Odd Things To Do Around Los Angeles

An Overview of Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a vast, sprawling city seated on the California coastline, well-known as the nexus for America’s film and television industries. The city is filled with cultural icons, nearby mountain ranges, famous beaches and the homes of wealthy entertainers. With countless landmarks, great restaurants, hidden parks, odd attractions and an exciting nightlife, there are many odd things to do around Los Angeles.

Odd Things To Do Around Los Angeles

Urban Light Public Artwork

Located near the La Brea Tar Pits, this is a large-scale art installation made of lines of restored streetlamps from the 1920s and 1930s. The unique public artwork is especially pretty at night and a popular place for photos.

Runyon Canyon Park

This is a large park found on the eastern edge of the Santa Monica Mountains. The park is a highly popular hiking destination, as many of the walking trails lead up mountain ridges for stunning views overlooking the city below.

Amoeba Music

This is a legendary music shop which sells iconic posters, interesting band-based merchandise, music paraphernalia, records, disks and other vintage music goods.

Slurpin’ Ramen Bar

This is a laid-back eatery which makes great Japanese ramen with homemade noodles and tasty broth.

Lucha VaVOOM

Embracing elements of humor, energy and awe, this is an indie lucha libre company, combining professional wrestling with Burlesque performances.

La Brea Tar Pits

Found in the urban portion of Los Angeles, the tar pits are an active paleontological research site, best defined by semi-liquid natural asphalt seeping up from the ground. The tar pits have an astonishing range of bones preserved within, including numerous ancient mammals. While admittedly smelly, the tar pits are a fascinating feature of the city and one of the odd things to do around Los Angeles.

Phantasma Gloria

This is a compelling private artwork installation found near Echo Park. Created from a massive dome of colored glass bottles, this artwork is best seen in strong daylight, when the “Virgin of Guadalupe Sun Catcher” reflects and refracts every direction.

Two Bit Circus

This is an indoor entertainment center which operates as a VR-and-Arcade amuseument park. The ever-changing electronic landscape has games, escape rooms and indie arcades within.

CatCafé Lounge

An unsurprisingly adorable coffee shop filled with a kitten lounge, cat nooks and an enclosed patio space.

Peter Lai’s Asian Village

This is an interesting artistic warehouse space teeming with Japan-enthusiast artworks. The venue operates as a combination of museum, studio and archive. The display was created by Hong Kong sculptor Peter Lai and can be visited by-appointment only.

Galco’s Old World Grocery Shop

Galco’s is a huge novelty soda shop with hundreds of off-brand carbonated creations, many with entertaining names, such as the Soviet-themed Leninade, Browsing the strangely-named old-school soda options is one of the odd things to do in Los Angeles.

Griffith Park

This is a popular and expansive park, featured in many films and media. The park contains hiking trails, equestrian routes, views overlooking Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry Museum of the American West, the Griffith Observatory, and the Hollywood Sign.

The Last Bookstore

This is a massive book store and multi-level space further accented by local art. The bookstore operates out of an old bank, so the back rooms contain a heavy-duty bank vault, where many of the rare tomes can be found.

Muscle Beach Venice

This famous beach known as the “Home of Bodybuilding” is a cult-pop-culture zone dedicated to physical fitness, muscle improvements and weight-training. The area is filled with interesting graffiti and gained fame thanks to bodybuilders like Franco Columbu, Lou Ferrigno, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Frank Zane.

Pink’s Hot Dogs

This unassuming hot dog stand has an amazingly strong cult following. The hot dogs are gourmet, but during mealtimes, the line can stretch long.

Sunken City

The Sunken City of LA exists in Point Fermin where a large landslide in 1929 caused several beach properties to slide dramatically into the ocean. The area is still filled with worn-Earth and the ruins of beachside homes.

Clifton’s Cafeteria

This is a moderately famous, historical dining establishment. The interior alone is worth a visit, as the entire building is filled with a massive central pillar, making guests feel like they’re eating in a Redwood forest.

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve

The Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is a natural reserve with long boardwalks wandering into beautiful marshes. The area is popular to visit to see migratory birds in the area, depending on the season.

Echo Park Time Travel Mart

Easily described as a “Convenience Store for Time Travelers,” this non-profit mart sells novelty goods useful to those hopping through the fourth dimension.

Bearded Lady’s Mystic Museum

Sometimes called “Mystic Museum” this is a curiosity vintage shop located in Burbank. The museum has numerous novelty items and strange displays, all alluding to the bygone era of traveling circuses.

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

This is a supremely relaxing area to spend a day. The Huntington complex houses a beautiful library dedicated to educational and research material, a130 acres of botanical landscapes and themed gardens and an extensive British, European, American, and Asian art collection. There’s a fee to enter and tickets must be purchased in advance.

Los Angeles Country Arboretum

This is a sprawling greenspace known for its arboretum, botanical garden, historical sites and excellent hillside views of the San Gabriel Mountains. Open daily, this venue usually isn’t overly crowded and has a small flock of free-range peacocks.

The Broad

This is an interesting contemporary art museum found on Grand avenue. The free-general-admission museum exists inside a unique honeycomb-walled building, it’s interior filled with both permanent and rotating exhibitions.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology

Undoubtedly one of the strange museums in L.A, the Museum of Jurassic Technology is carefully filled with odd displays, including micro-sculptures, trailer park artifacts, curiosity objects and purposefully confusing exhibits. The museum is wholly dedicated to providing both a general understanding of it’s displays, while also fostering a lack of clarity.

Cakeland.LA

Cakeland.LA is a little building in Chinatown where the interior is decorated to look like a elaborate cake. The strange patterns, frosted interior and immersive art experience is a compelling activity to enjoy in LA.

Little Tokyo

This is an excellent, ethnically Japanese-American district with many shops, restaurants and cultural landmarks.

Hollywood Sculpture Garden

This is a private residence where a series of local, national and international artists created a massive art complex of unsual design. Abstract, outdoor, free-standing sculptures can be found through a garden space. The garden requires a call in advance to enter.

Watts Tower Art Center

Otherwise known as the “Towers of Simon Rodia,” or “Nuestro Pueblo” these are a collection of 17 interconnected sculpture spires featuring mosaics and gravity-defying designs.

Mosaic Tile House LA

Found near Venice California, this is a beautiful structure absolutely covered with splintered-glass mosaics, broken ceramics and tile chips.

Templo Santa de Muerte

Notable for the numerous, colorful reaper-like figures in and around the temple, this single-room religious site is dedicated to Santa Muerte, the Mexican folk-saint usually depicted as a female skeleton wearing colorful robes.

Box Canyon

found inside the Chatsworth Nature Preserve, this is a narrow river canyon with steep walls and rocky hideaways. The space has a strange history, as it was once the base of operations for a doomsday cult, founded by Francis Pencovic, also called Krishna Venta, who claimed to be the second coming of Christ. The cult had a small monastery and a decent reputation, thanks to their efforts in fighting local wildfires. The founder Venta was eventually killed in a suicide-bomber dynamite explosion.

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