PLAN YOUR OWN TOURS/DOWNTOWN L.A. VISIT Free and/or low cost tours of the Los Angeles Music Center, one block from the Omni Hotel, are available. The Symphonium Music Center Tour is free and covers all four Music Center Venues. The tour includes architectural highlights, a historical overview of the Music Center, Resident Companies and educational programming. This tour includes only the lobby level of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Walt Disney Concert Hall architect is Frank Gehry, also the architect of the Guggenheim Museums of New York and Bilboa, Spain. Tours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM, first come first served. Start times vary daily. Call (213) 972-7483. For more information visit: http://www.musiccenter.org/visit/tours.html http://www.musiccenter.org/visit/toursched.html Free and/or low cost tours of Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral within walking distance (two long blocks) of the Omni Hotel are available. For information on the tours, visit http://www.olacathedral.org . Self-guided tours are also available. A Short Tour Book of the Cathedral is available for $3.50 at the Cathedral Gift Shop. Free guided tours may be available Monday through Friday at 1:00 PM on a first come first served basis. Guided tours for a modest fee are available for groups of ten. They can be arranged by calling (213) 680-5125.     VIP TOUR OF WARNER BROTHERS BACK LOT Transportation is required or reachable by Metro (Walk one block East to Hill Street, then two and one half blocks South to Pershing Square Metro Station. Take the Red Line - ten stops to Universal City. From there you will need to take a taxi to 3400 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA. The VIP Tour of Warner Brothers Back Lot is two and one half hours on carts, but involves some walking, so comfortable shoes are suggested. The tour is historical and educational and takes you through the back lot, stages, sets, crafts shops and Warner Brothers Museum. You can have a no host informal lunch at the Studio Plaza Café, or snack at Ciao Bella Gelatoria, or at their Starbucks. GOVERNMENTAL PICTURE ID REQUIRED. No children less than eight years of age are permitted. For more information on the Warner Brothers tour, visit: http://www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour/   The price is $45.00 Warner Brothers admission plus bus and/or parking. GARMENT DISTRICT Walking distance for some persons. (Five blocks South on Olive and four blocks East on 7th Street to Main Street.) The Los Angeles Fashion District spans 90 blocks and is the hub of the apparel industry on the West Coast. Retailers, wholesale buyers, designers, stylists, students, shoppers and residents all converge there. Whether you're a wholesale buyer reviewing the latest collections in the District's designer showrooms, or a shopper on the prowl for a bargain - it's all there: apparel and accessories for the entire family, textiles, flowers, even live/work lofts. General business hours are Monday through Sunday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Saturdays are the busiest days, as many stores that are wholesale-only will sell to the general public. Sundays, only about 30% of the stores are open. Santee Alley and many stores around Santee Alley are open 365 days a year. Individual store hours may vary, so contact stores directly: http://www.fashiondistrict.org . JEWELRY DISTRICT Walking distance. (Two blocks South on Olive to 5th Street) The Los Angeles Jewelry District has over 3000 wholesale jewelers. What makes this shopping experience so unique is that the jewelry items are direct from the wholesaler. The hottest trends start here at the jewelry epicenter of the world. The district runs from 5th Street to 8th Street along Olive Street, Hill Street and Broadway. More information may be found at: http://www.lajd.net LACMA Transportation required. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., between Fairfax and Curson. General admission: adults $12.00, seniors of 62+ $8.00, students with school ID $8.00, children 17 and under free. With 100,000 objects dating from ancient times to the present, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the largest art museum in the Western United States. A museum of international stature as well as a vital part of Southern California. LACMA shares its vast collections through exhibitions, public programs, and research facilities that attract nearly a million visitors annually. LACMA's seven-building complex is located on twenty acres in the heart of Los Angeles, halfway between the ocean and downtown. The campus is undergoing a ten-year expansion and renovation known as the Transformation and designed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The first phase of the project opened in early 2008, introducing an open-air pavilion called the BP grand Entrance as well as the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA, featuring 60,000 square feet of exhibition space on three floors. BCAM's inagural installation includes expansive spaces devoted to the art of Richard Serra, Barbara Krugeer, John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Jean-Michel Basquait, Damien Hirst, Chris Burden, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and many more. The LACMA is open every day except Wednesdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Check it out at: http://www.lacma.org . RADIO AND TV MUSEUM Transportation required. 465 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 Admission is free, suggested contribution is $10.00 for adults, $8.00 for students and senior citizens, and $5.00 for children under 14. The Paley Center for Media, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, leads the discussion about the cultural, creative, and social significance of television, radio, and emerging platforms for the professional community and media-interested public. Open Wednesdays to Sundays 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. For more information check out: http://www.paleycenter.org/visit-visitla/ HOLLYWOOD BOWL Transportation required, metro accessible (walk one block East to Hill Street then two and one half blocks South to the Pershing Square Metro Station. Take Red Line 9 which stops at Hollywood and Highland. Then walk about one and one half miles North on Highland. It is located at 2301 North Highland Avenue. Admission is free year round. Hours differ for off season so check web site for details. It's been true of the Bowl for a long time that people can find just about any kind of music they like. That's part of the Bowl's history of success. While symphonic music formed the core of the early Bowl presentations, there were early adventures in opera, and modern dance. Jazz was introduced to the Bowl in the thirties by Benny Goodman, followed in the forties by Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Lena Horne, and others, with a breakthrough concert in 1956 featuring Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Chubby Checker, Duanne Eddy, and Frankie Avalon were among the first rockers to appear at the Bowl in the late fifties. Folk and world music concerts began as early as the 1920's with an Native American festival and have become a staple at the Bowl in the last ten years. The new exhibit, on the main floor of the museum, is organized into sections on dance; pop, rock, jazz and world music; symphonic music and opera; architecture and history of the Bowl; and the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. Video screens are an integral part of the exhibit, allowing us to show hundreds of still photos and extensive film footage. Find out more information at: http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/about/museum.cfm . PLAN YOUR OWN FUN/LA AREA ATTRACTIONS AND DISTRACTIONS Additional shopping can be done on Rodeo Drive, at the Beverly Center and on Melrose Boulevard. Please use the links below for more information: http://www.rodeodrive-bh.com/index4.html http://www.beverlycenter.com http://www.losangeles.com/shopping/ Other area attractions include Disneyland (Orange County), Knotts Berry Farm (Orange County), Six Flags Magic Mountain (Valencia), Legoland (San Diego), and our Pacific Ocean beaches. Please contact the Omni Concièrge for additional information regarding transportation, park hours and tickets. You might also check the web for tour companies such as Gray Line Tours at http://www.grayline.com .