Los Angeles is home to America’s dream factory, Hollywood, and usually gets a bad rap, says Eliot Rifkin.  

Many Aussies mistakenly base themselves in Anaheim to be Disneyland-close only to find they’re an hour away on the fringe of a city with little public transportation. LA is seemingly TV familiar but a bewitchingly decentralised city that’s hard to get your head around, based on various satellite centres – Universal City, The Valley, Century City and Hollywood to name a few.

There’s a ‘downtown’ LA, however it’s a financial district sporting office buildings. The locals are hospitable and there’s heaps to do. I’m focussing on West Hollywood and the Westside (Santa Monica/Venice).

West Hollywood is in Los Angeles County (a county is akin to a shire) next to Beverly Hills on the Westside.  It’s also known as WeHo or ‘Boystown’, the biggest US gay village and boasts the largest Halloween street party in the US.

First off, get used to driving on the other side, as you’ll need to rent a car. LA is majorly spread out with very little mass transit, so without a car you’ll spend unwanted hours on buses. There’s a new subway system which services mostly Hollywood, but that won’t get you to the beach.  Get a hotel in either WeHo or the Westside (Santa Monica, West LA, Westwood); you’ll save on cab fare coming home from the clubs and be central to any part of LA you wish to go to. The Ramada Inn on Santa Monica Boulevard is in the heart.

Boystown night-life pretty much centres on Santa Monica Boulevard between Robertson and La Cienega, can you say “La see-N-eggah”. LA’s very Spanish, so dust off your Spanish pronunciations - tortillas (tor-tee-yahs), jalapeño (ha-la-peen-yo). Most gay bars are in WeHo, Hollywood and Silverlake (leather crowd).  The main WeHo gay bars are The Abbey, Rage, Mickeys and Motherlode. The Roosterfish bar in Venice is where WeHo locals go on weekends.  

Bars in California close at 2am. At the 1:30am mark, ask if anyone knows of an afterhours bar or party. Sometimes patrons linger on the street outside the bar after ‘last call for alcohol’ sorting this out. You’ll most likely only meet locals, most punters live there and moved to LA from other parts of the US. Americans usually aren’t well travelled, typically only getting 10 days annual leave and rarely take them in one go. Once they realise you’re Australian, you’ll probably be asked if you have kangaroos in your backyard.  Remember, they’re naïve and you’re the well-travelled cousin, so share your stories of the world and you’re in.

Some stuff to do during the day... Will Rogers State Beach, the to-be-seen local gay gathering spot or funky Venice Beach near Horizon Street. Shop at 3rd Street Promenade (Santa Monica) or Beverly Center, however buying vintage clothes on Melrose Boulevard is the way to go. I’ve bought 8 shirts and 2 pairs of pants for under $100, all one-of-a-kind and genuine. Mexican restaurants are a must.

Well, that’s a good start, so have fun in Boystown, you’ll be back.