The spotlight always shines so naturally on Los Angeles that it’s easy to overlook the fact that the southern California hub has grown up right in front of our eyes—and continues to do so. Always-trendy neighborhoods like Silver Lake and West Hollywood mix with those finding new life in recent years like Downtown’s Arts District and Culver City. LA’s 75 miles of coastline is boosted by the glamor of the film and television industry, marked by the iconic Hollywood Sign celebrating its 100th anniversary this month. And getting an inside look at all the movie magic is easier than ever these days, with four studios bringing visitors onto their working studio lots: Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, Sony Pictures Studio Tour, Paramount Studio Tour, and the original, Universal Studios Hollywood, with its trademark backlot tram tour celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2024.
This February marks the opening of Destination Crenshaw, four acres of cultural space with pocket parks and the country’s largest Black-led public art project. Also next year, the Natural History Museum will debut a $75 million project, NHM Commons, adding 60,000 square feet of space, while LACMA is set to open a new David Geffen Galleries building for its permanent collection. To top it off, the Intuit Dome will become the new home court of the Los Angeles Clippers.
All over the city, distinct boutique hotels are capturing L.A.’s personality in their own ways. Old-school Hollywood class and sass shines at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, while a chill, laid-back downtown vibe radiates at The Hoxton, where the rooftop bar has a direct view of the Crypto.com Arena, which will unveil a bronze Kobe Bryant statue in February. Other recent openings include The Shay in Culver City, The Winfield in DTLA’s Jewelry District, and Alsace LA Hotel in West Adams.
5. San Francisco
Annual overseas visitation: 1.74 million
There’s too much to do in San Francisco in a single visit, which may be precisely why it’s among the five most visited cities in the US: Hop on a cable car, drive down curvy Lombard Street, climb to the top of Coit Tower, eat your way through the country’s oldest Chinatown, and even go bison-gazing in Golden Gate Park. The Presidio Tunnel Tops, which opened in 2022, has quickly become one of the new favorite public spaces, while the Landing at Leidesdorff pedestrian space offers pop-up cultural programming. Beloved museum The Exploratorium has opened a public art project in Civic Center Plaza, Middle Ground: Reconsidering Ourselves and Others. Experiences are also going more high-tech, as origami store Paper Tree launched an augmented reality origami tour in partnership with Adobe.
