Descanso Gardens’ 160 acres feature cherry trees, camellias, irises, and ginkgo, all of which should be explosions of color over the next few months. The garden also offers shady, peaceful spots to stop and rest.

Check the events calendar before heading over; Descanso ($9 admission) offers a range of activities from plant sales to the occasional tea ceremony to guided walks through the grounds. If you’re visiting on a weekend, maybe swing by Descanso’s restaurant for brunch.

Digging Ken Burns’s new country music documentary? This off-beat museum has a huge collection of cool, nostalgic items from the San Fernando Valley, including mementos from the days when some Valley neighborhoods were “full of cowboys, stunt men, and rodeo riders who loved to drink and fight.” There’s a neon sign from North Hollywood’s shuttered Palomino Club—dubbed the “Grand Ole Opry West”—and sparkly costumes and cars decorated by famed country-western tailor Nudie Cohn. They’re packed in alongside hundreds of other rare historic photos and documents from the Valley’s past, such as arcade games and Valley-made vintage BMX bikes. It’s a good, if super-compressed introduction to the area and LA kitsch in general.

This handsome house was the winter residence of David and Mary Gamble. David, an heir to the Proctor and Gamble consumer goods empire, retired and took to wintering in Pasadena. The Gambles hired the architecture firm of Greene and Greene, a team of brothers who combined the bungalow style and Japanese influences and created a large and lavish mansion for the family.

The Greene brothers, focused on the highest level of craftsmanship, even designed the residence’s furniture, rugs, and lighting fixtures, many of which are still in the house today and can be seen on tours.

The Gamble House is considered one of the “ultimate bungalows” designed by the Greene brothers and an important contributor to the architectural evolution of Los Angeles and the nation. Hour-long, docent-led tours of the house run from Thursdays through Sundays. More in-depth, 2.5-hour tours are offered once a month. Pricing for both is available here.

Beachwood Canyon is a magical, quaint neighborhood filled with gorgeous homes of a variety of styles dating back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. One of the city’s first planned housing tracts, it has counted many silver-screen stars among its residents.

Tour Beachwood by way of its “secret stairs,” a network of staircases dating back to the streetcar era of Los Angeles. As the neighborhood is quite hilly, the Beachwood Canyon stairs are fairly challenging, adding an aerobic element to sightseeing. There’s a whole book on walking tours of LA’s staircases, and the website for the book includes a PDF map and directions on how to get to and traverse the ones in Beachwood. It recommends starting at Beachwood Cafe.

Parking is scarce on the winding streets (some of which are permit-only parking), so why not take Metro’s 180/181 bus lines or the Beachwood DASH bus up to the start of the walk? All of those buses pick up near the Hollywood/Vine subway stop and W Hotel on the Walk of Fame.

Los Angeles’s famously warm winters mean the beach is not off limits. Get more bang for your buck by cramming two activities into one fun day, and hitting up the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium then having some fun in the sun at the nearby Cabrillo Beach.

The Southern California-focused aquarium has been around since 1935, and has won numerous conservation awards for its role in educating the public about the mysteries of the deep. In late January, the aquarium will have a whole day of fun to kick off the start of the whale watching season. The Frank Gehry-designed aquarium is open Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free, but the aquarium asks for suggested donations of $5 for adults and $1 for children. After the aquarium, relax by throwing a blanket out on Cabrillo Beach and enjoying the sun and sand.

The home that launched architect Richard Neutra’s career 90 years ago is now available for private tours. The Lovell Health House, which you might recognize from L.A. Confidential, “helped create a template for sleek, streamlined homes.” Suspended on the side of a cliff below Griffith Park, the residence is framed in concrete and steel, but inside, it’s lofty and airy with dramatic views. To schedule a tour, contact lovellhealthhousetours@gmail.com.

If you’re doing Los Angeles, you should probably spend at least a little time on the iconic Sunset Strip, and for that we recommend the Chateau Marmont. Built in the 1920s as the city's first earthquake-proof apartment building, it became a hotel and the place for stars to misbehave in the 1930s; it’s been that way ever since.

The rooms and bungalows are shockingly expensive, but make a reservation for lunch, enjoy the restaurant patio, then sneak a look around the pool and grounds, shrouded in foliage and perched tastefully above the Strip.

Heritage Square is an elegant reminder that Los Angeles once boasted a slew of ornate Victorian homes. The museum is made up of eight historic structures—homes and mansions, a depot, barn, and drugstore—that have been preserved to showcase the “everyday lives of Southern Californians” at the turn of the century. The museum is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday, with guided tours (included in the $10 admission) departing hourly from noon to 3 p.m.

Funded by oilman J. Paul Getty’s trust, the Getty is one of the most breathtaking places in Los Angeles. Its light-colored marble buildings bob and weave among pools, fountains, and a circular garden designed by Robert Irwin, all on top of a ridge high above the 405 freeway with 360-degree views. Plus you get to take a funicular up there. The permanent collection isn’t particularly beloved, but there are several exhibits worth checking out right now including “True Grit: American Prints and Photographs from 1900 to 1950,” “Käthe Kollwitz: Prints, Process, Politics,” and “Unseen

35 Years of Collecting Photographs.” It’s all free except for the parking ($20; $15 after 3 p.m.).

Leimert Park—voted Curbed LA’s 2016 neighborhood of the year—was developed in the 1920s from a design by the Olmsted brothers, and for many years was a whites-only neighborhood. Once that kind of housing discrimination became illegal, wealthy African-Americans began to move in, and, by the 1970s, Leimert became the epicenter of black arts culture in Los Angeles, eventually breeding the LA Rebellion film movement and the famous World Stage open mic nights.

