Loud, brash and glitzy, these are words long associated with the city of big money, big stars and big movie kudos. LA is the kind of place where people mind their own business, where nobody wants to know yours. The city can be difficult to decode. But to those in the know, LA is best interpreted as a collection of satisfyingly small towns, each with its own distinct character. Getting to know LA as a visitor means exploring it bit by bit, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Make sure you have a beachside lunch in Santa Monica, go shopping in Beverly Hills, visit the Getty Center and stroll the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but allow one day to explore each area.

CHAMBERLAIN WEST HOLLYWOOD
1000 Westmount Drive, West Hollywood, California, USA (00 1 310 657 7400; www.chamberlainwesthollywood.com). The four-storey, 112-room hotel is the latest addition to the LA-based Kor Hotel stable, which includes the Viceroys and the Avalon in Beverly Hills. The Chamberlain was envisaged as a 'residential pied-à-terre' and there is something especially intimate and discreet about it. This is partly thanks to its location, tucked away in a residential area and partly its oh-so-minimalist décor. The feel of a short-let studio, albeit a glamorised version, is maintained in the bedrooms, all of which are suites. The ceilings may be a little low, but even the smallest suite manages to feel spacious thanks to split-level flooring, clever mirror walling and a coolly masculine blue-and-grey colour scheme (the work of designer Kelly Wearstler). All rooms have a balcony, flat-screen television, DVD/CD player, Internet access, gas log fire and white Italian sheets on a huge, raised double bed. The only problem is that, even if the hotel is full, you will only ever see a handful of other guests, if any at all, and the bistro and lounge are almost always deserted. The classic Californian/Classic American cuisine is excellent. £

CHATEAU MARMONT
8221 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood (00 1 323 656 1010; fax: 655 5311; www.chateaumarmont.com). A 1929 turreted castle with aging lobby, quiet gardens with brick paths, and original tiles in nearly every suite. There are 63 rooms, including 48 bedrooms and suites, two penthouses, four garden bungalows and nine cottages. Discretion is the word among the staff, who seem somewhat jaded by the steady stream of celebrity guests. Free phone usage, Frette linens, chenille spreads and refurbished 1950s GE appliances are in all the rooms. The X factor? Bungalow 2 saw the first reading of Rebel Without a Cause; John Belushi O'D'd in Bungalow 3. ££

ELAN HOTEL
8435 Beverly Boulevard (00 1 323 658 6663; www.elanhotel.com). Minutes from LA shopping institution the Beverly Center, the 50-room Elan is an exercise is 1960s modernism. Room service is from Jan's Diner opposite, and there is a cheese-and-wine party every weekday evening. £

HOTEL BEL-AIR
701 Stone Canyon Road (00 1 310 472 1211; fax: 476 5890; www.hotelbelair.com). This grand dame of hotels has 91 rooms and suites, lush gardens and one of the best restaurants in town. Tom came here to recuperate after his split with Nicole. It is reassuringly expensive. The Bel-Air was featured in the The Gold List 2005. £££

SHUTTERS ON THE BEACH
1 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica (00 1 310 458 0030; fax: 458 4589; www.shuttersonthebeach.com). This stalwart hotel overlooks the sea and is how one would imagine Ralph Lauren's beach house to look, or your wealthy grandmother's 1920s beach condo. All dark-wood floors and old leather sofas. There are 186 rooms and 12 suites distributed over seven sprawling floors. The service is gracefully pragmatic, casually dressed doormen are armed with chilled bottles of Evian water. Whirlpool baths come with candles, every bedside table has a copy of a Hemingway novel. Chef Matt Lyman reigns over upmarket One Pico restaurant; casual dining downstairs at Pedals Café. A vast art collection, including works by Hockney and Lichtenstein, graces the lobby and hallways. £££

