As the second-largest metropolis in the U.S., Los Angeles has always been a goldmine for those who appreciate the arts in any form: from major museums with billion-dollar collections to the neighborhoods full of street art and side roads in which every coffee shop is a gathering spot for up-and-coming painters, sculptors and designers.
At the end of September, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened its doors to the 40,000-work collection of artworks by artists like Norman Rockwell, Frida Kahlo, N.C. Wyeth, and Diego Rivera that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas amassed over his lifetime.
In keeping with the futuristic space-opera world created by Lucas, the five-story museum building added to LA’s Exposition Park neighborhood was envisioned by architect Ma Yansong to come together, through the use of 1,500 cantilevered fiberglass panels, into a single continuous curved silhouette evoking a spaceship floating above the ground.
The state of the LA arts scene going into 2027: New museum openings and neighborhood gems
With both the new Lucas Museum and the reopening of the David Geffen Galleries at LACMA driving arts aficionados to the city, the LA arts scene has been going through another wave of perpetual transformation, reinvention, and emergence from the ashes following heavy downsizing and gallery closures due to high operating costs and softened post-pandemic visitor numbers.
LA has always been a city of different neighborhoods and Echo Park is one such locality that, driven by its early roots as a hub for silent film production, serves as a gathering place for creatives and trendy countercultural museum businesses.
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A showroom to absolutely not miss is the Echo Park Pottery active workroom and studio that ceramic artist and sculptor Peter Shire repurposed on the site of a former automotive shop as a space to create his signature hand-splattered glazed mugs and teapots in design-forward asymmetric shapes.
As the “Brooklyn of Los Angeles” and the city’s main hipster drag named after the 96-acre Silver Lake Reservoir at its center, Silver Lake is a great place to dive headfirst into the indie music scene at venues like The Echo and Zebulon as well as spend an afternoon discovering outdoor artworks like the Micheltorena Stairs and Elliott Smith Figure 8 mural on Sunset Boulevard.
A small neighborhoods arts travel guide to Koreatown, Echo Park, Silver Lake and Row DLA
Silver Lake is also the global center of midcentury modern architectural style. One can learn more about the Southern California modernist branch pioneered by Austrian-born architectural rivals Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler and behind many of LA’s most iconic buildings in what is now the Schindler House museum.
An extensive collection of modular furniture and 1950s-era minimalist pieces made of natural woods by American designer Paul McCobb can also be viewed on a free private tour at the Paul McCobb Museum, scheduled in advance.
The Row DLA, a 30-acre outdoor retail space on the edge of downtown LA’s main Arts District, is another neighborhood that takes the vibe of the gritty creative neighborhood along the Los Angeles River further to the southeast.
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The vision of adaptive reuse has been applied to the industrial district time and again over the last 100 years — it was the LA Terminal Market produce distribution hub along the Southern Pacific Railroad until the mid-century and, between 2004 and 2014, served as the headquarters and main manufacturing factory for the once-domineering fashion brand American Apparel.
Today, ROW DLA is home to dozens of art galleries, studios, independent boutiques, and unique places to grab a bite. The recently-opened Claedo Studio offers workshops on making one’s own ring or necklace charm with the Korean art of moldable silver clay starting at $175 while those coming in just to wander around will find nine large-scale murals from local LA artists spread throughout the outdoor space.
The Line LA
Where to stay in LA: Some arts and design-forward hotel options
An artsy accommodation option for the city includes The LINE LA, a four-star boutique hotel in the centrally located Koreatown. The 1964 Brutalist concrete building was repurposed by architect Sean Knibb in the urban-industrial and mid-century modern style to match the overall vibe of the neighborhood.
With rates that start at $195 per night, guests can get a room with floor-to-ceiling views of the Hollywood Hills as well as design lover Easter eggs like a geometric desk lamp that stands at a sideways angle and a room service order card that looks like a pink donut placed on one’s pillow.
For those interested in staying in the aforementioned Silver Lake neighborhood, the Silver Lake Pool & Inn is another great option for design fans. The hotel, operating since 2019, is an upscale makeover to what was once a 1980s-era motel and blends, with everything from Moroccan and terrazzo tiles to cacti gardens spread throughout the space, the aesthetics of Palm Springs mid-century chic and Mexican adobe architectural vibes. Prices for one of the hotel’s 54 rooms start at the splurge level of $450 per night.
And for a truly unique option, Hotel Lucile just off of Sunset Boulevard opened just a few weeks ago in what had up until the mid-2000s been the Romanesque Revival Bethany Presbyterian Church.
The eccentric style of an upscale hotel in a former site of worship comes through everything from the French-Louisiana fusion Sous Sous restaurant built inside the former chapel to the stained-glass windows and hotel’s “find your light” slogan. Prices start at $389 per night for midweek rates.
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