National Geographic Traveller UK 03.2020

NEW MUSEUM OF MOTION PICTURES // COOL HOLLYWOOD HOTELS // DOWNTOWN FACELIFT

LA’s faded Hollywood sheen is set for a serious polishing

in 2020 with the opening of the sensational new Academy

Museum of Motion Pictures, plus a glut of glamorous hotels

For a long time, the City of Angels and high expectations

made for poor bedfellows. A fi rst-time visitor could

be forgiven feeling distinctly underwhelmed by tired

Hollywood Boulevard or the old Downtown. Things

have since improved dramatically, however, with the

reimagination of DOWNTOWN as a hip neighbourhood

revitalising its historic streets.

While that continues apace, 2020 will be a banner year

for fi lm fans in Los Angeles thanks to the long-awaited

opening of the ACADEMY MUSEUM OF MOTION PICTURES

on Wiltshire Boulevard.

It’s set to be a very Hollywood aƒ air, with the

Academy’s vast resources — not to mention its colossal

collection of memorabilia — driving a lot of what’s on

display. As well as Dorothy’s original ruby slippers from

The Wizard of Oz and the typewriter Alfred Hitchcock

used to write Psycho, the curators are also keen to

celebrate international cinema. One of the inaugural

exhibitions will be by the master Japanese animator and

founder of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, whose work

includes the highest-grossing fi lm in Japanese history,

Spirited Away, which not surprisingly won the Oscar

for Best Animated Feature in 2003. Also boasting two

theatres and a design led by the Pritzker Architecture

Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano, it’ll be one of the

most exciting museum openings of the year.

Signifi cantly, too, the year ahead will also see a string

of glamorous new hotels jazzing up the downbeat

Hollywood neighbourhood. The 2020 openings include

THE GODFREY HOTEL HOLLYWOOD, among others, while

across the city in Downtown, hot on the heels of last

year’s much-anticipated opening, THE HOXTON, a branch

of PROPER HOTEL, will be opening its doors in a 1920s

redbrick former YWCA on Broadway. JL

discoverlosangeles.com visitheusa.co.uk

14 LOS ANGELES

IMAGES: GETTY

FROM FAR LEFT: Tribesmen

of Kibish, Omo Valley,

Ethiopia; a coffee ceremony

in Debre Libanos, Ethiopia;

the Hollywood sign, Los

Angeles; Proper Hotel,

Downtown Los Angeles

March 2020 81

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