STANDARD DOWNTOWN
550 South Flower Street, Downtown LA (00 1 213 892 8080; fax: 892 8686; www.standardhotel.com). André Balazs (of New York's Mercer hotel, LA's Chateau Marmont and The Standard Hollywood) has given the Los Angeles business district a jolt. This cluster of bank and insurance company buildings, has always been deserted after 5pm. But now, at around 8pm, LA's beautiful young things begin filling the streets around Balazs' new hotel, hoping to be admitted to its roof bar, a playpen complete with infinity pool and movies projected on nearby buildings. Balazs has retained the former office building's 1960s corporate-modern décor and added a few ironic touches: the bedrooms are cheerful and spare (the bed is on a grey-carpeted platform), with floor-to-ceiling glass framed vistas. The staff are California-cheerful and remarkably efficient; call room service and the same person who took your order - this is hotel policy - delivers it. The Standard Downtown was featured in The Hot List 2003. £

THE AMBROSE
1255 20th Street, Santa Monica (00 1 310 315 1555; http://www.Ambrosehotel.com). The Ambrose is decorated in English country-house style with Asian-inspired elements. There are Italian linens in 77 rooms and Aveda products in the bathrooms. Breakfasts are delicious, with a huge selection of herbal teas, and a London taxi is on hand to ferry guests around. £

THE AVALON HOTEL
9400 West Olympic Boulevard, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 227 5221; www.avalonbeverlyhills.com). A tribute to 1950s Californian poolside living, the Avalon is divided into three buildings: the Beverly (26 rooms, two suites), the Canon (15 rooms) and the Olympic, which has 43 rooms plus the bar, restaurant and hourglass-shaped pool. £

THE BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL
9641 Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 276 2251; fax: 887 2887; www.thebeverlyhillshotel.com). Known as the Pink Palace, this gold-leaf adorned hotel has undergone as much cosmetic surgery as the women who stay here. This tranquil enclave has 203 rooms and suites, and 21 bungalows, some with private pools. The service is professional, charming and never obsequious. A coiffed clientele gather in the Polo Lounge; go to the Fountain Coffee Shop for burgers. ££

THE CRESCENT HOTEL
403 North Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 247 0505; www.crescentbh.com). A palm-tree-flanked villa on the outside; sleek minimalism on the inside. The retro-modern lounge bar and patio restaurant are popular. All 35 rooms come with selected CDs, iPods and free Wi-Fi Internet access. ££

THE MONDRIAN
8440 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood (00 1 323 650 8999; fax: 650 5215 http://www.mondrianhotel.com). This is a celebrated Ian Schrager hotel that has become a little hackneyed, but people still flock to the Sky Bar and its huge poolside mattresses drenched with pretty people. ££

THE PENINSULA BEVERLY HILLS
9882 South Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 551 2888; fax: 788 2319; www.beverlyhills.peninsula.com). This 'French Renaissance' palace is well-placed on Little Santa Monica in the heart of the Beverly Hills shopping district, around the corner from Rodeo Drive. There are 196 rooms, including 36 suites and 16 'villa' suites in seven separate buildings arranged around courtyards. The service is efficient and demure, suited pageboys deliver faxes and other sundries upon request. The spa offers facials, massages and the 'wet room' has a Hydrotherapy Bath, with 150 underwater jets. Repeat guests get monogrammed pillowcases. Everyone gets use of the hotel's chauffeured Rolls Royce. £££

W LOS ANGELES WESTWOOD
930 Hilgard Avenue, Westwood (00 1 310 208 8765; fax: 824 0355; www.whotels.com). This is the first five-star hotel in lush Westwood and resembles an ivy-covered UCLA dormitory outside, with functional chic décor inside, including a waterfall lit by fibre-optics that flows day and night. There are 258 suites over 16 floors, including 63 three-room office suites, with printer/fax/scanner and high-speed Internet access. There are extensive views, north to the Santa Monica mountains and Getty Center, and south to Culver City. The best thing? The poolside cabanas from where you can order massages. There are cotton piqué bathrobes and Aveda products in every room. £

AGO
8478 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood (00 1 323 655 6333). At Robert De Niro's restaurant the food is a bit disappointing, but it is good for star-spotting.

