The San Gabriel Mountains rising behind downtown Los Angeles. Michele & Tom Grimm/LACVB.

Los Angeles is one of those rare cities that is all things to all people. Second only to New York City in population, it’s a vibrant, teeming metropolis that also boasts plenty of fun for the passionate outdoors enthusiast, as well as innumerable family-friendly activities and a scintillating nightlife for both singles and couples.

It’s also the perfect destination for nurses in search of new and exciting career paths.

The City of Los Angeles, which is the seat of Los Angeles County, covers slightly more than 468 square miles and is home to more than four million residents. Located on a low, hilly coastal plain next to the Pacific Ocean, it enjoys balmy weather with plenty of sunshine almost year-round. As a result, the City of Angels has, over the years, become a mecca of sorts to national and international vacationers as well as part-time, bicoastal residents eager to beat the summer heat or winter cold.

Weather aside, though, L.A.’s popularity should come as no surprise. Those who have never visited the city and its environs often think of it as one enormous expanse of concrete, but nothing could be further from the truth. Nature abounds where city limits end, which means you can do something fun and exciting — indoors or out — virtually every weekend and never see or do it all.

A little history

The region now known as Los Angeles was well-populated by Native Americans when Spanish explorers first set foot there in the late 1760s. A little more than a decade later, the Spanish founded a farming settlement and named it “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula.” After Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, the region became the market center for cattle hide and other tradable products, as well as the territorial seat of government.

In the early 1800s, American traders and settlers began to trickle into Los Angeles, and by the 1840s it had become the largest settlement in Alta California, as the region was known. In 1848, under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Alta California was ceded to the United States, and two years later California officially became a state and Los Angeles was formally incorporated as a city.

In the ensuing decades, agriculture continued to be a driving force in the Los Angeles region, but industry and commerce also started to grow as railroads made for easier access. Cheap land and plenty of opportunity drew more and more residents (the population more than doubled between 1890 and 1900), and in the 1920s the American motion-picture industry — drawn by the region’s good weather — came calling. Today, Los Angeles is well established as the entertainment capital of the world.

Fun in the sun

Indoors or out, night or day, Los Angeles always has something fun and exciting to offer residents and visitors. Let’s start with outdoor fun first.

About an hour outside of Los Angeles you’ll find the San Gabriel Mountains, home of the hiker-friendly Pacific Coast Trail and several popular winter ski resorts. The locals also recommend hiking north from Will Rogers State Historic Park along the Backbone Trail through the Santa Monica Mountains where, when the air is clear, you can see Santa Monica Bay and Palos Verdes Peninsula to the south, the peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains to the east and — if you’re quiet and a little bit lucky — an abundance of native wildlife.

Other regional outdoor adventures include:

• Angeles National Forest, which features off-highway vehicle use and self-guided nature trails.
• Avalon Underwater Park off Catalina Island, where snorklers and scuba divers can view shipwrecks and impressive kelp forests.
• Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Arcadia which boasts America’s tallest palm trees, as well as streams, a waterfall, and 30,000 plants.
• The Los Angeles Zoo, a 113-acre facility that’s home to more than 1,200 animals from around the world, including several rare and endangered species. Highlights include Sea Lion Cliffs, the Winnick Family Children’s Zoo, Red Ape Rain Forest and Dragons of Komodo.
  
  

The iconic Hollywood sign. Michele & Tom Grimm/LACVB "The Hollywood Sign™ & © 2002 Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Licensed by Global Icons, LLC. All Rights Reserved."

Arts, culture, and more

Indoor fun is everywhere in Los Angeles. In fact, there are so many entertainment, art, and cultural opportunities that you’ll have a hard time deciding what to do next. Of course it’s best to start with the sites that made Los Angeles famous, such as the Griffith Observatory, which was the setting for two important scenes in the classic James Dean flick, Rebel Without A Cause. Reopening in late fall after several months of renovations, the 71-year-old observatory — located in famed Griffith Park, another popular attraction — features a world-class planetarium, meteorite displays, and other educational exhibits.

Another must-see is the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits on Wilshire Boulevard. Here you’ll find reconstructed and genuine fossils of mammoths, dire wolves, saber-toothed cats and other ice-age mammals. In the paleontology laboratory, you can even watch age-old fossils being cleaned, identified and catalogued.

