Curated guides created by experts and tastemakers
-
Gary Baseman
Gary Baseman's Los Angeles
I'm Gary Baseman, an LA-born visual artist/illustrator in love with this amazing city—its humor, heartbreak, strip malls, museums, and quiet corners. LA isn't a backdrop for me; it's a collaborator. Every character, sketch, and story I make is a conversation with this place. I'm excited for you to visit and hopefully appreciate a few of the very special places here that have shaped me and my work.
-
Overlook Staff Picks
LA's Important Residential Architecture (1 of 2)
This collection tells the story of how Los Angeles invented modern residential architecture. It begins in 1908 with Greene & Greene perfecting the handmade house, then Wright blowing it apart with industrial concrete, Neutra importing European rationalism and building an entire colony around it, and Schindler threading something wilder and more Californian through it all. This is the intellectual spine of LA modernism — the route where ideas were tested on tiny lots and steep hillsides before they changed the world. You could do this route comfortably in a half-day, or a full day if you tour Gamble House, Hollyhock, and VDL (all open as museums).
-
Overlook Staff Picks
Galleries That Put LA on the Art World Map
These ten galleries represent roughly $4 billion in annual art market activity, and every one of them is free and open to the public. No tickets, no timed entry, no membership. You walk in off the street and stand in front of the same works that collectors are paying seven figures for. Together they cover photography, sculpture, painting, installation, and conceptual art across every major movement from Abstract Expressionism to whatever's happening right now. Five years ago half of them didn't have LA locations. Their arrival is the clearest possible signal that Los Angeles has become the most important art city in America outside New York — and some would drop the qualifier.
-
Overlook Staff Picks
Important Public Parks of LA
Los Angeles is the only major American city where you can stand on a mountain, look at the ocean, and see a skyline — all from a public park you didn't pay to enter. These ten parks span 160,000 acres from sea-level bluffs to 1,600-foot ridgelines, and together they represent the single strongest argument against the idea that LA is just concrete and cars. Every one of them is free. Several are genuinely world-class. Most Angelenos haven't visited half of them, which is both the problem and the opportunity.
-
Overlook Staff Picks
Important Commercial and Public Architecture of LA
What makes this collection of 20 places exceptional is that it represents every major movement in American architecture from the 1890s to the present — Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, International Style, Googie, Brutalism, Postmodernism, Deconstructivism, and contemporary parametric design — all within a single metropolitan area. No other American city offers that continuity. These buildings are not just landmarks. They are primary sources. Seeing them in person is not tourism, it's fieldwork for anyone who appreciates design on a grand scale.
-
Overlook Staff Picks
Epic Drives of LA
No city on Earth matches the driving roads within two hours of Los Angeles. Angeles Crest climbs from suburban Pasadena to 7,000 feet through high-speed alpine switchbacks. The Rim of the World Byway traces the San Bernardino ridgeline with the entire Inland Empire spread below. The Palms to Pines Scenic Byway rises from the Coachella Valley desert floor through chaparral into pine forest — five climate zones in a single drive. Route 74 drops from the Santa Rosa Mountains through a sequence of blind corners that rivals any European pass road. The Arroyo Seco Parkway — America's first freeway, opened in 1940 — still carries you from downtown to Pasadena along a route so beautiful that Caltrans designated it a historic parkway rather than widen it. Even the Riverside Freeway's Santa Ana Canyon stretch reminds you that Southern California engineered its freeways through landscapes most countries would have declared national parks.
Explore food and attractions
Discover new places you'll love with our collection of curated lists and jumpstart your next adventure!
