The L.A. Cultural Destination You Didn’t Know You Were Missing Out On
In Los Angeles, we've got a few must-see destinations where you can experience a variety of cultural attractions. There's Museum Row on Miracle Mile, with its four world-class museums (LACMA, the new Academy Museum, La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, the Petersen Museum). There's also Exposition Park with its Natural History Museum, California Science Center and California African American Museum (not to mention the future site of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art). We've even got Griffith Park, which offers plenty to do besides hiking and picnicking — including a zoo, two museums, three tiny train rides and a summertime Shakespeare festival.
But if you've been there and done that, and you're looking for a new place to explore without spending all day in the car, why not head to the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood and explore a cultural destination that's one of the city's best kept secrets?
I'm talking about the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles — a.k.a. UCLA.
This campus may be one-tenth the size of Griffith Park — but within its 400+ acres, you can also find a planetarium, space artifacts, two sculpture gardens, two landmarks built to look like an Italian basilica, flowering trees and diverse botanical wonders, and much, much more.
Even better, all these attractions are surrounded by beautiful landscaping and lots of open green space — from sloping lawns to manicured plazas (and even a hidden tropical oasis).
So, here are just some of the most intriguing, and often hidden, highlights of what the UCLA campus has to offer to the public.
1. Mingle Among World-Class Sculptures
Start your journey on the Upper Campus at the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, which replaced a parking lot when it was dedicated in 1967. It's technically part of the Hammer Museum — also in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood — but it's tucked in between the university's Broad Art Center, Charles E. Young Research Library, and School of Theater, Film and Television.
According to Los Angeles Conservancy, the garden is one of its kind on the West Coast — a five-acre sprawl of both figurative and abstract works by sculptors from all over the world. Some of the standouts among the more than 70 sculptures in the garden include the bronze Maja by German sculptor Gerhard Marcks (circa 1941), the bronze "Queen of Sheba" by Ukrainian-born Alexander Archipenko (circa 1961, and one of an edition of eight) and Californian surrealist Jack Zajac's Bound goat, Wednesday (circa 1973).
Pietro Consagra's Colloquio Duro ("Difficult Dialogue") bronze relief from 1959 adorns the same wall as the bust of the garden's namesake, the university's third chancellor (by Eldon C. Tefft, circa 1960). At the end of an allée of South African coral trees, you'll find Auguste Rodin's unfinished L'homme qui marche (a.k.a. The Walking Man, circa 1905) standing in stark contrast to its neighbor, the site-specific installation of T.E.U.C.L.A. by American artist Richard Serra (circa 2006).
It's free to visit and entirely outdoors. You'll find it located off Charles E. Young Drive East. Park on Hilgard Avenue and walk west to enter by foot, past the Tower of Masks (circa 1961) by Anna Mahler. A downloadable, printable map is available online.
To reach the sculpture garden directly by car and spend the rest of your journey on foot, you can also park in UCLA Parking Structure 3, which offers both hourly and daily rates (no overnight).
2. Discover a Hidden Palm Tree Oasis
After exiting the sculpture garden area by one of two sidewalks heading south, take just a few steps to reach Bunche Hall, a circa 1964 Modernist high-rise designed by architect Maynard Lyndon. The hall was named after UCLA graduate Ralph Bunche, a pioneer in peace studies and 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner. You'll find it at 315 Portola Plaza — across the plaza from Perloff Hall and situated between Campbell Hall to the west and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs to the east.
It houses classrooms for the social sciences, like geography — but it's also home to a peaceful, hidden garden known as the Palm Court. The palm tree-filled atrium takes up four floors and is located between the two main sections of Bunche Hall: the 12-story tower with "floating" window casings and a shorter, adjoining section of offices that forms an L shape.
Palm Court is a treasured spot for UCLA students looking for a place to study — but visitors are welcome to pop in and admire the plantings from the railings that overlook them. Enjoy lots of natural light — but no view of the sky, as the palm trees seem to grow right through a screen that's been installed.
It's free to visit and open-air, but please obey signage regarding any face covering requirements.
To reach Bunche Hall directly by car, park in UCLA Parking Structure 3.
3. Explore an "Art Yard" Devoted to a Treasured L.A. Sculptor
From Bunche Hall, walk west along the north side of Campbell Hall until you reach Rolfe Hall, whose northern courtyard contains a sculpture garden of bronze nudes, across from the North Campus Student Center (where you can also get a bite to eat).
It was created thanks to a donation by UCLA patrons Roy and Carol Doumani, who helped dedicate the outdoor space to the late Mexican-born, American sculptor Robert Graham. Graham is perhaps best known for his Olympic Gateway (circa 1984) outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — as well as for the Great Bronze Doors at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Downtown L.A. (circa 2002).
