The City of Angels may as well be a fictional city in a grand Hollywood movie, for it epitomises so much of what America and the world wants to be, yet somehow doesn't seem real. A place where dreams are made or broken, a contrast of super-wealthy canyons and flat working class grid avenues, full of people trying desperately to get by, described by visitors as both fascinating and downright awful, there's no escaping LA.

With the Santa Monica Mountains separating Hollywood and Beverly Hills from the San Fernando Valley to the north; adjacent Orange County, home of Disneyland, Santa Monica, Malibu and Venice on the coast, and the glitzy downtown area all adding different perspectives to this city, there is plenty to see and do and wish for. If you're an avid movie goer you're sure to spot locations from your favourite flicks somewhere in the greater LA area. This sprawling metropolis may not have the history of Boston or the skyscrapers of Chicago or monuments and museums of Washington DC, but there are plenty of famous movies and bands associated with.

LA's downtown area is framed by freeways, but in the thick of all this concrete and congestion intrepid urbanites will find a number of pockets worth exploring. The Civic Center is America's largest complex of government buildings after Washington DC, check out the 1928 City Hall which served as the Daily Planet building in the TV show Superman and the police station in Dragnet. North across Temple St from City Hall is the excellent LA Children's Museum.

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