IL FORNAIO
1551 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica (00 1 310 451 7800). This airy Italian restaurant has its own deli, which sells a variety of breads and olive oils.

IL PASTAIO
400 North Canon Drive, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 205 5444). This charming restaurant serves spectacular ravioli.

KETCHUP
8590 Sunset Boulevard (00 1 310 289 8590). West Hollywood's Ketchup, from the Dolce Group, serves vamped-up classics, Kobe beef burgers, mini fish tacos and mama's meatloaf, alongside soups, salads and seafood. The decor is bright-white with tomato-inspired lighting and artworks.

KOI RESTAURANT
730 North La Cienega Boulevard, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 659 9449; www.koirestaurant.com). Don't be surprised to be dining next to George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Douglas or Cameron Diaz at LA's latest dining hotspot with intimately-lit, tropical patios, blazing fireplaces and Buddha statuary. Signature dishes include miso bronzed black cod, soft shell crab with spicy cream and succulent lobster tail with miso spinach.

LE DOME
8720 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood (00 1 310 659 6919). This classic restaurant has recently been refurbished and remains the LA's answer to The Ivy in London. Eddie Kerkoff helms this insider's spot with panache. The food is consistently good, and from the elegant terrace, close to LA's best bookshop, Book Soup, you can watch all the action on Sunset. It's one of the few places in LA where even movie people bother to dress up.

MATSUHISA
129 North La Cienaga Boulevard, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 659 9639). Chef Nobu Matsuhisa's best restaurant is here in LA. The cuisine has been described as 'Asian food from God' and 'orgasmic'. It's where he started and it's the cheapest of all his places, which is why you'll need to book ahead.

MOONSHADOWS
20356 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu (00 1 310 456 3010). Go for fabulous sunset views from a wooden decked terrace overlooking the ocean.

MORTON'S
8764 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood (00 1 310 276 5205). Have lunch at Morton's alongside Hollywood's biggest hitters. Suitably expensive.

MR CHOW
344 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 278 9911). If you're in LA for one night, go to Mr Chow. Being seated on the left as you go in means you've made it.

MUSSO & FRANK GRILL
6667 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood (00 1 323 467 7788). This is the oldest restaurant in Hollywood and has been patronised by A-listers since it opened in 1919. It has experienced a revival as a cult hangout. Charlie Chaplin came for dinner in the early days; Harrison Ford, Madonna, Julia Roberts and George Clooney now make regular appearances, and there is always an assortment of writers, producers and directors. Consistency is the key to its success: the menu hasn't changed since the day it opened, some of the waiters have been there for 45 years and, incredibly, there have only been two chefs. The à la carte menu features steaks, roasts, seafood and salads; specials include chicken pot pie, bouillabaisse and flannel cakes. And the barman mixes a mean Martini.

PHILLIPS BBQ
4307 Leimert Boulevard (00 1 323 292 7613). Take away some ribs tips or chicken from here, it's the best in town.

SUSHI NOZAWA
11288 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City (00 1 818 508 7017). This is where chef Kazunori Nozawa (also known as the 'Sushi Nazi') serves up omakase dishes that make his occasional tantrums worth risking.

THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY
364 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills (00 1310 278 7270; www.thecheesecakefactory.com). This is the original Cheesecake Factory restaurant, which opened in 1978, and is a popular lunch stop with cheesecakes to die for. Try the Chocolate Oreo Mudslide cheesecake.

THE GRILL ON THE ALLEY
9560 Dayton Way, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 276 0615). This is a Beverly Hills power-lunch spot. Very clubby and elegant with lots of wood and leather.

THE IVY
113 North Robertson, Beverly Hills (00 1 310 274 8303). The Ivy provides a rare outdoor-lunch opportunity. Huge star-spotting potential.

