Your first weekend in LA
Nobody's first weekend should be spent on Hollywood Boulevard. This is the two-day version we give friends who fly in on a Friday night and leave Sunday evening.
It's built around three neighborhoods instead of the whole county, because traffic will eat any plan that isn't.
Free concerts most Fridays through the summer, and downtown at night is the version of LA nobody expects.
Get there early. The line at La Mascota is out the door by nine on a Saturday.
Free, always, with the best wide view of the city and the Hollywood sign. Go in the afternoon so you catch daylight and the lights coming on at dusk.
Drive west for sunset. The pier is touristy, but the beach on either side is wide and free, and the light over the water at golden hour is the postcard.
The ricotta toast that launched a thousand imitators. Tiny, counter-order, and worth the line for one classic LA breakfast.
Finish up high. The art is free, the tram ride up is half the fun, and the garden and skyline views are the best free thing on the Westside.
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Good to know
Rent a car for Saturday only — Friday and Sunday work on transit.
Book the Griffith Observatory shuttle ahead on weekends.