With Maxjet now flying to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) from Stansted and competing with British Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, the US west coast city that also features Hollywood, is bound to gain much more media exposure during the coming months.
Los Angeles has changed quite dramatically over the last decade. Yes it does have its areas where visitors (and locals) would not go out during the night or even for that matter in daylight hours, but the city does seem to have rejuvenated itself. Even the smog has to a large extent lifted with only the ten-lane motorways and the crawling traffic to remind you of a bygone era.
It is possible on a short trip to gain an impression of an area, but it does help if you have been before. The editor-in-chief arrived during one of those long weekends when America tends to close down, this excuse known as ”Labor Day”.
LAX is a fine airport spoilt by the worst immigration operation of any current US gateway. It was bad when Ronnie Reagan was governor. Arnold Schwarzenegger needs to sort things out.
Hosting the Maxjet party, the extremely modern Hotel Angeleno was previously a Holiday Inn, now completely re-modelled with a stunning penthouse cocktail lounge. Situated at the very end of Sunset Boulevard, where it crosses the San Diego Highway (Route 405), prices start from an extremely reasonable ”85 ($170) per room per night.
The city of Los Angeles (LA) has a population of 3.8m and the county of the same name, around 10m. LA was built on a desert basin and subject to visits by earthquakes, but the county also has 81 miles of coastline and Mount San Antonio rises to 10,000ft (3,000m) above sea level.
For 290 days of the year you can expect sunny or partly sunny days with the average temperature just under 70”F (20”C), although it can get extremely hot during the main summer months. Air conditioning is the norm.
ABTN will always recommend hiring a car out of LAX. Yes there are buses to the central area and major hotels, and a metro system of sorts, but the whole place is geared up for the automobile.
For visitors from the UK, driving on the right with a left hand drive car is not difficult and is something one can get used to easily. Stick to your lanes on the Freeway.
The attractions of Los Angeles and Hollywood are numerous, including China Town and the Hollywood ”Walk of Fame” at one end of the spectrum and the Huntington Library and gardens and the Ronald Reagan presidential library and museum at a more sophisticated level. For the young (and not so young), the Queen Mary (pictured above right) is at Long Beach, there are the various film studio tours and other top grade attractions, plus Disney Land, a holiday in itself.
Relatively new and opened in October 2003, is the Walt Disney Concert Hall designed by Frank Ghery, also responsible for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and contrary to rumour/hearsay, nothing like it at all.
The magnificent structure must be one of the great free visits anywhere in the world.
The building was donated to the citizens of Los Angeles by Lillian Disney, Walt”s widow. Although it took 16 years to build and was completed after her death it was not due to the usual wrangling between architects, authorities and planners but the great Los Angeles earthquake of 1994 which caused a complete rethink on how structures should be put together in the city.
From the Grand Avenue level, visitors are taken up through the various lobbies and terraces before emerging in the magnificent 2,265-seat concert hall itself.
Those using the audio system (again courtesy of LA County), will hear background music by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Master Chorale. From the theatre balcony at level five, it is down to the concert hall gardens on level three, where there is a small amphitheatre for children”s shows and a whole series of lakes and artistic pieces. You can also get married here. Built on a concrete base it is officially a Los Angeles State Park.
Currently under construction, and coming along fast, is LA Live, (also popularly called Times Square West) the new Los Angeles sports and entertainment district in downtown LA.
Adjacent to the Staples Center (home of the Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Sparks, and Avengers sports teams), LA Live is expected to cost approximately $2.5bn (”1.15bn) funded by Anschutz Entertainment Group (owners of The London Dome ” now known as O2), Wachovia Corp, and investment firm MacFarlane Partners with help from Los Angeles taxpayers. The district is expected to revive downtown LA and help it compete with San Diego and San Francisco for convention centre business.
The multi-faceted entertainment destination will feature entertainment venues, restaurants, retail commercial and residential spaces, television and radio broadcast studios, and concert areas.
Highlights of the district will include a 54-storey tower housing two hotels and serviced residences (under the JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Residences At The Ritz-Carlton brands), a 40,000sq ft outdoor plaza, an ESPN broadcast and restaurant facility, Regal Theatres and the 6,000 capacity Nokia Theatre.
LA's geographical position makes it a perfect gateway to the western seaboard of the United States. San Diego and its Mexican influence lies 120 miles to the south, Route 101 takes you up along the spectacular Pacific coast to San Francisco (400mi) and if an inland drive is wanted, and with just as interesting scenery in its own way, there is the 270 mile across the Mojave National Reserve to Las Vegas. Maxjet can take you directly home as well, from the world”s gambling centre.
Make the most of what is on offer. America is presently very cheap but ABTN can remember, perhaps only 20 years ago, when one Christmas the pound sterling and the US dollar nearly reached parity!