222 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Los Angeles - Atlas Obscura

Unusual Attractions in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

The Last Bookstore

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

Los Angeles, California

The Echo Park Time Travel Mart

Non-profit time travel mart sells goods you would need for a trip through the fourth dimension.

Los Angeles, California

Sunken City

Remants of foundations, streets, and streetcar tracks inhabit the cliffs where a landslide occurred in 1929.

Los Angeles, California

Bradbury Building

The legendary building that needed ghostly approval before being built.

Los Angeles, California

Griffith Observatory's Tesla Coil

High on a hill overlooking Los Angeles lives a world famous, high power conical Tesla Coil.

Los Angeles, California

Old Zoo Picnic Area

The abandoned zoo enclosures offer a perfect place to experience the other side of the bars.

Los Angeles, California

Bronson Cave

It should come as no surprise that the best view of the Hollywood sign is from Batman's lair.

Los Angeles, California

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Resting place of Hollywood's immortals is also site of summer film screenings.

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Los Angeles, California

The Echo Park Time Travel Mart

Non-profit time travel mart sells goods you would need for a trip through the fourth dimension.

Los Angeles, California

The Music Box Steps

The site of a classic series of Laurel and Hardy pratfalls.

Los Angeles, California

Soap Plant / Wacko

An expansive book store, art gallery, and curio shop with wares ranging from tarot cards to novelty socks.

Los Angeles, California

Tiki-Ti

Established in the '60s, a family-owned tropical drink bar founded by Ray Buhen, bartender to the stars.

Los Angeles, California

Wat Thai Temple Food Market

Every weekend, the parking lot of this Buddhist temple turns into a Thai street-food paradise.

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Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Galco's Soda Pop Stop

Shop selling 500 flavors of soda has something for everyone.

Los Angeles, California

Tiki-Ti

Established in the '60s, a family-owned tropical drink bar founded by Ray Buhen, bartender to the stars.

Los Angeles, California

Pink's Hot Dogs

World-famous, Pink's still manages to keep its prized cult fetish status.

Los Angeles, California

Idle Hour

The programmatic glory of LA's giant whiskey barrel building has become an upscale reminder of the city's kitschy roadside past.

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Stories About Los Angeles

Podcast: Watts Towers

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

by The Podcast Team

Podcast: Kuruvungna Sacred Springs

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

by The Podcast Team

The front of LA Plaza Cocina.

Inside LA's First Mexican Food Museum

Or how to channel 5,000 years of history into one exhibit.

by Diana Hubbell

Podcast: Leimert Park

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

by The Podcast Team

February 8, 2022

Two siblings—Aiko and her brother Isamu—pose in their masks in the yard of their family home on Los Feliz Boulevard near Griffith Park, where their parents ran a flower nursery. This photo, taken in 1925, was collected as part of Shades of L.A., an outreach program the library conducted in the 1990s to diversify its photo collection.

Explore a Century of Halloween in L.A. Through Vintage Photographs

An eerie/fun glimpse into the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection.

October 8, 2021

A cottage on the Barlow Respiratory Hospital grounds in 2021.

Seeing the Pandemic Through the Shuttered Bungalows of an L.A. Sanatorium

Once a haven for tuberculosis patients, Barlow Respiratory Hospital is uniquely suited to the COVID and post-COVID eras.

by Elizabeth Svoboda

Even miles inland, cows' overgrazing can have offshore consequences.

How Cows Destroyed an Entire Marine Ecosystem in California

A researcher's quest to understand a mysterious mass extinction leads to cud-chewing culprits.

by Jack Tamisiea

Now that's a city harvest.

Tons of Delicious Fruit in Los Angeles Is Going Uneaten

A story of immigrant populations, gentrification, and the free loquat bonanza.

by Dan Nosowitz

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