Things to do in Los Angeles 2022: Restaurants, Museums, and Festivals

Sun, sand, seeing celebrities in their natural habitat: Tourists have long been coming to Los Angeles for some combination of the above. If you’re into that cocktail, rest assured, it’s still on offer – grab your way to a seaside hotspot like Nobu Malibu or Giorgio Baldi and you can enjoy with renunciation.

But Los Angeles has more to offer than is obvious. New, diverse restaurants and bars have cemented the city’s status as the culinary capital of the world. The stages, outdoor and indoor, are preset with actions, big and rising. Museums, including the long-delayed $484 million homage to Hollywood, Moving Image Museum, is flirting with the crowd. Tourists are coming in large numbers.

“Los Angeles’ comeback story is well underway,” said Adam Burke, president and chief executive officer of the city’s tourism board, adding that Los Angeles is expected to host more than 46 million visitors this year, close to 2019’s record high of 50.7 million. tourists. “We are optimistic that we will see a full recovery in Los Angeles by the end of 2023,” Mr. Burke said.

While California lifted most of its Covid mask regulations in February, Los Angeles officials still required masks to be worn at transit and transit hubs, including airports, buses and commuters. carpool. (On a late April morning, about half of the passengers at Los Angeles International Airport appeared to be wearing masks. “It wasn’t really enforced,” said one check-in officer.)

Restaurants and bars

If Los Angeles wasn’t once the nation’s most famous city for sushi, it is now. Sushi Tama, Morihiro and Kinkan are some of the premium dishes of omakase, a chef-selected tasting menu that opened during the pandemic and captivated fans with its glittering cans of takeaway fish. You can now reserve seats at their respective sushi bars, but plan ahead: Seats at Kinkan’s counter, where meals range from $125 to $250 per person, can be especially hard to find. .

The Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed attention to black-owned businesses in Los Angeles, especially restaurants. Critics are raving Berberean Ethiopian-inspired vegan restaurant opening in Santa Monica in 2021 (most dishes are under $20) and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better looking latte than one that is served at Bloom & Plume, a coffee shop and cafe that famous florist Maurice Harris opened next to his east florist shop just before the pandemic (espresso drinks start at $3.50). Several websites offer directions to the best black-owned restaurants in the city; Thrillist’s particularly strong.

Damn low-carb clichés, pizza is having its moment. Cake after cake flew out of my open kitchen Mother Wolf, Hollywood’s most popular new restaurant – fans include Rihanna and Michelle Obama – occupies a gilded Art Deco landmark, the Citizen-News building. (Overheard at a bar: “If you squint, it’s almost like you’re in New York.”) Downtown, De La Nonna serves grandma scones ($16 and up) and sharp Negronis. In Echo Park, on the east side of the city, grá argues that pizza is a healthy food, with an organic sourdough base, “seasonal fermentation” (kimchi, pickled cucumber salad) and natural wine that, incidentally, inspired the so many new bars, you could be forgiven for thinking that someone tripped over an underground supply.

At Silver Lake, Melodiesopened in 2017 and has been refurbished during the pandemic, Voodoo Vin and La Pharmacie Du Vin They all sit a mile apart. The neighborhood also caters to cocktail connoisseurs, with Bolitaa Cuban-inspired cocktail bar that opens in February, and De Buena Plantaa Tulum-inspired courtyard, which opened in March, serves tequila and mezcal. Non-drinkers, know that non-ABV (alcohol by volume) alcoholic beverages abound throughout the city: Bolita serves up some light snacks ($8 and up), for example. that won’t leave you feeling hungover.

Museums and live events

Los Angeles’ major museums reopen: starting May 21, Wide will feature a new collection of works by Takashi Murakami as well as a series of artworks centered around the American flag theme. Many of the city’s museums, including the Broad, Gettythe Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Moving Image Museum, which opened in September and features six floors of film industry memorabilia, requires reservations and has its own vaccination and masking procedures. It’s best to check their websites before visiting.

There is no shortage of events that unite die-hard fans of different stripes. The Hollywood Bowl and Greek Theater, Los Angeles’ top outdoor performance venues, is back full of concerts. Foodies will break bread on May 21 and 22 at EEEEEATSCON LA (yes, that’s really how it’s spelled), a May food festival hosted by restaurant review website Infatuation (tickets from $10); baseball fans will gather at Dodger Stadium for the MLB All-Star Game on July 19; Just south of Los Angeles, jazz enthusiasts come together Newport Beach Jazz Festival in June. Rockers rejoice: Pasadena’s This is not without a picnic brings together dozens of rock bands in August, including The Strokes and LCD Soundsystem.

Sports fans, take note: With the addition of the Angel City Soccer Club in the National Women’s Soccer League, Los Angeles now has 11 professional sports teams – the most of any any city in the country. NFL fans flocked to newly opened Inglewood’s SoFi . Stadiumwhere the quarterbacks will take a guided tour and test their skills on the field where the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl in February.

In the same complex as the SoFi Stadium, YouTube Theater has a strong lineup of Latinx artists this summer and fall, including Rosalia, Gloria Trevi and Sebastian Yatra.

For decades, Los Angeles Pride & Parade already one of the biggest LGBTQ Pride events in the world and it’s back in action the weekend of June 11th. Old attractions updated: the Visit Warner Bros Studio. has reopened with a modern welcoming center and Universal Studios Hollywood added a trip “The Secret Life of Pets”.

High design hotel

Los Angeles added 2,100 new hotel rooms in 2021, and there’s always a home away from home for every type of traveler. Downtown, designed by Kelly Wearstler Suitable hotel (1100 South Broadway, rooms from $349) has become a go-to destination for locals and out-of-towners alike with its Art Deco aesthetic that meets modern global needs. Pendry West Hollywood (8430 Sunset Boulevard, rooms from $525) offers the ultimate dose of the Sunset Strip, with sumptuous rooms designed by Martin Brudnizki, a rooftop restaurant curated by Wolfgang Puck, and a pool view happenning.

The Maybourne Beverly Hills (225 North Canon Drive, rooms from $1,095) is bringing a hint of England to the far west of the pond; Its high tea room, run by its sister hotel, Claridges, will launch later this year. For YOLO followers with money to burn, Beverly Hills Hotel (9641 Sunset Boulevard, rooms from $735), which turns 110 this year, is offering the signature McCarthy Salad for $1,912 – in addition to lettuce, it comes with golden flakes, lobster, caviar, a bottle of Dom Pérignon and the premium feel is inflated. comes with ordering a salad that costs more than the average monthly home mortgage.

Loss and embodiment

While Hollywood’s iconic Cinerama theater closes in 2021, reported is expected to reopen this year under new management. Some well-loved restaurants have suffered a similar fate: Ray Garcia, the chef of Broken Spanish, which closed in 2020, can now be found at Asterid, a new restaurant at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Bon Temps, a critically acclaimed French restaurant in downtown’s arts district, closes in 2020 but features chef Lincoln Carson’s new Hollywood incarnation, Mes Amisopening this spring.

According to New York Times Travel above Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And Sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter for expert tips on how to travel smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming of a future getaway or just sitting in an armchair traveling? Our test 52 Places for a Changed World for the year 2022.