IF cities were people, if Los Angeles lived and breathed in human form, it would be a teenager with a filthy room. It has its attention on other things far more interesting than picking up clothes off the floor.
It is creative and inspiring, brashly exhibitionist in a naive kind of way.
In the company of like-minded friends, this pimply youth will speak out passionately on any and every subject, will routinely question old ways and enthusiastically cook up new ones.
Mostly it doesn't hear the criticisms. What undies? What wet towel? Every now and then, things happens to make the city a little circumspect, a little abashed, but mostly it is unapologetically out there.
For all its well-deserved reputation as the home of skin-deep beauty, of starlets and superstar glamour, LA hides its beauty behind rows of dusty mini-malls and faded billboards.
But beyond Disneyland and the slightly seedy Hollywood Walk of Fame, there is superlative Los Angeles. It's there. I've seen it. Here's proof.

Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills
Try on Cole Haan shoes, crisp white shirts at Brazilian designer Anne Fontaine, or check out the west coast branch of Barneys New York for what will be in vogue next year.
The Rodeo Drive precinct is an opulent marble-and-granite shopping experience you don't want to miss, even if it is pretentious.
Eat at the outdoor cafes around Brighton Way or frock up and rub handbags with society women at Mariposa, the restaurant inside the Neiman Marcus department store on Wilshire Boulevard, where diners get a complimentary cup of consomme with a classic American popover as an appetiser.
It is just around the corner from where my 16-year-old daughter excitedly stumbled across the filming of the television series Entourage.
Cutting-edge designers line the streets about 2km northwest, around Robertson Boulevard and Melrose Avenue, past celebrity hangout The Ivy. And for a step back to the emerald-green and mushroom-pink heyday of the 1950s, go for cocktails in the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Downtown
The city's downtown area is perhaps the least appreciated of its hidden gems. Actor Johnny Depp reportedly just bought a loft downtown, and there's a growing revival of all things cultural, evidenced by the awe-inspiring steel sculpture that is the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the new Nokia Theatre (the Wiggles played there in late March) and the avant garde Museum of Contemporary Art.
At the Mexican market along Olvera Street, there are sombreros and ponchos, as well as the oldest standing house in the city, Avila Adobe, built for a rich Spanish don's family in 1818 and now a modest museum manned by volunteers.
There's some good Mexican food around here, or go for a delicious $US6 ($6.50) roast beef or lamb "French-dipped" sandwich and a beer or a US60c coffee at Philippe the Original (1001 North Alameda St). High-powered lawyers, city daytrippers and American tourists all share the communal benches at this fabulous LA institution, which has been serving 5000 sandwiches a day since 1908. In LA terms, that's forever.

Getty Centre and The Getty Villa
The most prominent building for kilometres is the extraordinary Getty Centre on a hilltop overlooking the mansions of Bel Air. The gardens, by artist Robert Irwin, and the white travertine modernist buildings are glorious, and an hour or two of wandering in the sun is the perfect antidote to jetlag.
Oil billionaire J. Paul Getty originally housed his collections of Greek and Roman antiquities, 18th-century French furniture and European paintings in his ranch house at Malibu. He later built a Roman-style villa on the grounds, modelled after the Villa dei Papiri of the 1st century.
Reopened in early 2006 after extensive renovations, the superb Getty Villa requires reservations due to neighbourhood restrictions on traffic. Admission to the centre and villa is free.

West Hollywood
Sunset Strip is the place for some of the trendiest clubs and bars in town (though if you are travelling with under-21s, Hollywood's Knitting Factory and McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica are brilliant alternative music venues).
During the day, have lunch at the Chateau Marmont, tucked away at 8221 Sunset Boulevard and still frequented by a large celebrity clientele because of its legendary discretion (photography is not permitted). The day we visit, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are at the next table.
Still in West Hollywood but slightly farther afield, look for Pink's hot dogs, south on LaBrea Avenue, where the cult status of this fast fare means long lines of hungry teens and struggling musicians snake around the corner day and night.

Venice Beach
Venice Beach is funky, offbeat, a little weird and well worth a wander along its Ocean Front Walk. Have a go at paddle tennis on the boardwalk or hire inline skates and blend in with the scene.


The Wilshire Museum District
This strip of Wilshire Boulevard, roughly from Fairfax to La Brea, boasts half a dozen excellent museums, including the Page Museum La Brea Tar Pits, where the world's best-preserved mammoths and sabre-toothed cats were found mired in the still present viscous goo. Next door is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and, across the way, the Petersen Automotive Museum, which is exceptional, as you would expect in this citywhere the car is king. Eat at the quaint Farmers Market on the corner of Third and Fairfax Avenues.


