There needs to be two reviews for Runyon Canyon, the upper trail and the lower trail. The lower trail is a long incline U-shape that peaks at a spectacular view of Hollywood and Los Angeles sprawled out before you. After hiking your way up the steep steps or taking the long, lazy uphill ogling strippers and their beefcake personal trainers, you are rewarded with a breathtaking view all the way to the ocean (on a good day with low smog). The down side is a meat market, on a hot day the smell of dog shit is overpowering, and the flies make you think someone body-dumped Pigpen in a shallow grave. That’s why I recommend the upper trail. The upper trail can be accessed by a small trail just north of the western-most entrance to the park just after the metal gates. The upper trail is truly a workout and it bypasses most of the heavily made-up boob jobbed and pec-implant ninnies below. Your dog is still welcome off-leash in the upper trail, but you may be doing some carrying over the rocks and crevasses. It’s a longer trail, but infinitely more rewarding. It takes you onto a residential street briefly before spitting you back into the park near the overlook peak area. Challenge yourself by running loops around the upper and lower trails, and make a game of looking for dead bodies!

(323) 666-5046, 2000 N Fuller, Los Angeles

For those who have not yet ventured, Nanotokyo is the stretch of Sawtelle that runs between Olympic and Santa Monica blvd. It is a Japanese community that goes back to the turn of the 19th century. Many of the nurseries have been there for near eighty or ninety years now. Easier to get to than Little Tokyo downtown, for us 10-a-phobics. The area is littered with all things done Japanese style. There are Chinese restaurants, Korean BBQ (where they serve you beef you grill at your own table), curry joints (Japanese curry, mind you), noodle bars, and normal Tokyo-style Japanese restaurants. Everything a la carte, braised oddities, and a cuisine that caters to the long-settled area. A great field trip experience, especially the food market.

Sawtelle Blvd between Olympic and Santa Monica Blvd.

The Curiosity Cabinet is a phenomenon that predates the modern museum, gave rise to the science of taxonomy and cladism, and spawned the modern age of medicine and scientific wonder. A Curiosity Cabinet was usually a collection of odd bits gathered by a rich wackjob, or self-proclaimed scientist. They could be jars of aborted foetuses, conjoined twins, and other medical marvels. They could be mutations of trees found on hikes throughout the collector’s lifetime. These collections could be as small as a shoebox, or as large as a ballroom. Some still exist today, held in private, available only to the most determined of treasure hunters. The Museum of Jurassic Technology is built on the same level of awe that the original Curiosity Cabinets inspired. With today’s level of understanding, the only way to get to this wonder is to blur, sometimes completely obliterate truth in order to burst through to the other side of amazement. David Wilson, the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship for his work in creating the museum with his wife and family, has carefully constructed a place that has become a church for some, an living art piece for others, and for any who experience it, stimulating in wonderful ways. Exhibits draw on Wilson’s background in visual effects and the obsessive creation of dioramas to create installations that beg scrutiny and draw the viewer into their story. Once you’ve been, pick up a copy of Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology by Lawrence Weschler for a more complete biography of David Wilson and the history of the curiosity cabinet.

(310) 836-6131, 9341 Venice Blvd, Culver City