FAQs: Los Angeles Region

What are the top five activities for your teen near/in Los Angeles?

Los Angeles is a great place to explore if you’re a teen. It’s the heart of the entertainment industry and has a rich, cultural landscape. The beautiful weather makes outdoor activities a major draw, and there are lots of Instagrammable locations.

1. Griffith Observatory: Southern California’s gateway to the cosmos, the Griffith Observatory lets visitors look through telescopes, explore exhibits, and see live shows in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium. You can also see spectacular views of Los Angeles and the Hollywood sign from its grounds.
2. Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens: Connect, reflect, recharge, and renew spirituality by walking the labyrinth, reflecting in the meditation garden, touring the historic villa, and attending workshops or classes. 
3. Maze Rooms Los Angeles: You and your friends have an hour to escape from a locked room by solving puzzles, finding hidden clues, and completing objectives before time runs out.
4. Chocolate Sundaes Comedy Show: The Laugh Factory on Sunset Strip hosts weekly comedy shows. You won’t know who’s performing, but you might get lucky and spot a celebrity in the audience. 
5. LA Bubble Soccer: This hilarious activity has participants playing soccer while encased in large, inflatable bubbles for plenty of comical collisions and bounces. It’s a fun twist on the traditional game.
   

What are the top cultural activities for teens in Los Angeles?

From world-class museums to iconic landmarks, there’s something for everyone to discover, whether you’re into the entertainment industry or history — and everything in between.

1. Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood: Explore one of Hollywood’s busiest working studios. The tour includes a Storytelling Showcase highlighting decades of history with recreated sets, props, costumes, and photo ops. Walk the steps of Hollywood legends on the backlots, see the fountain from Friends, and more. 
2. LA Conservancy Walking Tours: Learn about LA’s history through its architecture on a walking tour of historic downtown, the Broadway Historic Theatre and Commercial District, and Union Station. 
3. Battleship USS Iowa Museum: This San Pedro museum allows visitors to explore the “Battleship of Presidents,” with exhibits showcasing its role in 20th-century conflicts. Learn about the ship’s technology, history, and role in the American Navy.
4. The Getty Center: This cultural landmark houses the J. Paul Getty Museum, which is full of art, including pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illustrated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts, as well as photographs from the 1830s to the present.
5. Museum of Death Hollywood: Not for the faint of heart, this unusual museum uses exhibits featuring crime scene photos, serial killer artifacts, and funeral practices to graphically and unflinchingly explore mortality. 
6. The Velaslavasay Panorama: Curious about the lost art form of the panorama, a 19th-century entertainment involving large, circular paintings? Don’t miss this museum, which features changing panoramic paintings in its 360-degree room. It also hosts film screenings, musical performances, lectures, and more. 
7. The Broad: The Broad has an extensive collection of post-war and contemporary art created by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, and others. The building itself is a striking architectural landmark with a honeycomb-like outer shell.

What are the best Los Angeles outdoor activities for teens?

LA, blessed with year-round sunshine and a landscape spanning beaches, mountains, and urban parks, has dozens of outdoor adventures for teens who like to hike, bike, swim, kayak, skateboard, and more.

1. Venice Beach & Skatepark: This fun location has beaches, canals, a boardwalk, and a bohemian atmosphere. It’s perfect for people-watching; skaters can enjoy the legendary skatepark, with its bowls, snake run, and street section. 
2. Pan Pacific Park Recreation Center: Sports and fitness fans can try lots of activities, like flag football, basketball, soccer futsal, gymnastics, volleyball, martial arts, dodgeball, track and field, and more. 
3. Sand Dune Park: Challenge yourself on Sand Dune Park’s notoriously steep incline covered in soft, powdery sand. Can you make it to the top without sliding down?
4. Santa Monica Pier: This pier symbolizes Santa Monica and is one of the most photographed locations in the world. Experience the seaside with amusement park rides, ocean views, street performers, the beach, and more.
5. LA River Expeditions: This company is the original boating organization on the LA River. Since 2008, they’ve granted public access to the river, offered educational tours, cleaned up the river, advocated for the Clean Water Act, and collaborated with others to revitalize the LA Rivers and other waterways.
   

