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

Unusual Attractions in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Underground Tunnels of Los Angeles

During prohibition, corrupt city officials ran drinking dens under the streets of Downtown Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, California

The Museum of Death

World's largest collection of serial killer artwork and other macabre exhibits.

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 Last Bookstore

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

Los Angeles, California

Sunken City

A jumble of foundations, streets, and streetcar tracks inhabit the cliff where a landslide occurred in 1929.

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

Bradbury Building

The legendary building that needed ghostly approval before being built.

Los Angeles, California

Old Zoo Picnic Area

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

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Upcoming Experiences Near Los Angeles

The Abandoned Zoo Ruins of Griffith Park

Holllywood, Los Angeles, California

Exploring Historic Homes of the Stars

Santa Monica, California

Unique Food & Drink in Los Angeles

Szechuan Button

This herb gives cocktails another kind of buzz.

The Zombie

Donn Beach only wrote the recipe for his famously potent cocktail in secret code.

Hangtown Fry

This bacon-and-oyster omelet was a status symbol during the California Gold Rush.

Steam Beer

The unique style born out of the California Gold Rush blends the crispness of a lager with the flavor of an ale.

Atlas Obscura Trips

City of Secrets: Underground in Los Angeles

On this an insider’s journey into the City of Angeles, we'll discover the murals and art of the famous Arts district with a resident artist, clink glasses at an underground speakeasy, and hike through hidden ruins with a suspicious past, all in pursuit of the less angelic side of the City of Angels.

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Stories About Los Angeles

Novelist Sir Walter Scott, who lived from 1771 to 1832.

Why 1920s L.A. Went Wild for an 18th-Century Scottish Novelist

Walter Scott wrote fantasies about medieval Saxons—just the thing for Jazz Age Angelenos.

by Keith Johnston

January 7, 2021

Some of the Violins of Hope on the stage of The Soraya.

The Holocaust-Surviving Violins That Were Quarantined Beneath a California Stage

The pandemic layover and their eventual return home is a new chapter in a long history.

by Matthew Taub

October 1, 2020

Eupelmid wasp from the genus <em>Metapelma</em>.

L.A.'s Insects Are Hairy, Iridescent, and Crazy Photogenic

The creatures are ready for their close-ups—in the name of getting a better handle on biodiversity in the bustling city.

by Jessica Leigh Hester

How a Photographer Recreated Outdoor Adventures With Household Stuff

Think of it as the Great Indoors.

"The package may be small, but you will know it does not need to hold the love I send, for that cannot be confined," Hildreth Heiney wrote to her fiancé in 1918. The man in the photograph, identified as John, may be her brother.

A Trove of Sad, Funny, and Familiar Stories From the 1918 Flu Pandemic

A UCLA librarian has built a remarkable collection of century-old letters, diaries, and photographs.

by Jessica Klein

Hear the Soundscapes of Cities Transformed

"It is, in a word, quiet."

by Matt Mikkelsen

A food truck fit for a prince.

The Exiled Prince Behind Los Angeles's Only Fresh-Pasta Food Truck

Bend the macaro-knee.

February 27, 2020

SHAN Wallace, <em>The Makeover of Progress</em>, 2019. The Annenberg Space for Photography commissioned the photographer to document the wall along Detroit's 8 Mile Road, which segregated the city's working-class homeowners.

Photographers Take on the World's Walls, Borders, and Barriers

An exhibit documents the obstacles we erect, and how we overcome them.

November 26, 2019

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