THE LOBSTER
1602 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica (00 1 310 458 9294). This is a former fish shack converted into a glass-walled cube overlooking the beach. Excellent seafood and service.

WHITE LOTUS
1743 North Cahuenga Boulevard, Hollywood (00 1 323 463 0060; www.whitelotushollywood.com). White Lotus serves Euro-Asian fare in a picturesque oriental setting with tables inside or on a leafy patio. Try the Andy Roll (named after head chef Andrew Pastore) topped with caviar and goldflake and the lychee and pineapple Martini. Both the restaurant and nightclub attract a starry clientele including Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Britney Spears.

YAMASHIRO
1999 North Sycamore Avenue, Hollywood (00 1 323 466 5125). Yamashiro makes searingly powerful cocktails, and the view over Hollywood is unrivalled.

ZEN GRILL
8432 West Third Street (00 1 323 655 9991). This is a secretive lunch spot favoured by young actresses. Sample the blissful Saigon noodles.

CAFES

LUCY FLORENCE COFFEE HOUSE
4305 Degnan Boulevard. This is a great place to hear live music over a slice of moist coconut cake.

PARADISE COVE BEACH CAFE
28128 Pacific Highway, Malibu (00 1 310 457 2503). Bob Morris's Paradise Cove Beach Café serves vintage diner food. Great for post-lunch walks on the beach.

TOAST
8221 West Third Street (00 1 323 655 5018). As well as doing great pastries, Toast specializes in breakfast, served all day and featuring French toast, pancakes and omelets. There are also salads, sandwiches and quiches and a take-away service.

URTH CAFFE
8565 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood (00 1 310 659 0628). Organic café with great people-watching patio for celeb spotting.

To those in the know, LA is a collection of satisfyingly small towns, each with its own character. Here, is an insider's guide to the main areas.

BEL AIR, BRENTWOOD AND WESTWOOD
For a taste of how LA's affluent live, spend a day nosing around these three west-side enclaves. When you get tired of Bel Air's hairpin turns, take a stroll through UCLA (www.ucla.com) in Westwood, an urban oasis with a sculpture garden populated by Calders, Moores and Rodins. Nearby Westwood Village is home to the acclaimed Geffen Playhouse (10886 Le Conte Avenue; 00 1 310 208 5454; www.geffenplayhouse.com) and UCLA's Armand Hammer Museum (10899 Wiltshire Boulevard; 00 1 310 443 7000; www.hammer.ucla.edu), housing the late industrialist's impressionist and post-impressionist paintings. Pay your respects to a who's who of the deceased, including Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon, at Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery (1218 Glendon Avenue). On Friday and Saturday nights, Brentwood's Getty Center (1200 Getty Center Drive; 00 1 310 440 7330; www.getty.edu) stays open late, affording panoramic views of the glittering city.

BURBANK AND STUDIO CITY
Home to Buena Vista, Disney, NBC, Universal and Warner Bros studios, Burbank isn't called the city's media centre for nothing. The Warner Bros VIP Tour (00 1 818 972 8687) gives a behind-the-scenes look at moviemaking. At the touristy Universal Studios (www.universalstudioshollywood.com), there are film-themed rides and studio tours which take in sets from past and present films and shows including Back to the Future and the more recent Desperate Housewives, as well as an impressive airplane wreckage from Speilberg's War of the Worlds. In Studio City, the humble neighbourhood where the Brady Bunch lived, their hardcore fans still seek out the sitcom family's house (11222 Dilling Street).