What are the best Los Angeles indoor activities for teens?

When you need a break from the sun, check out some of LA’s fun indoor adventures, like arcades, escape rooms, workshops, and more.

1. Moonlight Rollerway: The building was converted from a WWII factory to a roller rink in the 1950s, where generations have skated. Go retro and experience the nostalgia of the mid-20th century at this beloved, iconic roller rink.
2. Los Angeles Boulders: A bouldering-only gym, it’s perfect for beginner and experienced climbers who want to face its 17-foot high walls and 200+ boulder problems. Take fitness classes, yoga, and acro-yoga, too. 
3. MB2 Raceway Sylmar: This indoor family entertainment center primarily features go-karts reaching up to 45 mph. You can also play laser tag or arcade games and try axe throwing.
4. Two Bit Circus: An entertainment venue in Santa Monica, Two Bit Circus offers a mix of VR adventures, high-tech carnival games, an arcade, and story room experiences. 
5. Rage Ground: Release your stress at Rage Ground, an environment where you’re encouraged to demolish whatever’s in the room — smash cars, bottles, and other items safely. Or try a paint splatter party. Don’t worry — you’re given protective gear to keep you safe.
   

What are the best Los Angeles restaurants for teens?

A great city for foodies, enjoy the culinary melting pot of LA. Try restaurants in Little Tokyo or Koreatown’s street food — and some of our other favorites below.

1. Crumbs & Whiskers: LA’s only non-profit cat cafe, spend an hour or two cuddling rescued foster cats and kittens in the cat lounge, kitten lounge, and outdoor catio while sipping a favorite drink (and maybe finding a new furry friend to adopt).
2. Mel’s Drive-in: Closely associated with the movie American Graffiti, this 1950s-style diner serves classic foods like burgers, fries, and milkshakes as well as ahi poke, acai smoothies, and avocado toast.
3. Kitchen Mouse: This cafe, in LA’s Glassell Park neighborhood, serves vegetarian and vegan-friendly comfort food with a focus on fresh, seasonal ingredients with a healthy twist.  
4. Joy: A Thai restaurant in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood, Joy offers Taiwanese favorites like dumplings, noodle dishes, and rice plates with a contemporary twist.  
5. Spoke Bicycle Cafe: What do you get when you combine a restaurant, beer garden and bike shop? Spoke Bicycle Cafe emphasizes local, sustainable, and fresh ingredients while serving as a community hub for cyclists, pedestrians, and neighbors.
   

What are the best Los Angeles museums for families?

LA has many museums that families of all ages will enjoy. Besides the list below, check out Angels Flight Railway, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Cakeland, and the Children’s Museum at La Habra.

1. Sloomoo Institute: The Sloomoo Institute is an immersive, sensory playground centered around slime. It offers interactive stations for customizing your own slime to take home, a dayglow room to transform into a slime creature, and a “lake” of 350+ gallons of slime. 
2. Los Angeles Zoo: Wander through 133 acres of wildlife habitats and gardens teeming with elephants, primates, and other animals from around the world. Meet Angela, a western lowland gorilla and star character of the children’s book Angela & Lulingu. 
3. California Science Center: The California Science Center is the West Coast’s largest hands-on science center. It has many exhibits, including the World of Life, Ecosystems, Space Shuttle Endeavour, Fire! Science & Safety, and an IMAX Theater.
4. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: The NHM explores the natural and cultural history of the region and the world. Visitors can journey through billions of years of Earth’s history, explore the Butterfly Pavilion, learn about dinosaurs, and much more.
5. Kidspace Children’s Museum: Created for visitors from ages 1 to 10, this hands-on environment uses play to teach about science, nature, art, and culture. There are gardens, water features, climbing structures, and other themed play areas.
6. La Brea Tar Pits: Naturally occurring asphalt has seeped from the ground for tens of thousands of years at this paleontological site, trapping and preserving the bones of Ice Age animals. It’s the only active, urban Ice Age excavation site in the world.