Beyond Hollywood: see the real Los Angeles

Los Angeles is often said to be a city without a soul, centre or heart. A place where people are chewed up and spat out by film studios, TV studios or rampant gang violence. Of course, your average tourist is unlikely to be pitching a film script to Harvey Weinstein, and less likely to be joining a Hispanic street gang.

So what to do in a huge sprawling city like LA? Well first things first, you're probably going to want to hire a car, as public transport is not your friend out there. I have a friend who lives in LA and he reliably informs me that there is no way you're getting around the place on trains or buses. However, once you get yourself a motor, you can sample the delights that are spread about this huge metropolis.

My two favourites were the San Antonio Winery right in the middle of LA, and Venice Beach. San Antonio has been family run since 1917 and it shows. It helps that Californian wine is some of the best in the world, but they also produce some of their own stuff, and very nice it is too. Venice Beach I like because it has a beach, a boardwalk, and sunshine. It also has some pretty odd people hanging around, like you can see on the deeply silly but affectionate Venice the Menace website. That's the kind of spirit I can get behind.