Hollywood: The hits and the hidden

Few places stir up as much excitement, imagination, and nostalgia as Hollywood. Visitors to this entertainment capital can experience much of its magic at superstar attractions such as the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl, but even more Hollywood thrills await at the area’s less conspicuous but locally legendary venues.

On your next visit, check out these seven iconic locations and their less-crowded counterparts.

The longest-running and only remaining major film studio in Hollywood proper, Paramount has been creating screen magic from its sprawling Melrose Avenue lot for nearly a century. Its daily two-hour tour goes behind the scenes to the former Bronson Gate entrance, the Prop Warehouse, and the famed New York Street Backlot. A longer VIP tour pulls back the curtain on even more production areas.

Info: Tours start at $65.

Groundbreaking movie moguls Jesse L. Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille shot Hollywood’s first feature-length film in this very building in 1912 before it was moved to the then-new Paramount lot in 1926.

Now located near the Hollywood Bowl entrance on Highland Avenue, the Lasky-DeMille Barn houses the Hollywood Heritage Museum, which showcases the silent-movie era and other aspects of Tinseltown history with photographs, props, and other ephemera.

Info: Admission, $14.

Make your visit even more special with The Oscars Experience and bring home a video of you accepting your own golden statue. Be sure to visit the rooftop for breathtaking views of Los Angeles.

Info: Admission, $25.

Set in the heart of Hollywood in a building that was once home to movie-makeup guru Max Factor’s studio, The Hollywood Museum showcases more than 10,000 film and TV treasures over four floors of exhibits. Find Rocky’s boxing gloves, the world’s largest collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, and another of the six existing pairs of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz.

Info: Admission, $15.

Opened in 1927 as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, this ornate Asian-inspired Hollywood icon was fitted with one of America’s largest IMAX screens in 2013. With its forecourt bearing cement imprints of the hands and feet of hundreds of Hollywood legends, the Chinese Theatre is believed to have staged more movie world premieres—including 1939’s The Wizard of Oz and 1977’s Star Wars—than any other theater.

The lavish Egyptian Theatre was another creation of showman Sid Grauman. In 1922, it hosted Hollywood’s very first movie premiere for Douglas Fairbanks’ Robin Hood.

Run by American Cinematheque for most of this millennium, the theater was purchased by Netflix in 2020. It reopened in November 2023 following an elaborate restoration that included the return of the original hieroglyphics and artwork to its courtyard walls.

Few stretches of sidewalk in the world are as renowned as the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which extends for 15 blocks along Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks along Vine Street. More than 2,700 celebrities—from Ann-Margret to Zsa Zsa Gabor—have been honored since the Walk of Fame’s debut in 1960.

The brass-rimmed, coral-pink terrazzo stars recognize excellence in six fields: motion pictures, television, recording, radio, live performance, and sports entertainment, the latter introduced in 2023 with Michael Strahan’s star.

Take the Hollywood Walk of Fame, cross it with the Chinese Theatre courtyard, and heavily infuse it with rock ’n’ roll, and you’ve got the Rockwalk on Sunset Boulevard.

Started in 1985 just outside the legendary flagship of musical instrument emporium Guitar Center, the Rockwalk’s hundreds of cement handprints memorialize some of the genre’s biggest names. Look for Little Richard, Carlos Santana, Nancy Wilson, and the Ramones.

Throughout the past century, the Hollywood Bowl has hosted some of the most memorable concerts in Los Angeles’ history, from Billie Holiday to Billie Eilish as well as movie singalongs and recurring performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra.

With a capacity of nearly 18,000, the beloved hillside amphitheater with a view of the Hollywood sign regularly sells out shows during its April to November season. The surrounding area is also a public park, open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. year-round, though the theater may close for events.

Just across Highway 101 from the Bowl, The Ford offers a more intimate outdoor concert experience with a capacity of just under 1,200 and no seat more than 96 feet from the stage. The amphitheater was originally built as a dramatic open-air setting for 1920’s The Pilgrimage Play, which predated the Hollywood Bowl’s first show by a year.

Its subsequent long and colorful history includes serving as the site of some of L.A.’s premier punk-rock concerts. Today, it hosts an annual summer season (July through October) of eclectic music, dance, theater, and film events.

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel sits across from the Chinese Theatre along Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. It was opened by a group of silent-era heavyweights, including Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, in 1927. Just two years later, it was the site of the first Academy Awards ceremony.

Since then, the 12-story, 300-room hotel has hosted a cavalcade of megastars like Marilyn Monroe, who lived here for two years at the start of her career. Today, guests flock to the vibey ’60s-style Tropicana pool, which is graced by a David Hockney mural. Non-hotel guests can also reserve a poolside lounger via ResortPass.

Info: Rates start at $299, plus a $35 daily resort fee.

Set in Hollywood’s upscale Whitley Heights neighborhood (once home to such screen legends as Jean Harlow and James Dean), the glamorous yet intimate Prospect Hollywood hotel takes its name from Hollywood Boulevard’s original moniker: Prospect Avenue.

Opened in early 2020 after a total renovation of its 1939 Hollywood Regency–style building, the Prospect has 24 vibrantly stylish rooms, each named for a Hollywood legend, like Steve McQueen and Greta Garbo.

Info: Rates start at $329.

Hollywood’s oldest restaurant is fittingly also its most storied. It started out as Frank’s Café in 1919, run by Frank Toulet and his eventual business partner Joseph Musso. In 1927 Musso & Frank was sold to two Italian immigrants, who years later moved the restaurant next door to its current Hollywood Boulevard location.

The restaurant quickly became the preferred eatery of silent-screen legends like Rudolph Valentino, and it has been a favorite of stars (and their dealmakers) including Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and George Clooney. Today, its leather booths and mahogany bar are still buzzy, with tourists and locals alike enjoying its culinary classics, old-school cocktails, and famously excellent service.

Completed in 1914, Yamashiro opened as a beautiful hilltop villa for a pair of brothers and their collected Japanese art and treasures. After a series of ups and downs in the decades to follow, the restaurant was born in the early 1960s.

It offers fantastic views of the L.A. skyline from 250 feet above Hollywood Boulevard, plus occasional celebrity sightings from the likes of Dolly Parton and Brad Pitt. It’s also appeared in numerous movies, including Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and Kill Bill (2003).

Travel writer and longtime Hollywooder Dan Allen never ceases to be wowed by his hometown’s cultural bounty.