Discover the true Los Angeles by exploring its more than 30 culturally rich neighborhoods. With more than 300 days a year of warm sunshine and 75 miles of shoreline, it is always a pleasure visiting the city’s cultural attractions. And with more museums and performing arts venues in metropolitan Los Angeles than in any other U.S. city, residents and visitors are never far from great art, music and theater.

Los Angeles and the surrounding sun-splashed region come together this winter for Southern California’s landmark arts event, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, through the end of February 2025.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art © La Tourism

With more than 70 gallery and museum exhibitions and more than 800 participating artists, the Destination Crenshaw project continues to take shape in South Los Angeles, while the surrounding neighborhood offers a cultural hub of arts organizations, galleries and dining. Of course, the city’s major cultural institutions debut significant expansions, including The Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Broad and Lucas Museum.

“Los Angeles is renowned for our museums and cultural institutions, but through this fall and winter there is an extra level of cultural collaborations and innovation that can’t be missed,” said Adam Burke, president and CEO, LA Tourism. “Including PST ART, one of the nation’s premier cultural events, the highly anticipated debut of Destination Crenshaw, the world’s most vibrant street art scene, and all the groundbreaking developments happening within our museum community, L.A. continues to reinforce its position as a global cultural destination.”

Getty Museum © La Tourism

Some exhibitions include Abstracted Light: Experimental Photography, opening at Getty Museum, which spotlights photographic works by international artists utilizing experimental light exposures. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Wilshire’s Museum Row will explore science fiction and cinema with Cyberpunk – Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema. In Downtown Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art will provide gallery space to the interactive works of Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, including a new, large-scale installation to anchor the exhibition.

The Destination Crenshaw project is poised to be a significant public space celebrating Black culture and expression in the heart of South Los Angeles, with 1.3 miles of the corridor along Crenshaw Boulevard transformed into an impressive streetscape with newly planted trees, pocket parks and commissioned works of art  completed on a rolling basis throughout the next year. Destination Crenshaw will be one of the largest commissioning projects ever undertaken for Black artists, featuring large-scale sculptural works by Charles Dickson, Melvin Edwards, Maren Hassinger and more. One cornerstone of the project is the 800-foot Crenshaw Wall, debuting the mural The Saga Continues, created by RTN Crew.  A larger-than-life mural by Los Angeles artist Anthony “Toons One” Martin was revealed earlier this year as one of the project’s first pieces of artwork.

© La Tourism

South LA’s Crenshaw neighborhood includes historic landmarks surrounded by communities such as Baldwin Hills; Baldwin Village; Hyde Park; View Park; and bustling Leimert Park Village, a cultural hub filmmaker John Singleton once called the “Black Greenwich Village.” Round out a day exploring the Crenshaw District by visiting nearby arts organizations, including  Art + Practice, The World Stage and Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center.

Across the city, some of the most prominent museums have steadily expanded and gotten makeovers, while new ones are being built from scratch, a sign arts and culture remain a commitment for the city’s future. This November, Natural History Museum welcomed visitors to its new wing, NHM Commons, an indoor-outdoor space celebrating the intersection of nature and culture featuring a new 400-seat theater; café; and landmark mural by L.A. artist Barbara Carrasco, titled L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art © La Tourism

LACMA continues the construction of its David Geffen Galleries, a two-story structure equipped with galleries, theaters, classrooms, events and even a restaurant. The Broad’s recently announced expansion will unveil 55,000 square feet of new courtyards, gallery space, and flexible live programming spaces for concerts and performance works ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games. Along with these massive expansions, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art continues to take shape in Exposition Park, and will feature all forms of visual narrative, including paintings, sculptures, photography, videos, performance and installations, all with a connective thread of storytelling.