Opened in 1997, the Getty Center near the Sepulveda Pass north of Wilshire Boulevard (Tues-Wed 11am-7pm, Thurs-Fri 11am-9pm, Sat-Sun 10am-6pm; free; ) towers over the surrounding area. Designed by Richard Meier at a cost of $1 billion, this towering modernist temple (clad in countless acres of travertine) is LA's most recent, and most obvious, attempt to make a mark on the international art scene, its various buildings devoted to conservation, acquisition and other philanthropic tasks, and its surrounding gardens arranged with rigid geometric precision. Drivers must pay a $5 fee, though parking reservations are no longer required for off-peak hours (such as weekdays and nonholiday periods); otherwise, take MTA bus #561, which stops on Sepulveda Boulevard.

Two years after the original Malibu museum opened in 1974, oil magnate John Paul Getty died, leaving it $1.3 billion. Obliged to spend a set percentage of its now $3.5 billion endowment every year, it can outbid anyone to get what it wants, which is usually anything except contemporary art - a real deficiency in the museum's collections.

Still, the quality of the exhibits is extraordinary, especially in the rooms devoted to decorative arts, where you can indulge in a feast of ornate French furniture from the reign of Louis XIV, with clocks, chandeliers, tapestries and gilt-edged commodes filling several overwhelmingly opulent chambers. Although Getty himself was much less interested in painting, a sizeable collection has been amassed since his death, featuring all the major names from the thirteenth century on, including Van Gogh's Irises and several Rembrandt portraits. Photography is well represented with works by Man Ray, Moholy-Nagy and many others.

Getty Center

• Getty Center

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