Among Graham's 11 works here include his circa 1983 Olympic Torso (Male) and (Female), Fountain Figure III (1983), Stephanie and Spy (circa 1980-1), and columns that are a part of his Study for Duke Ellington Memorial series (circa 1988), including "Debbie," and "Lisa Ann."
"The Yard," as it's sometimes called, is free to visit and entirely outdoors.
To reach Rolfe Hall directly by car, park on an upper level of UCLA Parking Structure 5.
4. Take In a Show at a Temple of Academia
From Rolfe Hall, take the stairs that pass under the sign for the Department of Communication and head south to Royce Hall — the largest and most grandiose of the original four buildings of UCLA's first academic quadrangle (the "quad"), which was built upon a former sheep pasture. Named after the late 19th century California idealist Josiah Royce and designed to mimic the 11th-century Romanesque style of the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio in Milan, Royce Hall is undoubtedly the "crown jewel" of the UCLA campus — and not just because of its iconic, asymmetrical towers.
The interior, which you enter through a cloistered colonnade, also feels like an Italian Renaissance church. Designed in 1927 by brothers James Edward Allison and David Clark Allison as the main administration and classroom building of the UCLA campus, Royce Hall is a kind of temple of education — its stained glass windows celebrating academic pursuits instead of miraculous works, and scientists and athletes instead of saints and angels.
What we now know as a grand concert hall was actually designed as an auditorium for academia, where students filled its 1800 seats to listen to speeches given by Albert Einstein or any of the many other intellectual, cultural, and political luminaries (Ansel Adams, Aldous Huxley, Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Nixon) who graced its stage.
Today, it's the home of UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance as well as many other performances and events by visiting artists like Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles and more. A full calendar of ticketed events (many requiring an admission charge) can be found on the Royce Hall website.
To reach Royce Hall directly by car, park on an upper level of UCLA Parking Structure 5.
5. Marvel At Architecture Amid the Stacks
Directly across the quad (now known as Dickson Court) from Royce Hall is the Romanesque Revival-style Powell Library, another landmark of the original campus. UCLA's main undergraduate library gets its name from former University Librarian Lawrence Clark Powell (1944 to 1961), who also served as Dean of the Graduate School of Library Service from 1960 to 1966.
The original structure was designed by architect George W. Kelham — who'd previously created the masterplan for UC Berkeley — and constructed from 1926 to 1929. Like Royce Hall, the library design was meant to mimic the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio — but it also features some Moorish and Byzantine elements added in. Formerly known as simply "College Library," its interior decorative features include alcoves, niches, stairs, and octagonal pillars — all covered in tile.
The real showstopper of Powell Library is the rotunda in the main reading room (which thankfully was restored after damage from the Northridge earthquake in 1994). It was designed by muralist Julian Ellsworth Garnsey, who adorned it with symbols of the elements of the earth (a lion), air (birds), fire (a salamander), and water (sea horses) as well as of truth, wisdom, and knowledge. As you're gazing up, note the original chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, which still light up. Picture Ray Bradbury here, typing out his novel "Fahrenheit 451" on a rented typewriter.
Powell Library's hours currently vary, so check the website for open times and days and face covering requirements. Admission is free. Try to time your visit to hear the Powell Library Bells (from an electronic carillon installed in 1955). They ring daily at noon and 5 p.m. and can be heard from the outdoor quad.
To reach Powell Library directly by car, park on an upper level of UCLA Parking Structure 5.
6. Dive In to Global Arts and Culture
Pass the semicircle-shaped Shapiro Fountain — built in 1995 out of the same type of bricks used to build Royce Hall and Powell Library — and head down the Janss Steps, named after Edwin and Harold Janss, the brothers of Janss Realty Company who developed Westwood Village and sold their land in the former Rancho San Jose de Buenos Ayres for the creation of UCLA. On your right will be the Fowler Museum of Art, part of UCLA's School of the Arts and Architecture. It offers nearly 20,000 square feet of gallery space.
It opened in its current, purpose-built location (designed in the same Romanesque style as Royce Hall and Powell Library) in 1992 as the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, a "gallery of world arts." But it was originally established nearly 30 years before that — in 1963 by then-Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy as the Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology. And starting in 1978, it had made the basement of Haines Hall its home for 14 years.
Known simply as the Fowler Museum since 2006, it currently emphasizes on global arts and cultures from Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Indigenous Americas. Four galleries arranged in a square surrounding a center courtyard feature both rotating and permanent exhibits (including a silver collection thanks to museum and gallery namesake and benefactor Francis E. Fowler, Jr., who was an avid collector).
