Cruising the streets in LA

Sprawled beneath a veil of smog, cosmopolitan Los Angeles is where American Dreams are made and then committed to celluloid.

This sun-drenched Californian city is America's fantasy laboratory - a place where plastic surgeons make age irrelevant, Disneyland is "the happiest place on earth" and Austrian bodybuilders can become Californian governors.

Amid LA's tangled network of freeways, you'll find palm trees and high-heeled starlets swaying seductively in the warm West Coast breeze.

Los Angeles is a disparate collection of neighborhoods spread across a desert basin and sandwiched between mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

From dreamy Hollywood to posturing Venice Beach to seriously wealthy Beverly Hills, anyone who has ever switched on a television will find many of LA's districts need little introduction.

Aside from being the prime business district and the site of many a cinema chase scene, Downtown LA is known for its colorful Latino, African American and Asian pockets. There's not a lot going on here at night or on weekends and areas such as working-class South Central - the epicenter of the 1992 riots - have little to lure tourists.

Most visitors to LA are here to see the galaxy of stars emblazoned on the pavement of Hollywood Boulevard, experience the debauched nightlife of the Sunset Strip, soak up some movie magic at Universal Studios, window shop along Rodeo Drive, take a celebrity tour of Beverly Hills or stroll the pier in the liberal beachside suburb of Santa Monica. For the city's best sandy beaches, head 20 miles north of Santa Monica to exclusive Malibu. Also on the outskirts of LA, historic and bohemian Pasadena offers up a fine selection of gardens, galleries and theaters.

The car reigns supreme in LA. Even with the maddeningly-clogged roads, getting around without your own gas-guzzler is difficult. Some neighborhoods can be explored on foot, and there is a limited public transport system that consists of buses (the service is good service in the Hollywood and Downtown areas) and a Metrorail train network with all of three lines.

Los Angeles International Airport (known simply as LAX) is the prime gateway to the city.