DOWNTOWN
Once a ghosttown, Downtown is fast becoming a core of urban chic. Opposite the Museum of Contemporary Art (250 South Grand Avenue; 001 213 626 6222; www.moca-la.org), Frank Gehry's 2,265-seat Walt Disney Concert Hall (www.disneyhall.org) opened on 23 October 2003, and its ribbons of stainless steel are already making his Guggenheim Bilbao look to its laurels. Three blocks north, Rafael Moneo's ultra-modernist Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels (555 West Temple Street) is another instant landmark. City Hall (200 North Spring Street) - the Daily Planet Building in Superman, is ready for its next close up following a $300-million face-lift. Chinatown's China City is home to acclaimed galleries such as China Art Objects (933 Chung King Road: 00 1 213 613 0384), which share the block with fashion and design-outlets including Shop Chuey (437 Gin Ling way; 00 1 213 625 3789).

EAST LA
This is home to one of the country's oldest Hispanic communities, and spending time here is a lot like going south of the border. The colours are vibrant and the tortillas fresh; street vendors sell luscious mangoes and the crunchy jicama, and traditional Mexican musicians stroll Mariachi Plaza (Boyle and First Streets). East LA is also the stomping ground for Chicano musicians such as Los Lobos. The hub of this emerging creative scene is the visual-arts centre Self-Help Graphics & Art (3802 Ceasr East Chavez Avenue; 00 1 323 881 6444; www.selfhelpgraphics.com), whose elaborate mosaic façade reflects the calibre of work inside its exhibition space, Galeria Otra Vez. As you drive along, you'll see public art on the sides of buildings that recalls the work of Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood's hippie shops and leather-clad street bums once upstaged its old-time glamour. Now, thanks to civic-minded celebs, many of its golden-age landmarks have been spruced up. At Grauman's now state-of-the-art Chinese Theatre (6925 Hollywood Boulevard; 00 1 323 464 6266), you can still check out Marilyn Monroe's impossibly tiny handprints. Kids flock to Disney's El Capitan Theatre (6838 Hollywood Boulevard; 00 1 323 467 7674; www.elcapitantickets.com), while true film buffs head for the highbrow screenings at the Egyptian Theatre (6712 Hollywood Boulevard; 0 1 323 466 3456; www.egyptiantheatre.com), home to the film-preservation foundation American Cinématique. The Hollywood & Highland shopping centre may be a mundane Academy Awards theme park (its Kodak Theatre is Oscar's new home), but it compensates with peerless views of the Hollywood sign and has boosted the area's celebrity quotient. The Sunday morning farmers' market (on Ivar, north of Sunset) is where the city's chefs get their produce. (See Markets below).

MALIBU
Malibu can be unforgiving: fires burn, mud slides and traffic on the Pacific Coast Highway can be all stop and no go. But it's hard to feel too sorry for its denizens, Goldie Hawn, Steven Spielberg and Barbra Streisand among them, who enjoy ocean views and bluffs reminiscent of the Italian Riviera. Accommodation is limited to a few dicey motels, so there's rarely a tourist crowd, and no one dresses up. Sunny days call for a drive along PCH to Zuma Beach, one of the road's most alluring stretches. Fans of rare blooms cruise through avocado and orange groves to Zuma Canyon Orchids (5949 Bonsall Drive; 00 1 310 457 9771).

SANTA MONICA AND VENICE
Liberal enough to be dubbed the People's Republic of Santa Monica, this coastal community, with its pier and permanent amusement park, retains an air of affluence while Bergamot Station houses established galleries and the Santa Monica Museum of Art (2525 Michigan Avenue; 00 1 310 586 6488). Venice, a 1905 homage to its Italian namesake (replete with canals) remains true to its bohemian roots, even though gentrification has set in. Street musicians and greased-up body-builders still work the boardwalk, and the creative spirit that helped fuel LA's seminal 1960s and 1970s art scene endures, especially during May's Art Walk, when artists, architects and collectors open their studios and homes.

