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If you only do one thing: Visit the new Getty Center, a magnificently designed arts and cultural complex overlooking L.A., the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains. The 110-acre center displays selections from the J. Paul Getty Museum's permanent collection of paintings and sculpture.

What's new: Salsa dancing is big. Those wishing to make the scene, dress up and go to Jimmy Smits's new nightclub, the Congo Room. Really serious dancers dress more casually and go to the Boathouse in Santa Monica.

Old-faithful restaurant: L'Orangerie is fabulously elegant and very French.

Of-the-moment restaurant: The Buffalo Club, owned in part by Don Johnson, and frequented by the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Arnold and Maria. It's a private club that allows nonmembers to dine with a reservation. Excellent food, great crowds, a handsome wood-paneled interior and live bands every night.

With the kids: Go to a beach. Manhattan Beach, south of L.A., is a darling noncommercial town of charming residences, one of the city's nicer beaches, a strip of boutiques and some rather good restaurants. Sunday evenings from 5 to 6:30, the park, about one mile back from the beach, stages free outdoor concerts.

Side trip: Now that Route 1 has re-opened (it was closed for repair following storm damage), you can drive up the coast, through Malibu, Zuma Beach, as far as Santa Barbara, where you can stop for a good meal before turning back.

Off-the-beaten track: Go to the L.A. County Museum of Art any Friday evening, from 5:30 to 8:30, to sip cocktails while enjoying a free jazz concert on the museum plaza.

Average per-night lodging rate: $144

Distance from airport to city center: From Los Angeles International Airport (LAX): about 16 miles; from Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport: about 13.3 miles.

Information: 800/366-6116, http://www.latimes.com/HOME/DESTLA

Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series. Now in its 15th year, the Twilight Dance Series features special concerts Thursday evenings from 7:30 to 9:30, with Sally Taylor (offspring of Carly Simon and James Taylor), Hugh Masekela and Jose Feliciano among those making star appearances. Concerts are free. Information: 310/458-8900. "Wild Weekends." The Los Angeles Zoo sponsors free musical entertainment, puppet shows and other performances on weekends in July and August. Look for Peruvian music in July, African dancers and drummers in August. Information: 323/666-4650. "If These Walls Could Talk." Find out how everything, from a doghouse to a skyscraper, is constructed. At the California Science Center through Sept. 6. Information: 213/744-7446.
• Leonardo Sipped Here: Hotspots of Hollywood's Young and Famous • High Art: The New Getty Museum Attracts an Artful Following • The House of Milhous; At the Nixon Library, the Former President Spins From the Grave		• Los Angeles International Airport • Live Cameras • The Getty Museum • Universal Studios
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