Free Tickets to TV Shows
Wonder what the taping of a TV show is like? LA is definitely the place to satisfy such curiosity. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Price is Right with Drew Carey, Dr Phil and Ellen Degeneres's Ellen are taped in front of audiences in LA. http://www.tvtickets.com/.



The Dodgers, The Lakers and college football
The LA Dodgers turn 50 this year. The Major League baseball season runs from April to September, with home games played at the downtown Dodgers Stadium nearly every night for two weeks each month. Cheap tickets are usually available on game day.
The stadium hosts regular tours behind the scenes.
The LA Lakers basketball team plays from October to April, about twice a week at home. Ticket prices range from as low as $US10.
LA lost its NFL professional football team when the Raiders moved to Oakland about 10 years ago, but college football, the amateur version, is a spectacle on a par with an Olympic opening ceremony. Though the rules may seem incomprehensible, if your visit coincides with a game (there are about 12 a year, from September to December), the duelling marching bands and razzamatazz make for an incredible experience.



Hollyhock House
This Frank Lloyd Wright-designed residence was built circa 1921 for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, who envisioned an artist community on her 14.5ha hill in the centre of what was then thriving Hollywood.
The only one of Wright's LA houses still open to the public, Hollyhock House is a spectacular oasis hidden from the sprawling and unremarkable neighbourhoods below. It is well-preserved by private devotees, and volunteers run tours four times daily, from Wednesday to Sunday.
Thankfully, Barnsdall bequeathed the house and park to the City of Los Angeles with the proviso that it be used only for art and recreation or the property would revert to her heirs. From here, you get a view of the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory.

Mulholland Drive
For a spectacular panorama of the city and its canyons, drive up to Mulholland Drive, which winds along the ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains, the land formation that divides LA proper from its famous hinterland, the Valley.
Hike along the paths of Will Rogers State Historic Park or Temescal Canyon, just west of the city, and in the quiet early morning you might see coyotes coming down for breakfast or a drink at a neighbourhood sprinkler run-off.

"WHERE are you going?" asks the chirpy black guy behind the desk, who's directing human traffic at Las Vegas' amazingly efficient McCarron International Airport.

"To the Luxor," I reply.
"OK, $6," he says and hands me a small white disc. "Here's your ticket: take it to the driver at the van over there."
My "ticket" is a casino chip. What else would they use for a bus ticket in Vegas than the ultimate currency of gambling?
And I laugh at the price – $6 to get from the airport to my hotel. Las Vegas was built around gambling tourism, so the airport is just 10 minutes from the Strip and its gambling dens.
I've just made it to my room when the phone rings. It's someone from the Las Vegas Convention and Tourism Authority, who I've organised to meet the following day.
"I expected to just leave you a message," he tells me. "What are you doing in your room? You're in Las Vegas." Apparently, there's no time to waste.

