Believe it or not, there is some culture in this Los Angeles place. Weird little spots here and there, some great stores, and—right this second, like this summer—a killer little punk scene. Here are some highlights.

Saturday Night Screenings in Hollywood Forever Cemetery (6000 Santa Monica Blvd. at Gower, $10) 100 yards to the north of where they screen the movies you’ll find a statue of Johnny Ramone in all his posthumous glory. They play old Hollywood classics like Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Night of the Hunter. Bring a blanket, some snacks, and some booze. All the proceeds go to restoring the final resting place of your 95,000 hosts.

The Smell (247 So. Main Street, Downtown; thesmell.org) This is the unanimous hub and blast-off point for LA’s crazy/beyond inspired, and fucking young (16-24 years old) punk/experimental music scene. Kill Rock Stars/Troubleman/Load Records farm leagues? Maybe better? This is where all touring bands that matter play, unless a more epic house party/gallery show happens. The Smell is ground zero. Bands like Gang Wizard, Child Pornography, and Silver Daggers have all played ridiculously explosive shows at the Smell lately, and they are all CHILDREN. It’s nuts. All shows all ages!

Oogabooga (943 N. Broadway #203, Silverlake; 213 617 1105) Could well be the best store in Los Angeles. A handpicked selection of books/records/designer clothes/tea/mixtapes/painted rocks/limited editions, with zero bad attitude or pretensions. This is what Colette in Paris wants to be, packed into like 50 square feet.

LACMA parking lot (5905 Wilshire Blvd. Downtown; 323 857 6000) The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is a fine museum, but at the end of the summer they are tearing down their employee parking lot, which holds an incredible collaborative “permanent” installation by husband and wife Barry McGee and Margaret Killgallen (RIP). For years people have actually come to LA just to see this, and it will be gone in September 2005. Look at it while you still can.

Chinatown Art Stuff (more or less all over Chinatown) Some people feel like the LA Chinatown art scene already reached critical mass and got kind of boring and played, but you can still usually see interesting things at galleries like:

David Kordansky (510 Bernard Street; 323 222 1482)
peres projects (969 Chung King Road; 213 617 1100)
China Art Objects (933 Chung King Road; 213 613 0384)
Jack Hanley LA (945 Sun Mun Way)

Huntington Library and Gardens (1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, 626 405 2100) This place is really fun to walk around in. They have all these different garden areas like sub-tropical, desert, Japanese, and herbal. Plus they put on cool exhibits to look at. It’s really romantic without being too sappy, because it’s educational at the same time. Admission is like $10. If you're broke by the time you’re ready to head out here, the mountains are on the other side of the freeway and they are equally fun to explore. Yes, it’s a little bit of a drive but that’s the whole reason you rented a car.

Ding Dong Doing (1001 So. Vermont Ave.) This is a karaoke place in Koreatown. You can rent your own rooms and it's open until six in the morning. Just thought we’d cram a karaoke place in here for the what-the-fuck of it.