Free Art in Los Angeles

Los Angeles is full of culture and art and, even though the city is expensive, a lot of it is free. I went into planning a trip to Disney with some partial days in the city that didn't cost a fortune. I asked for help from my friends online and they offered a few great ideas. 

While walking around the city to go to brunch and hit up a gallery we found some awesome street art. We also found some great murals downtown while wandering back to our car. I loved this skeletal cat. It pays to look down wherever you go.

We saw this amazing artwork on the back of a building.

This was a fab mural that was obviously commissioned by the city. The whole block had murals on the buildings and made for amazing backdrops and photo ops.

I was able to snag some free tickets to The Broad. Apparently, these tickets can be hard to get, even though they don't cost anything. If you're headed to Los Angeles, jump online and get yours ahead of time and then enjoy two floors of modern art - even if you don't love modern art, because there seemed to be enough for everyone to make it worth the trip.

This huge painting had a huge haunted house vibe to me, hence the scared faces. 

The Broad actually features a lot of well-known artists that you weren't even aware you could see in a free gallery, though I did see a Picasso in London for free, but it was also hanging next to a starfish with a Barbie shoe, so it sort of took away from the awesomeness.

The artwork here rotates, but on the day we were visiting, we saw a handful of artists both of us actually knew of: Koons, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Jasper Johns, and Rauschenberg were just a few.

On a slightly more fun note, a friend recommended Gallery 1988. It's a small gallery that features local artist's pop culture work. The one room was full of small paper cut art, like this one with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Love!

Here are a few other pieces in that room. Click on the photo to see the pieces in full resolution. I was so excited about 90% of the stuff here, because it was almost all cartoon-related, which I love.

As you can see, the rooms are not large, nor are there a ton of things to see on the walls, but there are a few racks full of a larger selection of art big and small. I, honestly, could have blown my whole budget here. Much of the work is really affordable, but not if you buy 30 pieces. I took down the name of some of my favorite artists there to find online later. If you like pop culture, you should definitely take the time to browse what's on display. 

These are just a few of the places we found free art, but I know downtown has more galleries and way more street art if you have more time. You'll even see giant murals beautifying the sides of the freeways, which makes for a nicer drive, even if only for a few minutes.

What are you favorite cities for art?

Our Visit to OUE Skyspace LA

A few years ago I heard about the opening of OUE Skyspace, which offered a 360-degree view of Los Angeles from the top of the US Bank building. I'm all for an amazing view and something different than the Seattle Space Needle (which just got an overhaul). Skyspace boasted a glass slide on the side of the building and I just knew I needed to visit.

We were going to have some free time before we hit up Universal and Disneyland on this most recent trip and we were flying into LAX, so I contacted Skyspace to see if they would host my friend and I. 

You ride up their swanky elevator to the 56th floor for a bit of an overview of the attraction, and probably a bit of a fun place to wait if the top floor is overcrowded. Once done with that, you ride up to the 70th floor for awesomeness! 

Here you'll find several different balconies showing you varying views of the city and mountains. Each balcony that surrounds the building is a bit different to make it fun to check each one out, aside from the awesome views. This one had plenty of binoculars to see high and low, but also enough straight views for you to just take a ton of photos without bars or links in your way like many other viewing platforms I've visited. It's hard to show off your pics when it looks like you took them from a prison.

I love how the glass gives you unobstructed views all around the building. These buildings are tall, but still super small compared to the building where Skyspace is. You can still see the mountains over them. Look how few green spaces there are in Los Angeles.

You can even see the Hollywood sign way over there. Sorry about the smoggy air, but the fires on the West Coast are out of control this summer.

If you want to just chill, Skyspace has a bar and cafe. You can kick back and eat a little something, sip on a cocktail, local beer, or wine (or a non-alcoholic beverage), while still taking in the skyline. 

There are tons of places to sit inside and out, plus these awesome touchscreens that show you different landmarks around the city that you can see from where you're standing.

Look at this fancy mid-century modern set up. Doesn't it just make you want to chill with your friends with a libation? They're a bit spendy, but not much more than you would spend elsewhere in LA, and with a way better view than anywhere else you could be drinking.

Skyspace boasts different art installations and right now they have these fantastic Colette Miller wings to turn you into a fantastic creature. It's like you're soaring over LA, because you kind of are. Look at that view behind me!

Okay, let's talk about the real reason you wantto visit Skyspace: the Skyslide. This glassslide takesyou (quickly) from floor 70 to floor 69. 

Here's the view from the start of the slide. Beautiful. If you're afraid of heights, don't worry. Once you get going, you don't have time to be scared. The mats you use are extra slippy, so there are no worries about getting stuck halfway either. You come down fast to land on a cushy mat. Here's a Boomerang I took of my friend Melisa on the slide.

I would highly recommend a visit to OUE Skyspace next time you're in LA. It's a fun new way to experience the city, plus there's a great underground parking garage across the street that they will validate. Spend as much or as little time as you like there and then walk around downtown to see other iconic LA landmarks that you may have seen from up above: The Broad Museum, Capital Records, the wavy metallic Walt Disney Concert Hall. There's so much to do and a lot of great places to eat if you haven't partaken up at Skyspace. 

What else do you need to know? General admission rates start at just $19, but there are deals where you can get two admissions for the day, so you can see LA during the day and at night. Add a ride on the Skyslide for just $8. It's definitely worth it for your first visit. 

Saturday and Sunday you can bring your family for Family Funday at a discounted rate between 10am and 2pm, which includes unlimited Skyslide rides for your kids (ages 5-12). There are also other entry specials, like outdoor, indoor and sunrise yoga classes.

I'd recommend visiting on a weekday if you can or early on a weekend day if that's the only time you can do it. We were pretty lucky to be met with minimal crowds on Saturday afternoon around 1pm. We went straight in and weren't in line behind anyone. The only line we met was at the bar.

Connect with Skyspace online: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

What's your favorite skyline overlook from your travels? 

Disclaimer: I received comped tickets for my visit for this review, but all opinions are 100% my own. (All prices were current at time of blog post.)

Los Angeles with Kids

Just coming back from LA, I've learned that there are a bunch of things you can do for free or with kids. I didn't get to them all, but you can certainly do LA on a budget if you know how. You may have to drive quite a bit, but you can keep it to a minimum if you park and walk to things that are in the same vicinity, like many of the cool arty things downtown are. Got kids? Here are some things to put on your list:

Looking for ways to make your trip cheaper? Check out GoCards and Explorer Cards from SmartDestinations, which save you up to 50% off your activities int he LA area, or the SoCal pass from CityPASS, which saves you up to $150 off four Southern California theme parks - Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, LEGOLAND and SeaWorld. Both allow you to see and do more on your vacation while still saving money.

What are your favorite things to do in Los Angeles?

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