Hidden gems and unusual things to do in Los Angeles that you won’t find in most tourist guides

I always say that LA is like that introverted friend that takes time to open up but once it does, it will inevitably inspire you with its magic. Sure, the City of Angels has a lot of must-see sights that everyone wants to see. The first thing most people do is heading to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, visiting Universal Studios or Disneyland, etc. but there are also a lot of hidden gems in Los Angeles that under-the-radar sights but can satisfy even the more experienced travelers that want to avoid the famous, cliche tourist sights and get off the beaten path in Los Angeles.

That’s why millions of people love it and keep coming for more; because it that something in store for everyone. However, in this article, we’ll focus on hidden gems in Los Angeles and places that remain under most tourists’ radar. Let’s start!

Hike The Bridge to Nowhere

Starting of this list of hidden gems in Los Angeles off the beaten track, we have the Bridge to Nowhere. If you’re looking for a one-day trip from L.A. a hike to the Bridge to Nowhere is a must. Halfway along the hike, you’ll come across this huge, apocalyptic bridge in the middle of nowhere.

However, what you might not know is that this bridge was a vital link on the road to Wrightwood but the horrible floods of 1938 sunk the road, leaving this bridge in the middle of nowhere.

Seeing such a big bridge in the middle of nowhere it’s an interesting sight and a place where you can take some interesting photos but the hike to San Gabriel is also a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I bet you didn’t think that you could come across such sheep mountain wilderness only 40 miles out of L.A.

However, if you want to get here, keep in mind that there aren’t a lot of transport options and the best way to get here is probably by renting a car.

The Shakespeare Bridge

If you’re driving down Franklin Avenue, a seemingly average and ordinary part of town, around six miles away from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, you’ll inevitably notice this gothic bridge out of nowhere. I accidentally ended up here trying to find my way to the Los Feliz Theatre but this quickly became my favorite route.

This architectural marble is probably one of the least-visited Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments, mainly due to its remote location. However, if you want to see something different and a place that will make you feel like you’re not in LA anymore, make sure to put Shakespeare Bridge on your list.

The Sunken City

A landslide in 1929 made an entire neighborhood tumble into the ocean. During this time, the land was moving 11 inches a day! Today, the only thing that remains of this once-exclusive neighborhood are the broken foundations of houses and remnants of some of the owner’s vehicles.

Locals refer to this part of town as the Sunken City, others know it as the Atlantis of L.A. and it has even been featured in several movies and TV shows.

If you want to visit this place and click some interesting photos, you’ll find the sunken city at the coast of San Pedro, not too far from the coast of San Mateo and Orange County. And while you’re around, you might also want to check out our list of hidden gems in Orange County.

The Old Zoo

The old abandoned zoo is a great example of old things finding a new use. The zoo was abandoned in 1966 and has since turned into one of the locals’ favorite picnic spots. You can explore the old, now covered-with-graffiti-cages, and even go in and see how it would feel like to see all the people wandering around from the animals’ perspective.

Being located behind the local hiking trail, the zoo is located in Griffith Park but a bit difficult to find, which is probably the main reason why only a few tourists end up here.

Museum Of Neon Art

Even if you’re not a big museum fan, I’m sure you’ll like this one-of-a-kind museum. As the name suggests, this museum focuses on art produced by neon. Some examples include the iconic Brown Derby rooftop sign, the roadside-Americana neon signs, etc. The museum has its permanent collection but in addition to this, the museum also organizes night-time bus tours of historic neon sights in Glendale.

Enjoying this article? Then you’ll surely like my Pacific Coast Highway itinerary and our list of least visited states in the US.

St. Basil’s Catholic Church

Brutalist architecture was never really a thing in the US and there are only a handful of brutalist architecture buildings in the whole country. St. Basil’s Church on Wilshire Boulevard is one of seven churches in the whole country that has a brutalist facade.

The church was built in 1969 and is a combination of 12 80-feet-tall, angular towers separated by irregular shafts of stained glass.

The church has a fort-like composition inspired by the early monastic buildings from the 3^rd century when churches often served as a place of refuge. Either way, St. Basil is one of the most interesting architecture gems in Los Angeles, and one you should definitely visit if you’re looking for a different experience.

Flying to Los Angeles? Make sure to get the best flight deal for your flight to L.A.

