller version on a hip stretch of Melrose; 8444 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood; 323/866-5260, mossonline.com). The Largo at the Coronet theater caters to hipsters of all ages with regular performances by acclaimed local musicians including Jon Brion, Aimee Mann, and Fiona Apple (366 N. La Cienega Blvd.; 310/855-0350, largo-la.com).

Hopefully you’ve made reservations at one of the city’s most celebrated dining rooms, Campanile (624 S. La Brea Ave.; entrées from $21; 323/938-1447, campanilerestaurant.com). The Italian eatery is helmed by Spago alumnus Mark Peel and occupies Charlie Chaplin’s former office. Attached to the restaurant is La Brea Bakery, stocked with artisanal cheeses and fresh-baked loaves (624 S. La Brea Ave.; from $7; 323/939-6813, labreabakery.com). Round the corner onto Beverly’s burgeoning restaurant row, and you’ll find modern chop-house Jar, which serves upscale home cooking like crab deviled eggs in cool 1950s office decor (8225 Beverly Blvd.; entrées from $20; 323/655-6566, thejar.com). Chef Neal Fraser continues to offer one of the city’s best seasonal tasting menus at his lovely Grace (7360 Beverly Blvd.; entrées from $26; 323/934-4400, gracerestaurant.com). Fraser’s more casual spin-off BLD (known for mouth-watering blueberry-ricotta pancakes) is just down the street (7450 Beverly Blvd.; entrées from $14; 323/930-9744, bldrestaurant.com). A block north on Melrose is current celeb and critic favorite Osteria Mozza (partly owned by Mario Batali), which opened last year (6602 Melrose Ave.; entrées from $26; 323/297-0100, mozza-la.com). For something completely different, go to Pink’s Hot Dogs—an LA institution since 1939—on La Brea and Melrose and wait (there’s always a line) with the locals and the occasional celebrity (709 N. La Brea Ave.; from $3; 323/931-4223, pinkshollywood.com).

A great base for exploring the area is the slick new Thompson Beverly Hills, an outpost of SoHo’s trendy 60 Thompson. Spend time at the glorious rooftop pool, where you can take in the Hollywood sign, Downtown’s skyscrapers, and even the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains all at once (9360 Wilshire Blvd.; from $495/night; 310/273-1400, thompsonhotels.com).

See Los Angeles Travel Guide