Leimert Park Village is a walkable and diverse cluster of small, local businesses, including the Eso Won Bookstore, ​the relatively new California Jazz and Blues Museum, and Harun Coffee.

In short time, The Broad Museum atop Bunker Hill in Downtown has made itself an indispensable part of Los Angeles’s cultural landscape. Through February 16 it’s exhibiting a survey of the work of Iranian American artist Shirin Neshat, whose “stark and powerful work in photography, film and video addresses issues around migration and exile as well as the West’s preconceptions about Islamic culture.”

Within the confines of the honeycomb-covered building by Diller Scofido + Renfro, guests to The Broad will also find contemporary art galore from the likes of Ed Ruscha, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Barbara Kruger, John Baldessari, Kara Walker, Jeff Koons, and Jasper Johns. The infinitely Instagramable piece by Yayoi Kusama entitled “Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” is back, but it requires separate reservations to enter. Guests can make that reservation once they're inside the museum.

The Broad is open daily except Monday, and entrance is free. Admission to the Neshat exhibit costs $20, and requires advance reservations. Tickets can also be reserved in advance online for regular admission. Another option, however, is an on-site standby line for those who like to live spontaneously.

Check out the first Los Angeles commission by 2019 Pritzker Prize winner Arata Isozaki. The recent award thrust the under-celebrated building back into the spotlight. Clad in red sandstone and opened in 1987, it features geometric forms, including glass pyramids that were designed to serve as skylights.

Be sure to venture inside. The Los Angeles Times says MOCA “has the makings of a possible sleeper-hit” with its new exhibit, “With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art, 1972–1985.” Artists in this movement “practiced a postmodernist art of appropriation borne of love,” working with a plethora of mediums evoking sources from around the world, from “Islamic architectural ornamentation to American quilts, wallpaper, Persian carpets, and domestic embroidery.”

(Tip: The museum offers a buy-one-get-one-free deal on admission when you ride Metro.)

Bustling Grand Central Market has seen quite a bit of change in the last few years. Trendy new vendors have come in, and the face of the market and the crowd that it caters to has altered. For better or for worse, this latest iteration of the market encapsulates an ongoing process all over Downtown, as buildings once neglected and underestimated continue to be polished up and reframed as the hot new thing. The market is a wonderful place to stop for a pupusa, a bowl of vegan ramen, or a burrito-sized taco.

Get cozy among the books at this independent bookstore, one of many in Los Angeles. As LA Weekly notes, “its stunning in-store design” with “books forming gravity-defying arches and typewritten scrolls acting as flowing overhead banners” is as much of a draw as its used book collection. Housed in an old bank, The Last Bookstore is huge, and its inventory includes all sorts of genres (new and used), plus vinyl records.

If you’re headed to the Arts District to eat and drink, carve out some time for... art. The Los Angeles outpost of Hauser and Wirth is the most obvious choice, and it’s free. The sprawling campus occupies an old flour mill and features beautiful galleries, along with a courtyard and landscaping by Los Angeles landscape architect Mia Lehrer (including a chicken coop—with Instagram-famous chickens). Located on East Third Street, it’s walking distance to Angel City Brewing and Downtown LA’s Little Tokyo neighborhood, where you should absolutely stop for a bowl of ramen.

Every Sunday, the walkable open air market known as Smorgasburg takes over a row of old warehouses between Seventh and Eighth streets off Alameda. Now known as ROW DTLA, the warehouses hold high-end design and clothing boutiques and restaurants, including Tartine. But at Smorgasburg you can score every type of food your stomach desires, from vegan ice cream sandwiches to guava cheese pastelitos to uni to smoked alligator. It’s open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine.

One of the most important homes in Los Angeles, the personal residence of prolific designers Charles and Ray Eames is widely considered the “epitome of Midcentury California design.” That’s saying a lot in a city overflowing with experimental, groundbreaking, and stunning architecture.

On a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and partially shrouded by a row of eucalyptus trees, the Eames House was designed by the couple over a two-year period in the late 1940s, and its steel frame was erected by five men in just 16 hours. Using prefabricated, mass-produced materials to build a house was a total innovation at the time, and the “home became internationally known as a warm and ‘human’ solution to standardized prefabricated domestic building.”

The house is open for visits (exterior only) six days a week for $10. Reservations are required 48 hours in advance.

Do this one before the temperatures climb and the sun gets too intense. The “hike” to the overlook is short and steep: either march up 282 stairs or wind around a more gradual, switchbacking dirt path. Both routes end in the same place, and when you get to the top, you’ll be rewarded with expansive Los Angeles Basin views, including an Instagram-worthy shot of the Downtown skyline.

Chilly days call for pancakes all day, and if you’re going to eat pancakes, do it at Pann’s. Arguably the best remaining Googie diner in Los Angeles (with one of the best neon signs), the restaurant has been running since 1956 and was designed by Armet and Davis, a firm that mastered a “Jetson kind of aesthetic” that defines Googie style.

Best known as the “Home of the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ,” the theater is as cozy as it is charming, with a pair of large crystal chandeliers and velvet curtains. Opened in 1920 as a live performance venue for employees of the nearby Standard Oil Refinery, the theater operates today as a venue for jazz concerts and old movies, including a run of The Thin Man movies and a festival of Three Stooges flicks in January. Tickets are $10 and can only be purchased at the box office.