Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (must see)

A nice thing about Los Angeles is that when you decide to visit the great museums here, you will find most of them not far from each other, on and around Wilshire Boulevard. One of the best ones is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Known locally as LACMA, this is the second largest encyclopedic museum in the United States. It was founded in 1910 as part of the Museum of History, Sciences and Art, but became independent in 1961 and is now housed in seven buildings on a 20-acre campus.

You can admire over 100,000 works of art from the pre-Columbian period to the present day, including an impressive collection from Central and South America. Japanese and Islamic art is also represented and the museum has the largest collection of Korean art in the world outside of Korea. Another section houses a magnificent Post-War collection of Contemporary Art.

The entrance to the Ahmanson Building, where you will find the section of Modern Art, is a favorite gathering point, at the foot of a flight of stairs, designed to resemble the famous Spanish Steps in Rome.

In front of the museum’s main entrance is a wonderful display of over 200 antique street lamps; the presentation, called “Urban Light”, was created by Chris Burden in 2008. LACMA’s gardens have over 100 different varieties of palm trees. To really make a day of visiting this fine museum, you can take a picnic, or have lunch in the museum bar/restaurant.

Why You Should Visit:
Several buildings to check out and an incredibly eclectic collection in all mediums.
Nice outdoor space and the street light installation is very very popular at night.

Tip:
See what is on display before you plan your visit, and head to those sections that interest you.
On Sundays, there are free classical concerts in the Bing Theatre, which are put on by Sunday's Live.