Current exhibitions include "Communication Systems in a Global Context" (through June 26, 2022) and "Aboriginal Screen-Printed Textiles from Australia's Top End" (through July 10, 2022), as well as "Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives" in the Fowler in Focus Gallery, which is partially open. They're all free to visit when the museum is open, Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. except major holidays. COVID-19 protocols currently require non-UCLA visitors age 18 and over to show proof of vaccination (or proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours) and an ID and to wear a face covering. As protocols may change quickly and without notice, check the museum website for updates before heading out.
To reach the Fowler Museum directly by car, park on the lower level of UCLA Parking Structure 5 or Parking Structure 4, which also offers accessible parking. The museum's galleries and restrooms are also fully accessible.
7. Appreciate Music Through the Ages
Head back to the Janss Steps, but keep walking south until you reach the Election Walk, where you'll make your way (more gradually this time) back up the hill. When you reach the paved street known as Portola Plaza, keep walking east past the Physics and Astronomy Building until the Schoenberg Music Building appears straight ahead. This red-brick building — the first Modern structure to be built on campus — was designed by architect Welton Becket and completed in 1955.
It's now home to the Herb Alpert School of Music and a concert venue that hosts public performances, Schoenberg Hall. The public is welcome to attend recitals, jazz workshops, opera performances, talks and more (most of which are free with RSVP) at Schoenberg Hall — which, like the building that houses it, was named after Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, who served as UCLA faculty from 1936 to 1944. Check the online calendar for dates and details.
It's worth a visit during daylight, too — even if you can't go inside — just to admire Richard Haines's 164-foot-long mosaic tile mural above the tall glass windows of the main entrance. The mosaics depict the history of music through the ages — a perfect complement to his other works of public art in Los Angeles, including his" Celebration of Our Homeland" and "Recognition of all Foreign Lands" murals (both circa 1963) on the Los Angeles Federal building (also a Welton Becket design) at the edge of Downtown L.A.'s Civic Center.
From the Schoenberg Music Building, head south through the eastern campus, where the Kinsey Pavilion of Knudsen Hall will be on your right. Pause to admire the mosaic tile murals of physics concepts (like E = mc2) created by Richard Haines in 1963. Directly ahead of you will be the spellbinding Inverted Fountain (circa 1968), where water literally falls downward into a tunnel before being recirculated back up to the top. The soothing sound is "that of a flowing mountain stream" — and the fountain holds a special place in the hearts of UCLA students, who get to touch the water once during orientation (a ritual called getting "Bruintized") and then not again until finals week of their senior year.
To reach the music building and concert hall directly by car, park in UCLA Parking Structure 2.
8. Explore the West Coast's Largest Meteorite Collection
Follow the unnamed path that runs between Kinsey Pavilion and the Paul R. Williams-designed UCLA Psychology Tower (a.k.a. "Franz Hall II" and now "Pritzker Hall," completed in 1967), heading west. (If you reach Westholme Avenue, you've gone east instead of west.) As you approach the paved Portola Plaza, turn left onto the pedestrian-only sidewalk that leads to the Court of Sciences. On your left will be the main entrance to the Geology Building. Upon entering, walk down the hall to the elevator and take it to the third floor, where the doors will open directly across from the Meteorite Collection, located in Room 3697.
This small, one-room gallery opened in 2014 and is the largest of its kind on the West Coast, containing nearly 3,000 samples from 1500 different meteorites. Its free-standing specimens of giant meteorites weigh hundreds of pounds — including one found by the pool of the Doheny Mansion on Chester Place in L.A. Surrounding them are eight cases of not only smaller meteorites (mostly made of iron or basalt) — but also unmelted asteroid fragments and even pieces of earth that melted into glass upon meteorite impact! In Case 7, you'll find California-recovered meteorites that are genuine displayed alongside some samples that have been sent in for analysis that turned out to be just weird-looking rocks (a.k.a. "meteorwrongs").
A 177-pound slab of the Old Woman Meteorite — the largest meteorite found in California and the second-largest to be found in the U.S. — is also on display in the gallery. Discovered in 1975 in the Old Woman Mountains near Twentynine Palms, you can see the "main mass" of it at the Desert Discovery Center in Barstow.
All of the samples in the gallery are labeled and described by interpretive signage in the displays as well as by an online guide to the cases and floor displays that's accessible by QR codes. There are also printed guides available to take home, and sometimes there's a volunteer gallery attendant on staff to answer questions. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday (except federal holidays). It's free to visit for students, researchers, and the public alike — and yes, meteorite donations are accepted.
To reach the Meteorite Collection directly by car, park in UCLA Parking Structure 2 and exit on foot onto Charles E. Young Drive East, where you can enter the Geology Building from the rear.