Culture Food Outdoors Sports Travel Government History Shopping MusicCulture
- Amusement Parks in Pennsylvania 14 places
- Art Galleries in Austin, TX 16 places
- Ferris Wheels 18 places
- All Things Magic in Pennsylvania 34 places
- Public works of Frank Gehry 20 places
- Public works of Frank Lloyd Wright 46 places
- Public works of Eero Saarinen 16 places
- Best Holiday Markets 13 places
- Hallmark Movie Towns 32 places
- Automotive Museums 90 places
- Tallest buildings across America 37 places
- Places from video games 20 places
- Popular Haunted Houses 16 places
- Casinos across Northeastern America 40 places
- Public markets across America 43 places
- Largest malls in the US 20 places
- Tallest Roller Coasters 11 places
Food
- Best Pizza on LES 3 places
- Top rated food in Lehigh Valley 45 places
- Cafes in New York 20 places
- Best Restaurants in Cleveland 25 places
- CityBeat Best of Cincinatti 29 places
- Brunch in NYC 22 places
- One Bite Pizza Rankings 41 places
- Untappd Best Breweries in America 82 places
- Best Buffets in America 34 places
- PA Dutch Smorgasbord (Amish buffets) 13 places
- 10 Best Sports Bars in Houston 10 places
- Great Ice Cream in Connecticut 28 places
- Great Ice Cream in Wisconsin 10 places
- Great Coffee Shops in Kansas 33 places
- Best BBQ in North & South Carolina 32 places
- Places from Taste The Nation with Padma Lakshmi 35 places
- UN-favored haunts in Turtle Bay, NYC 11 places
- Cheap Eats in Boston 26 places
- Wineries in Palisade, Colorado 🍷 17 places
- Where to Get Maryland’s Best Blue Crabs 33 places
- Great Apple Cider Donuts in the Hudson Valley, NY 21 places
- Best Independent Coffee Shops 10 places
- Places from Chef's Table 19 places
- Favorite Dim Sum in Manhattan 7 places
Outdoors
- 37 Berkshire Peaks 37 places
- Catskill 33x3500' 31 places
- Adirondack High Peaks 46 places
- National Parks in America 59 places
- Scenic Railroads 20 places
- Covered Bridges of West Virginia 16 places
- Caves 22 places
- Railbiking 24 places
- Hot air balloon rides 12 places
- Famous Bridges in America 11 places
- Observation Towers 25 places
- Riverboat Cruise Ports 14 places
- Best Outdoor Rock Climbing Spots in the U.S. 21 places
- Ikon Pass Destinations in USA 40 places
- Hot Springs in Montana 20 places
Sports
- Best US Motorsport Race Tracks 17 places
- Best Horse Race Tracks 23 places
- NFL Stadiums 30 places
- Major League Soccer Stadiums 27 places
- Major League Baseball Stadiums 29 places
- National Hockey League Stadiums 25 places
- 24 Great Spots for Cross-Country Skiing in the U.S. 24 places
- Top 5 Walleye Fishing Spots in Wyoming 5 places
- National Basketball Association Stadiums 29 places
- Glow-in-the-Dark Mini Golf 10 places
- Karting in Northeast America 13 places
- Best Road Race Marathons in the U.S. 18 places
Travel
- 48 Hours in NYC 17 places
- Weekend in Denver 19 places
- SLC 99 places
- 48 Hours in Chicago 🌭 25 places
- San Francisco Best 21 places
- Seattle's Best Summertime Destinations 16 places
- ATX travel list 🤠🤠 27 places
- Orlando like a local 27 places
- Raleigh Local Favs 62 places
- Best Things to Do in North Dakota 34 places
- Yellowstone National Park Itinerary, Montana 27 places
- Loess Hills Byway, Iowa, POI 15 places
- Amish Country Byway, Ohio, POI 16 places
- Old Canada Road Byway, Maine, POI 11 places
- Country Music Highway, Kentucky, POI 11 places
- Busiest Amtrak stations 12 places
- 21 Amazing Lakes in Maine 21 places
- R29 - Kitschy US Hotels 7 places
- Zoë Kravitz NYC list 10 places
- Neat Places to Visit Near the US-Canada Border 13 places
- Wynwood's Street Guide 36 places
- Aerial Trams and Gondolas 21 places
- Olympics Host Cities and Venues 6 places
- Wineries in Palisade, Colorado 🍷 17 places
- St. John Valley Cultural/Fish River Byway, Maine, POI 6 places
- Flaming Gorge-Green River Basin Scenic Byway, Wyoming, POI 7 places
- Historic National Road Byway, Maryland, POI 17 places
- Journey Through Hallowed Ground Byway, Maryland, POI 15 places
- Baltimore's Historic Charles Street Byway, Maryland, POI 17 places
- Religious Freedom Byway, Maryland, POI 12 places
- Chesapeake Country Byway, Maryland, POI 20 places
- Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, Maryland, POI 13 places
- Maryland Lighthouses 23 places
- Amazing Slot Canyons 21 places
- Los Caminos Antiguos Byway, Colorado, POI 12 places
- Mount Blue Sky Byway, Colorado, POI 9 places
- Cache La Poudre-North Park Byway, Colorado, POI 13 places
- Collegiate Peaks Byway, Colorado, POI 19 places
- Peak to Peak Byway, Colorado, POI 16 places
- West Elk Loop Byway, Colorado, POI 17 places
- Unaweep/Tabeguache Byway, Colorado, POI 10 places
- Pawnee Pioneer Trails Byway, Colorado, POI 12 places
- South Platte River Trail Byway, Colorado, POI 5 places
- Tracks Across Borders Byway, Colorado, POI 14 places
- Colorado River Headwaters Byway, Colorado, POI 17 places
- Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Byway, Colorado, POI 14 places
- Frontier Pathways Byway, Colorado, POI 12 places
- Gold Belt Tour Byway, Colorado, POI 18 places
- Grand Mesa Byway, Colorado, POI 8 places
- Lariat Loop Byway, Colorado, POI 21 places
- San Juan Skyway Byway, Colorado, POI 18 places
- Santa Fe Trail Byway, Colorado, POI 9 places
- Scenic Highway of Legends Byway, Colorado, POI 15 places
- Top of the Rockies Byway, Colorado, POI 12 places
- Trail of the Ancients Byway, Colorado, POI 18 places
- Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow Road Byway, Colorado, POI 17 places