If art is more your thing, you’ll want to visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), also on Wilshire Boulevard. This six-building complex houses paintings, sculpture, costumes, textiles, and decorative art from ancient times to the present. The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery on Hollywood Boulevard offers a nice complement to the LACMA, with a focus on Southern California contemporary art.

Lights, camera ... fun!

Motion pictures and television are king in Los Angeles, and Hollywood — which became a part of L.A. in 1910 — is the place to soak it all in. Of course, you’ll want to check out the world-famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, where more than 200 stars have left their hand and footprints in cement.

In the foothills off Highland Avenue is the renowned Hollywood Bowl, a natural amphitheater that seats 18,000 people. During summer months the Bowl hosts concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, as well as wide array of other music presentations.

You’ll probably be hungry after all of this activity. Luckily, there’s no better place than Los Angeles to grab a bite. The city features cuisine by some of the world’s most notable chefs, and many restaurants are owned by celebrities, something that increases your chances of spotting a movie star or two. Some of the better known celebrity hang-outs include Ago, whose backers include Robert DeNiro; Geisha House, which was opened by several of the stars of That‘70s Show; and Schatzi on Main, which is backed in part by Arnold Schwarzenegger, California governor and Hollywood superstar.

A typical Orange County sunset. Courtesy of Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau.

Adjoining Los Angeles is scenic Orange County, home of Disneyland and a wide array of other fun family attractions and activities. Made famous in recent years by the Fox prime time soap, The OC, Orange County is also a welcoming destination for nurses in search of a change of pace.

Orange County contains numerous cities and towns, all of which are special in their own ways, but its heart is Anaheim, a quiet agricultural town that grew up fast when Walt Disney decided to build Disneyland there. The park, billed as “The happiest place on Earth,” opened in 1955 and quickly became one of the world’s premier vacation destinations. It has expanded considerably since its grand opening more than 50 years ago, and today includes more than 60 major attractions, 50 shops, and 30 restaurants across eight themed lands.

One of the park’s more recent additions is Disney’s California Adventure Park, a delightful tribute to all that makes California special. The park contains four themed lands, including Hollywood Pictures Backlot and The Golden State.

The great outdoors

Disneyland is a must-see for the young and the young-at-heart, but Orange County contains much, much more. For example, if surfing is your sport of choice, you can hit the waves at one of the OC’s many fine beaches, then pay homage to the greats at the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum.

Indeed, outdoor fun is a way of life in Orange County, and weekend athletes will find plenty to do here. Local cyclists recommend the scenic 4.5-mile riding trail at Bell Canyon in San Juan Capistrano, while hikers can walk through a grove of coast redwood trees in Carbon Canyon in Yorba Linda. And in Anaheim Hills, you’ll find the Oak Canyon Nature Trail, where you can follow a stream through oak woodlands or take the Snail Trail nature tour.

You can also experience the great outdoors at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, the San Juan Trail in the Cleveland National Forest and the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary in Modjeska Canyon, which is well-known as a haven for colorful hummingbirds.

Painter at Mission San Juan Capistrano. Courtesy of Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau.

Rich cultural heritage

For a taste of the region’s rich cultural history, visit Mission San Juan Capistrano, which was founded in 1776 and is considered the birth place of Orange County. The Newland House Museum in Huntington Beach is a restored 1898 farmhouse and a great place to learn more about the county’s early days. And at Heritage Hill Historical Park in Lake Forest, you’ll find a late nineteenth-century schoolhouse, mission, and ranch house.

Speaking of history, did you know that Richard Nixon was born in the OC? It’s true. You can see the farmhouse in which the former president was born at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda.

We can’t leave Orange County without mentioning the region’s appreciation for great art. The Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach features a strong collection of works by California artists, while the Irvine Museum in Irvine houses an impressive collection of California Impressionist paintings dating from 1867 to 1925.

Los Angeles and Orange County are wonderfully family-friendly regions that always have their arms out in welcome to nurses and other health care professionals. Jobs are plentiful, the climate is divine, and you’ll never lack for something fun to do when off-duty.