A video game art gallery

If you like discovering unusual art galleries while you travel, you’ll love iam8bit. Inside this ‘gallery’, you won’t find the things you’d expect to find in an average art gallery. Instead, you can see some of the world’s most famous video games exhibits, as well as other important geek icons and exhibits.

For more information, you can get a detailed schedule and see some of the exhibits on their website. The gallery also has a small shop where you can buy some rare editions of videogames.

Needless to say, if you’re into video games, this is one place you absolutely have to check out…

Mural Mile

Talking about hidden gems in Los Angeles, I just have to mention the Mural Mile; a project that was started in 2012 in the San Fernando Valley with a goal to showcase L.A.’s diverse culture through some fascinating wall murals. You can find more than 40 murals decorating the walls of Pacoima and local artists keep enriching this collection every day.

Visiting the Mural Mile is a great way to learn about L.A.’s culture while visiting one of the less frequented places in the city.

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The Museum of Jurassic Technology

If the first thing that comes on your mind as you’re reading this are dinosaurs, you’re not alone. That’s the first thing I thought of when I heard about this museum too. And to be completely honest, a mix of dinosaurs and technology sounds a bit scary.

Fortunately, this museum is about neither of the two. It’s a museum that showcases obscure and peculiar scientific achievements that you probably didn’t hear about.

The museum’s collection includes scientific, ethnographic, and historic items that other museums are unwilling to present. If you’re looking for some hidden gems in Los Angeles that not a lot of people know about and visit, you definitely wouldn’t want to miss this museum.

Looking for some more cool things to do in California? Check out our list of hidden gems in San Diego.

The Masque

Every city has its own punk origin story. L.A.’s story begun in the Masque; a punk club that was born when Brendan Mullen discovered a filthy basement spreading across 10,000 square feet while searching for a practice spot.

Bands from around California started showing out in no time and place slowly turned into a night club where punk-rock gigs were held every day. The venue was located under the famous porn house, the Pussycat Theatre, and needless to say, attracted all kinds of folks.

The place was soon after ‘decorated’ with some very interesting graffiti but its glory days didn’t last long. The last show in the Masque was held only five months after its opening and today, the place was completely abandoned.

The graffiti inside the basement passed the test of time and the company that owns the space today (World of Wonder) accepts visits from outsiders and recognizes the basement as the city’s most important punk-rock landmark.

Looking to see some more interesting buildings in LA? Check out this post about the storybook houses of Los Angeles.

Box Canyon

If you look at the map of the US, you’ll find a dozen different ‘Box Canyons’ and surprisingly, the one near L.A. is probably the least known and least frequented one. The hills surrounding the canyon contain narrow ravines, slot canyons, oases, and vividly-colored badlands, giving a lot of great photo opportunities.

Most tourists don’t make it here because the Box Canyon isn’t mentioned in most tourist guides and the canyon is quite remote and not easy to get to.

Some people avoid it because the canyon was home to a local cult that ended when two members used dynamite to blast the whole place because they had suspicions that the cult leader was having sexual intercourse with their wives.

I know the last story doesn’t sound too appealing but if you want to get off the beaten track in Los Angeles, it doesn’t get better than this.

Mosaic Tile House

This relatively unknown house (perfect addition to this list of hidden gems in Los Angeles), captures the essence of Venice beach in a way the Mosaic Tile House does.

This is basically a quirky 1940s home that has been covered with splintered glass mosaics and colored tile designed by Pann and Duran; a couple who has transcended common romance by weaving with roots of art and earth, resurrecting a shining monumental true love.

It all began when they wanted to install bathroom tiles in their home but they enjoyed it so much that they decided to cover every inch of their home with tiles, creating the gorgeous visual feast called ‘Mosaic Tile House’.

Enjoying this post? You might also like our list of hidden beaches in California.

California Institute of Abnormal Arts

This peculiar venue with an abbreviation CIA is a nightclub/museum in North Hollywood. The ‘institute’ hosts a number of exhibitions, musical performances, and a range of other live events that are difficult to describe and even more difficult to define.

Many of the events are called ‘freakshows’ and draw a lot of people that don’t have a lot of other places to go that cater to them and their interests.

