When we went to Los Angeles I had mixed feelings about it. I expected glamour and glitz but what we mainly saw was a lot of run down buildings and ruin. We stayed in a pretty dodgy area, so maybe that clouded things. Once we got exploring though, it turned out to be a pretty cool city.
We took a look around LA’s oldest existing house, Avila Adobe. It was restored to portray what a California house and lifestyle would have looked like in the 1940’s. 
Sometimes cities surprise you and don’t turn out to be the way you thought, but we still were glad we went, and found some nice places along the way. It just took a little looking.