Exploring the jungle of LA's nightlife can be great fun. Everyone you meet claims to be either a rock star or in the movies. Even the quietest venue offers a chance to eavesdrop on a bit of vapid Less Than Zero dialogue; the most raucous ones will take your breath away. In all the pubs, clubs and discos, you'll need to be 21 and will almost certainly be asked for ID.

The best sources of listings are LA Weekly and the "Calendar" section in the LA Times on Fridays.

Bars, pubs and coffeehouses
LA's bars and pubs are rarely the scruffy boozing places found elsewhere in the US, due in part to the generally high degree of health consciousness - not to mention the very early (daybreak) starting time of the movie business working day. As...
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Clubs and discos
LA's clubs are among the wildest in the country, ranging from absurdly faddish hangouts to industrial noise cellars. The trendier side of the club scene is, as always, hard to pin down; check the LA Weekly before setting out. ...
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Live music
LA has an overwhelming choice of venues for live music . Ever since the nihilistic punk bands - Circle Jerks, X, Black Flag - drew the city away from its laid-back west coast country-folk scene in the late Seventies and early Eighties, LA's ...
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Classical music, opera and dance
While not blessed with the same institutional largesse of east coast cities, LA has an increasing number of classical music venues. The Los Angeles Philharmonic (tel 213/850-2000, ), the city's only major name, performs...
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Comedy clubs
The comedy scene in LA has long been known as the national proving ground for aspiring funnymen and -women, and it's also a good place to catch live performances by established television names like Jay Leno and Drew Carey. Acme...
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Theater
We've listed a few selections from LA's very active theater scene; ticket services like Times Tix (tel 310/659-3678) and Theater LA (tel 213/614-0556, ) provide full- and half-price tickets and offer reservations. The LA...
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Film
Feature films are often released in LA months (or years) before they play anywhere else in the world. Short seasons of foreign-language films are screened at the eight Laemmle Theaters. If you're after a golden-age atmosphere ,...
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Sports in LA
Baseball : the LA Dodgers (tel 323/224-1459) play at Dodger Stadium near downtown, seats $6-21; Anaheim Angels (tel 1-888/796-4256) at Anaheim Stadium in Orange County, seats $6-30. Basketball : the NBA...
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All European and many domestic flights use Los Angeles International Airport - always known as LAX (tel 310/646-5252, ) - sixteen miles southwest of downtown. Free 24-hour shuttle buses (line "C") connect with the LAX Transit Center at Vicksburg Avenue and 96th Street, where you can pick up local buses . Minibuses such as LAX Chequer Shuttle (tel 1-800/545-7745, ), SuperShuttle (tel 310/782-6600 or 1-800/554-3146, ) and Coast Shuttle (tel 310/417-3988) run all over town, delivering you to your door. Fares are generally around $20-30 (plus tip), with a journey time of between 30 and 45 minutes. Taxis from the airport are always expensive: around $25 to downtown and West LA, $30 to Hollywood and as much as $90 to Disneyland.

If you're arriving from elsewhere in the US, or from Mexico, you might just land at one of the other airports in the LA area - at Burbank, Long Beach, Ontario, or Orange County's John Wayne Airport. MTA buses (tel 213/626-4455 or 1-800/COMMUTE, outside LA tel 1-800/2-LARIDE, ) serve them all - phone on arrival and tell them where you are and where you're going.

The main Greyhound bus terminal, at 1716 E Seventh St (tel 213/629-8401, ), is in a seedy section of downtown, but access is restricted to ticket holders so it's safe enough inside. LA's other Greyhound stations handle fewer services: 1409 Vine St, in Hollywood; 11239 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood; 645 E Walnut St, Pasadena; 464 W 3rd St, Long Beach; and 100 W Winston Rd, Anaheim.

Arriving in LA by train you'll be greeted with the Mission Revival architecture of Union Station, 800 N Alameda St (tel 213/624-0171), on the north side of downtown, from which you can also access the city's MTA bus lines.