SOUTH LA
Known as the Harlem of the West, this area has famously been the backdrop for riots and gang violence; but jazz enthusiasts know that Central Avenue's clubs once hosted Louis Armstrong, the two Charlies (Mingus and Parker) and their ilk. Today, the cultural centre of gravity has shifted to Leimert Park, where tidy homes line Degnan Boulevard. Visit Eso Won Books (3655 South La Brea Avenue; 00 1 323 294 0324), where LA's African-American intelligentsia gathers for readings, lectures and browsing. Take in the renovated Watts Towers (1727 East 107th Street; 00 1 213 847 4646), Simon Rodia's Gaudi-esque folk-art masterpiece which took 30 years to build, along with the exhibitions at the adjacent arts centre.

MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES
LA is often accused of being a philistine, yet there are some cultural gems for those in the know.

NORTON SIMON MUSEUM
411 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena (00 1 626 449 6840; www.nortonsimon.org). This is the area's finest museum, founded by one of America's greatest collectors who amassed works by artists from Raphael, El Greco and Poussin to Rembrandt, Canaletto and Degas.

THE GETTY CENTER
1200 Getty Center Drive (00 1 310 440 7300; www.getty.edu). This is the oil billionaire's final legacy, a staggering home for his exhaustive art collection. It also hosts good lecture series and events.

THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino (00 1 626 405 2100; www.huntington.org). The Huntington Library, set in handsome gardens, is the former home of railroad baron Collis Huntington and now houses his library and art collection. Some of the rarest and finest American and British manuscripts anywhere in the world are here, including the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a Gutenberg bible on vellum and the double portfolio of Audubon's Birds of America. It also contains Gainsborough's Blue Boy and Sir Thomas Lawrence's Pinkie.

MARKETS
FARMERS MARKET
6333 West Third Street at Fairfax Avenue (00 1 323 933 9211). This is LA's original market, with the best butchers and greengrocers in town.

OTHER THINGS NOT TO MISS
CHRISTIE'S
360 North Camden Drive (00 1 310 385 2600; www.christies.com). Christie's salerooms often hold interesting sales of Hollywood memorabilia.

OPEN HOUSES
Slack planning regulations and extravagant residents have given LA a collection of extraordinary houses. At weekends, those for sale are open to the public. Drive along Sunset Boulevard and follow signs to Open Houses for an intriguing peek.

HOLLYWOOD BOWL
Go bowling at The Hollywood Bowl on Santa Monica Boulevard, where The Big Lebowski was filmed.

LA GUN CLUB
1375 East Sixth Street (00 1 213 612 0931). Currently one of the hippest things to do in LA is to visit the Gun Club, an indoor pistol-shooting range used by both the Los Angeles Police Department and members of the public, gangsters and all. Choose from over 100 different handguns and shoot at paper silhouettes of Mexican baddies.

SKIING AND SURFING
Los Angelinos boast that they can surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon. Rent surf boards at one of the many shops on the Pacific Highway in Malibu and splash around. The best skiing in California is found at Mammoth Mountain. It is a five-hour drive away, but worth it.

THE NEON CRUISE
Just across Olympic Boulevard from the old Packard building is the Museum of Neon Art, which preserves the country's neon heritage, encourages contemporary neon art and - for those with time to kill on a Saturday evening between May and October - runs evening tours of the still neon-rich central area of LA. The 'Neon Cruise' aboard an open-topped double-decker bus, takes in an array of landmarks, from a four-handed Buddha with moving eyes in Chinatown and a flashing sphinx at the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard to a sound-activated installation of multicoloured, flashing hops at the International Jewelry Center and the new 'Snow White: An Enchanting New Musical' sign on the rooftop of the Equitable Building at Hollywood and Vine. Museum of Neon Art, 501 West Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles (00 1 213 489 9918; www.neonmona.org). Nearest subway station: Figueroa and 7th Street. The museum is open Wed to Sat, 11am to 5pm and Sun, noon to 5pm, except on public holidays. On the second Thursday of the month, the museum is open 5pm to 8pm, free of charge. The Neon Cruise departs from the museum at 7.30pm on Saturdays from May to late October, returning at 10.30pm.

