Discovering Jewish Los Angeles

The Skirball Cultural Center

2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90049
www.skirball.org

The Skirball Cultural Center celebrates Jewish culture in America with exhibits, music programs, lectures, theatre, comedy, film and literary programs. Their Noah's Ark Exhibit is one of the best museum attractions in Los Angeles for kids.

The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

100 S. The Grove Dr.
Los Angeles, Ca. 90036
T (323) 651-3704
www.lamoth.org

The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust was founded in 1961 and opened in its current location in Pan Pacific Park in 2010. Every detail, from the museum's architecture, to exhibit design to artifacts and the participation of living survivors, tells the story of life for European Jews before, during and after the Holocaust. Some exhibit components were designed by Holocaust survivors.
Nearby: The Grove, The LA Farmers Market

The Museum of Tolerance

9786 West Pico Blvd (southeast corner of Pico Boulevard and Roxbury Drive)
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 553-8403
www.museumoftolerance.com

The Museum of Tolerance is the educational branch of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The museum's exhibits promote tolerance and understanding by putting the Holocaust in historical and contemporary context exhibits examine what leads people to hate and how to address continuing forms of discrimination and prejudice today.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center

1399 South Roxbury Drive (third floor)
Los Angeles, CA 90035-4709
(310) 772-7605
www.wiesenthal.com

The Library and Archives of the Simon Wiesenthal Center are located across the street from the Museum of Tolerance. The collection, which is open to the public, focuses on the Holocaust, genocide, antisemitism, and Jewish communities around the world. The Library has material in many languages for all ages and educational levels, including periodicals, videos, and storybooks as well as original diaries, artifacts, and memorabilia.

The Grauman Movie Palaces

Sidney Patrick Grauman ​was born in 1879 to Jewish parents in Indianapolis, Indiana, but his greatest legacy was left in Los Angeles where he built a number of movie palaces that remain some of the city's most beloved landmarks. Few visitors pass through LA without visiting Grauman's Chinese Theatre to compare their hands and footprints to those of famous actors in the Forecourt of the Stars. Another of Sid Grauman's masterpieces is the Egyptian Theatre a few blocks away. The very first theater that Sid Grauman and his father David Grauman built in Los Angeles was the Million Dollar Theater (307 S. Broadway) in Downtown Los Angeles. It currently operates as a Spanish language theater.

Paramount Studios

5555 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
www.paramountstudios.com

The grand entrance gates to Paramount Studios in Hollywood are the legacy of Adolph Zukor, born Adolph Cukor in 1873 to Jewish parents in ​Ricse, Hungary and his partner Jesse Louis Lasky, Sr. You can drive by Paramount to admire the gates, take a Studio Tour or see a TV show taping.

Sony Entertainment Studios in Culver City

10202 West Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
www.sonypicturesstudiostours.com

Sony entertainment Studios occupies the original home of MGM Studios, founded by Jewish sons Louis B. Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn. You can drive by and admire the colonnade that fronts Washington Blvd, or take the tour and walk the sets where films such as the Wizard of Oz were made.

Breed Street Shul

247 North Breed Street in Boyle Heights
Los Angeles, CA 90033
www.breedstreetshul.org

Opened in 1923, Breed Street Shul in Boyle Heights in East LA is one of the oldest Synagogues on the West Coast. It was abandoned in 1996, but was restored by the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California and has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.