Kids Korner

Visit Los Angeles! Hollywood Disneyland Universal Studios Hollywood Quick, name the city where you can catch a baseball game . . . or a wave, check out giant fossils or animals at the zoo, shop 'til you drop, even spy a movie star (if you’re lucky). At the very least, you can walk in a movie star’s footsteps. Welcome to Los Angeles, which means City of Angels. Before you visit, check out www.ExperienceLA.com, the official online guide to LA where you can search for kid-friendly things to do and places to go.

Did You Know?

• There were no real theme parks before Walt Disney opened Disneyland July 17, 1955, and at first no one took his idea for “a place parents and children could have fun together” very seriously. But that all changed once Disneyland opened in Anaheim on what had been acres of orange groves and walnut trees. More than 500 million people have visited the Anaheim park about 40 miles south of Los Angeles and Walt Disney is credited for being the inspiration for the entire theme park industry. Join the biggest birthday party ever for Disneyland’s 50th birthday - it’s going to last 18 months! There are new parades at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure park next door, fireworks, special effects on Space Mountain, glistening jewels on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and even the chance to pilot your own Star Cruiser on the new Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Take a virtual tour at www.disneyland.com.

• The sticky asphalt at Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in the heart of LA has trapped animals and plants for thousands of years - more than three million fossils of Ice Age animals now extinct like saber-toothed cats, mammoths, and birds. When Pit 91 opens this June, you can watch paleontologists and volunteers work to recover bones from animals trapped 28,000 years ago! The asphalt still oozes and bubbles today. (www.tarpits.org)

• The Los Angeles County Coastline stretches for 81 miles - from Malibu to Long Beach. You’ll see surfers and if you’re at Venice, watch basketball players at the public courts just off the beach.

• Blue Whales are the largest animals ever to have lived on earth - 400,000 pounds with a body as long as a school bus! There are more of these endangered creatures in the waters off of Southern California than anywhere else in the world. Take a journey with them deep in the Pacific Ocean at a new exhibit at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, where you can also meet and greet many of the sea creatures - big and small - who live in the Pacific. Here’s your chance to touch a shark, make faces at a sea lion or seal, and count the giant Pacific octopus’s legs.(www.acquariumofpacific.org)

• Revenge of the Mummy - The Ride is Universal Studios Hollywood’s first roller coaster. You can also test your courage this summer by taking part in new Fear Factor Live shows based on the NBC network show. Kids especially love the Nickelodeon Blast Zone and the behind the scenes Studio Tour. If you’re going to Universal Studios Hollywood, you can print your tickets at home - like for an airline - and avoid the lines. Also get front of the line access with a premium ticket. Visit www.UniversalStudiosHollywood.com.

What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In Los Angeles . . .

Rachel Paris Payne (age 9) Daughter of Los Angeles-based Employee Sheila Payne She Says: The best part about living in LA is riding bikes on the beach at sunset and stopping for a smoothie along the way. If you’re lucky, you might get to see dolphins! Visiting Kids Should Definitely Not Miss: Seeing the Lakers or the WNBA Sparks, Disneyland, and Venice Beach Must Eat: A smoothie from Robeks (they are all around LA - www.robeks.com) Don’t go home without: A t-shirt from Venice Beach

Mariella D’Avirro (age 8) Daughter of Los Angeles-based Employee Terry Diab She Says: The best part about living in LA is there is so much to do - beaches, theme parks, and lots of places to eat. If you like hiking, we’ve got mountains, too! Visiting Kids Should Definitely Not Miss: Griffith Park where you can go to the zoo, the Museum of the American West, ride on a pony or a carousel, have a picnic, or hop on a miniature train. There are good playgrounds, too! Must Eat: At the Cheesecake Factory on the beach in Marina Del Ray. (www.thecheesecakefactory.com) It is right next to a great playground. If you’re in Pasadena, have a Clown Sundae at the old-fashioned Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain. (www.fairoakspharmacy.net) Don’t go home without: An Oscar statue - fake of course!

Tell Your Parents . . .

There are many museums in LA that have special programs and activities for kids.

• The J. Paul Getty Museum even has a new family room where kids can make their own art and detective cards with clues to help you “find” the artwork. (www.getty.edu)
• The Museum of Latin American Art has family workshops on Sundays (www.molaa.org) Kids can pan for gold at the Museum of the American West. (www.autreynationalcenter.org)
• The Los Angeles Zoo has games and weird animal facts right on its website (www.lazoo.org) while the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will have a kids’ Tut program to go along with the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharohs this summer and fall. (www.lacma.org)
• There are Discovery Rooms within each of the main galleries at the California Science Center. (www.californiasciencecenter.org)

See Past Editions of Kids Korner.

By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™