ABBOT KINNEY BOULEVARD
Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice Beach is the best place for cheap and quirky antiques as well as old maps.

JF CHEN
8414 Melrose Avenue (00 1 323 655 6310). For the best quality antiques and interiors, those in the know go to JF Chen. If staff ask, 'Are you an interior designer?' reply with a confident 'Yes' and explore the five giant rooms where designers come to source goods for Jack and Barbra's new homes.

PB GALLERY
8304 Melrose Avenue (00 1 323 782 3900). The current vogue for Chinese furniture has gripped LA. PB Gallery is very grown up and specialises in near museum-quality Chinese furniture and artefacts.

JANE MOUFFLET
8840 Beverly Boulevard (00 1 310 275 3629). This is the place for vintage film posters.

RESURRECTION
8006 Melrose Avenue (00 1 323 651 5516). This has a fantastic selection of second-hand designer clothes for men and women, from Pucci and Oz Clarke to classic 1960s Gucci loafers.

RODEO DRIVE
Rodeo Drive is a magnet for out-of-towners with squidgy tummies taking snaps of each other outside Harry Winston and treating Tiffany's like Argos. Avoid, instead nip around the corner to the following stores.

Barney's New York (9570 Wilshire Boulevard; 00 1 310 276 4400; www.barneys.com), Saks Fifth Avenue (9600 Wilshire Boulevard; 00 1 310 275 4211; www.saksfifthavenue.com) and Neiman Marcus (9700 Wilshire Boulevard; 00 1 310 550 5900; www.neimanmarcus.com) sit alongside one another. They have valet parking: use it. All the designers you could possibly need or know are here. If star-spotting is your thing, there are plenty of skinny actresses trying on sexy shoes at Neiman Marcus. Visit the bar on the top floor for good Bloody Marys and Martinis, and go to the Barney Greengrass restaurant in Barney's for lunch. Wear sunglasses: you'll fit in and it's easier to stare.

SUNSET PLAZA
8635 Sunset Boulevard. This is worth a gander. Catherine Malandrino and Tracey Ross are here (see below), as is the excellent Calypso.

THE HUSTLER STORE
8920 Sunset Boulevard (00 1 310 860 9009). This is everything Agent Provocateur tries to be, and more. It's the real deal, and the best place to buy lively presents.

TRACEY ROSS
8595 Sunset Boulevard (00 1 310 854 1996; www.traceyross.com). The tiny, two-roomed boutique is located in the middle of Sunset Boulevard's five blocks of designer stores. It is next to the best-known branch of the ubiquitous Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafés; actresses and wannabes pop in after a 'low-calorie ice blended' at the café. The décor is eclectic: leopard-print carpets, star-and-moon murals and chandeliers, and there is a day bed on which customers such as Brittany Murphy, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek can recline if the shopping becomes too strenuous. There are choice pieces from labels including Chloe, Marc Jacobs, Jimmy Choo and Karen Zambos Vintage Couture, and appointments with a manicurist can be arranged.

AIRPORT
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is situated 17 miles southwest of Downtown LA.

AIRLINES FROM THE UK
British Airways (0870 850 9 850; www.british-airways.com), United Airlines (08458 444 777; www.united.com), American Airlines (0845 7789 789; www.aa.com), Virgin (08705 747 747; www.virgin-atlantic.com) all have direct flights from London to Los Angeles.

HIRING A CAR
Avoid renting a convertible; only tourists choose convertibles and, in certain parts of LA, having the roof down will actually be hazardous. Make sure you bring an EU photographic license. It makes renting a car easier and constitutes a very useful piece of ID. Rent a car with a satellite navigation system (an extra $40, but worth every cent) and make sure you have a Thomas Guide street map.

If business or the Oscars don't dictate when you visit, go to LA in spring or autumn when it is pleasantly warm and you avoid the summer humidity and holiday crowds. The best month is October.

For information on Los Angeles, visit the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau website at www.lacvb.com.