It's been 11 years since I was last here. In some ways it's the same and in others it's unrecognisably different.
For a start, there are new casinos and a different feel to Vegas than on my visits in 1995 and 1997. The new casinos are completely different to the ones that went up in the 1980s and 1990s; they're more ambitious, if that's possible, even though Vegas has long been famous for ambitious building projects.
Although older stars – such as Caesar's Palace, The Mirage and Treasure Island – still shine, the new breed of casino is more about class than tricks.
Right now, bang in the middle of western side of the strip, a project more ambitious than any other in the city's 100-year history is roaring to completion.
Called CityCenter, it's a six building self-contained "city", occupying nearly 31ha of some of the world's most expensive real estate, at about $US20 million an acre (0.4ha).
The project's total cost is more than $US8 billion and includes a 4000-room, 61-storey casino complex, two 400-room high-end non-gaming hotel rooms, 2650 luxury condominiums spread throughout the six buildings and retail, entertainment and dining covering 46,450sqm.
CityCenter, due to be finished late next year, has its own hospital and will employ 12,000 workers.
Beyond the mind-boggling statistics, the most interesting thing about CityCenter is the minimal emphasis placed on gambling in its slick marketing material.
It's true it will have a casino: all hotels in Las Vegas do (bar Trump Towers after The Donald was repeatedly denied a gambling licence).
But the way CityCenter is going about its business is very "new" Las Vegas. These days, the emphasis is on luxury, entertainment, food, relaxation and shopping rather than gambling. In fact, it's as though gambling is just a side issue, almost an embarrassing one at that.
I walk The Strip and wonder what's happened to the signs advertising mindless heavyweight fight nights, cheap second-rate shows and ghastly buffets featuring $2.99 shrimp cocktails. Until the late-1990s, Vegas was fuelled on these and the gimmick casinos that people would go to gawk at. The widely-held perception is that Vegas is still like that. It isn't.
In 2003, for the first time, gambling was overtaken by "other revenues" as the city's No.1 income source, and the gap has widened slightly each year since.
Yes, Las Vegas is still a massive gambling city – but it's also now a premiere dining and shopping destination.
The world's great chefs, from French masters such as Alain Ducasse and Joel Robuchon to UK firebrand Gordon Ramsay and American superstar Thomas Keller, have set up astonishing palaces to fine dining – it is possible to have a $500 meal in a grand belle epoque dining room, washed down with $10,000 wines.
The shopping is equally superb. Many famous labels have a store here, from Tiffany & Co to Rolex, while the great American department stores such as Saks 5th Avenue, Nordstrom and Macy's have giant outlets at the Fashion Show Mall.
The Bellagio is where the Vegas revolution began with a bang, when, in October 1998, visionary Steve Wynn outlaid $US88 million on the opening night party, including a performance by Cirque du Soleil.
The Bellagio's luxury and opulence – all done without gimmicks such as a giant fake pyramid or a fake New York skyline – quickly made other casino hotels in Las Vegas look ridiculous.
Just 21 months before The Bellagio was launched, for instance, New York New York opened to world-wide publicity. However, its garishness quickly looked passe.
Since 1998, most casinos have followed The Bellagio's lead, with The Venetian, its sister The Palazzo and Mandalay Bay as temples of taste rather than showiness.
Wynn himself has reloaded. He let control of The Bellagio and his other hotels, such as The Mirage and Treasure Island, go in 2000, when he sold Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand Inc.
He then used the cash to snare 93ha on The Strip to build Wynn Las Vegas and a replica structure, the soon-to-be-opened Encore, next door.
At Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, he has changed tack again. Even though he pioneered the idea of the show out front of the casino to draw patrons in (Treasure Island's sinking pirate ship show, for example), his new casinos have no street show, meaning people must venture inside to check out what's on offer.
The Wynn-inspired high-end ventures have had a flow-down effect, dragging the mid-range casinos to a higher standard.
All now have a plethora of restaurants and offer shopping and shows.
When I go looking for them – for nostalgia's sake if nothing else – I find the all-you-can eat buffets do still exist, but they're no longer advertised.
As for the shows, competition has driven the standard of performers through the roof.
The weekend I'm here, the artists performing include Cher, The Police, Robin Williams, David Spade, Toni Braxton, Barry Manilow, David Copperfield and Jay Leno. Even Air Supply is playing, at $US33 a ticket.
For me, the gambling is fun enough but not the be-all and end-all in Las Vegas.
During my weekend, I manage to fit in a Police concert at the MGM Grand, dinner at the superb TAO Asian Bistro at The Venetian, several other great meals, a half-day trip to the spectacular Red Rocks Canyon just outside the city's western fringe, a quick visit to the upmarket LAX nightclub at the Luxor, although I was nowhere near young, nor "LA" enough to fit in, some retail therapy and a few hours by the massive Luxor pool.
Did I expect to do all this when I boarded the bus for the Luxor? Sort of, but I was stunned, and uplifted, by the change.
Las Vegas is now a destination for all travellers, including families, and a must for anyone venturing to North America. Even if it's just for a look, some great meals and shopping.

How to make the most of Las Vegas
-Stay on The Strip. All the action is there and everywhere else is a bust. Try to stay midweek, when room rates are slashed.
-Key mid-range casinos include Luxor, MGM Grand, Excalibur and Bally's, with high-end options including The Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas and The Venetian. If you're down on your luck and need a cheap option on the Strip, try the Imperial Palace.
-Avoid Circus Circus at all costs. Travel agents here still have it on their books, but it is a run-down stinker.
-The best gambling casino is still Caesar's Palace. It's magnificent after all these years and has been kept in tip-top condition.
-Explore The Strip yourself. Unlike in other major tourist spots, your hotel won't help you much, as it wants you to stay and gamble. Buy The Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper for $US1, with its daily visitor guide.
-Do not take a taxi down The Strip at night. The traffic is unbearable.
-Bypass the hordes of illegal Mexican immigrants in oversize T-shirts handing out advertising cards for hookers – the saddest sight on The Strip.
-Get out of Las Vegas, at least for a half-day, to check out the amazing surrounding sights including Death Valley, Red Rocks Canyon, Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. Use a tour company, like Pink Jeep Tours, for these day trips.