Some of the exhibits include preserved stuffed animals, human fetuses preserved in jars, and a bunch of oddities and hoaxes, such as the mummified clown, the skull of “the world’s smallest Freemason”, the mermaid from Fiji, etc. The California Institute of Abnormal Arts is a standing proof that L.A. is a city that has something in store for everyone.

Necromance

Speaking of hidden gems in Los Angeles, we have to mention Necromance. If you’re looking for a quirky shop where you can find things you didn’t even think it can be bought, check out Necromance.

Necromance is a shop that sells oddities and curiosities and has a large selection of preserved animal remains with glass eyes, insects, frozen bats, etc. Now you might be wondering what these guys might be doing with the above-mentioned items.

The answer is- they make gifts. You want to get vintage gold earrings with a contemporary beetle Or maybe an Indonesian bat in a vintage frame? How about a human tooth necklace? You can get all of these items at Necromance. Even if you don’t want to buy these items, the shop is definitely worth visiting; I haven’t seen anything like it in any other place in the world.

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Bronson Cave

Bronson cave is another one of Los Angeles’ hidden gems that’s located at the end of Griffith Park in the city’s outskirts. It’ll probably look familiar and the reason for that is- you probably saw it in a movie. Due to its rugged wilderness and versatility, this cave has been used as a shooting spot in a lot of Hollywood movies and TV shows.

Bronson Cave is one of the rare places that will make you feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere when you’re only 8 miles away from Downtown L.A. However, there still aren’t a lot of transport options and if you want to visit Bronson Cave, you should do so with a cab or a rental vehicle.

Underground Tunnels of Los Angeles

When prohibition came to power, the people of L.A. took it underground; 11 miles of service tunnels turned into passages to underground speakeasy bars with completely unrelated shops above ground.

The most famous example of this is probably King Eddy’s Saloon, a bar that is still alive and running today, 100 years later. During the prohibition era, the shop was a “piano store” with a secret speakeasy bar in the basement.

Most of this area is closed today but if you want to explore a part of the old underground tunnels of L.A. the easiest way to reach them is by taking the elevator behind the Hall of Records on Temple Street and going down to the subterranean passage that will take you to this basement filled with rusty machines, interesting street art and gates that limit explorers from entering areas which aren’t safe to explore.

Echo Park Time Travel Mart

With the slogan, ‘whenever you are, we’re already there’, this quirky shop is a time-travel-themed store that sells humorous items from the past, present, and even the ‘future’. To get an idea of what you might expect to find here, some of the store’s best-sellers are a Barbarian repellent, Victorian iPad, Time-Freezy Hyper Slush ice drinks, etc.

The storefront displays a caveman shaking hands with a robot, and the whole store has a very interesting and unusual vibe. All revenues the Echo Park Time Travel Mart makes go to an NGO that strives to help and support students with their creative and expository writing skills.

Visiting on a layover?

Experience a Los Angeles Scavenger Hunt

Finally, to round up this list of hidden gems in Los Angeles, we have a Scavenger Hunt. A tour of Los Angeles can become a lot more fun by incorporating games like scavenger hunts to an otherwise common, everyday tour. Instead of just jumping from one attraction to another, you’ll be on a mission to find various clues, making the adventure a more memorable one.

Fortunately, there are companies like CityHUNT that make all these possible. Whether you’re celebrating a birthday, organizing a bachelor party, or simply looking for unique teambuilding ideas, CityHUNT has you covered. By offering a variety of games you and your family will enjoy, exploring Los Angeles has never been this exciting, don’t you think?

Helpful resources for visiting Los Angeles

Flying to Los Angeles? Make sure to get the best flight deal for your flight to L.A.

Looking for airport parking at DescriptionLos Angeles International Airport? Use this coupon and save up to 15%.

Here are some great accommodation deals, that can save you up to 15% on your next booking. Alternatively, if you want to stay in motels, Motel6 has the best offers in L.A.

Do you want to visit the main tourist sights in a couple of days? Consider going for a Big Bus tour and get a 15% discount.

Save up to 15% when buying a L.A. city pass.?

For the best travel insurance deals, visit World Nomads.

Finally, don’t forget about your US visa. You can do the complete process through IVisa; a website tht can help you get a visa to pretty much anywhere.

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Did you like this list of hidden gems and unusual things to do in Los Angeles? Did you ever visit or had the chance to check out some of these places? Which one was your favorite? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

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