9. Bask in an Under-the-Radar Botanical Wonderland
Compared to the more popular, expansive and serene gardens of Descanso and Huntington, the 7.5-acre Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden is a little smaller and more under-the-radar. But it's a true hidden treasure of the UCLA campus — and free to visit weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Check online for holiday operating hours, which may differ.) To reach it from the Meteorite Collection, exit the back door of the Geology Building and head down Charles E. Young Drive East, past where it turns into Charles E. Young Drive South. (If you reach the UCLA Health buildings, you've gone too far.) A downloadable and printable garden brochure with map is available online in both English and Spanish.
Enter the garden at the La Kretz Entrance at the corner of Tiverton Drive — where you can walk down a set of stairs or an accessible ramp and along a path that winds around behind the La Kretz Botany Building, through the contemporary La Kretz Garden Pavilion and Park's Patio. In springtime, you'll past a broad-leaved coral tree (Erythrina latissima) in bloom — and you'll head through the Patio Gate and past the Jewell Terrace. At the year-round stream (which runs along a natural arroyo, though its water supply is now pumped in), you'll find water-loving plants like ferns, Chamaedorea palms, and bamboo — as well as turtles and even fish. (But don't feed them!)
Past the stream, as you head south down the dirt paths under a shady canopy of trees, you'll find sections of bromeliads (like Aechmea sphaerocephala and even pineapple) and even an ancient forest of "plant ancestors." And all the while, you'll be sheltered from the traffic noise of Westwood — despite being located at the southeast campus boundary. For an even more immersive experience, listen to one of the self-guided audio tours of the garden that are available online.
The garden — first established in 1929 and named after its director from 1956 to 1974 — is now home to a Backyard Wildlife Habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation. And there's an incredible diversity of plants here, ranging from desert species to California natives. Look for lilies, bottlebrush, hibiscus (a Hawaiian native), blue angel's trumpet, bugloss, and poppies (both our state flower, the California poppy, and the "fried egg" or matilija poppy. If trees are your thing, keep your eyes open for the Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris), the prickly paperbark (Melaleuca styphelioides), and many varieties of eucalyptus.
To reach the botanic garden directly by car, park in UCLA Parking Structure 2 or on the street along Hilgard Avenue or Le Conte Avenue. Leashed dogs are allowed, as long as they stay on the paths and you clean up after them.
10. Get Spacey
If your visit to the UCLA campus extends into the evening, you could stick around for one of the public planetarium and telescope shows that take place every Wednesday night when UCLA is in session, including summer sessions (except holidays and final exam weeks). Current astronomy graduate students present a one-hour planetarium show that varies depending on the presenter — but generally touches on the current night sky, constellations, astronomical phenomena, and more.
Public planetarium shows are free and family-friendly. No tickets or advance reservations are required, but space is limited — and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The shows start at 8 p.m. during Daylight Savings Time (March through November) and at 7 p.m. during Standard Time (November through March). Be sure to get there early, as late arrivals will not be admitted to the show after it has started.
During the regular academic year, visitors may also stick around after the show to look through one of the department telescopes to view planets, nebulae, star clusters, and other celestial objects — that is, if the night sky is clear enough (and the schedule permits).
You'll find the planetarium located in the UCLA Mathematical Sciences Building — directly across the Court of Sciences from the Geology Building — on the eighth floor. The building itself is worth taking a gander at during daylight as well — even if just to see its exterior mural of mathematical symbols and scientific icons by mosaicist Joseph Young (circa 1969), which wraps around three sides of the building (the most visible being across Portola Plaza from Kerckoff Hall and Moore Hall).
To reach the planetarium directly by car, park in UCLA Parking Structure 2.
Bonus: Make Your Walk Meditative
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and sound designer Ellen Reid created a sound experience that uses GPS to customize the music (performed by the SOUNDWALK Ensemble) that you'll hear as you walk throughout the campus. Its audible sound range basically parallels the stops highlighted in the above guide.
Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK: UCLA Campus is presented by the Student Committee for the Arts in association with the Center for the Art of Performance; and it's available via a free, downloadable app for both Apple and Android smartphones. You'll need to enable your phone's location services in order for it to work. And don't forget to make sure your battery is juiced up and ready to go!
The vast majority of these attractions are free to access — and easily reachable by public transit.
To embark on your journey, you can follow the 10 numbered steps above as a continuous walking tour that'll take up your entire day (and maybe even night). You can also tackle them in segments or cherry-pick them one at a time.
If your favorite map app on your phone isn't enough to help you find your way, you can also try using UCLA's interactive map, its downloadable and printable maps, or the free UCLA Campus Map App for Apple or Android.
