A few years ago, in 2022, we wrote up a few tips to help confounded visitors better navigate the city during Frieze LA. In the time since, however, so much of the Los Angeles art world has already changed. Enterprising developers have since come up with new Hollywood commercial districts—like Melrose Hill, a stretch of Western Avenue where David Zwirner is the anchor tenant and parking is hell on earth.
Dozens of galleries have come to L.A. in recent years, including blue-chip newcomers Marian Goodman, Lisson, and Karma. But in the subsequent market downturn, many smaller galleries have also gone, most recently Shrine and House of Gaga. By far the most devastating change to L.A.’s art world has been the mass displacement of artists, collectors, and culture workers during the January wildfires. In the disaster’s economic fallout, moving ahead with the February fairs was a community decision to not fall further behind. Despite having lost both her home and studio, artist Kelly Akashi says, “You don’t have the luxury to not work.”
The thing that hasn’t changed since 2022, when we first wrote a guide, is that visitors are still confused. L.A. traffic patterns, the city geography, and Angelenos’s polychronic sense of time are not immediately obvious. In the interest of everyone having the most successful fair possible, and with the help of a few local art world experts, we’ve brought our guide back up to speed.
Now with more walking instructions and neighborhood-specific tips, we present the most logical and efficient way to see art in L.A.
Around Felix: Hollywood and Melrose Hill
“If you’re trying to parse out your time, think about neighborhoods,” says collector Joy Simmons.
If you’re going to the Felix opening at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Wednesday, for example, this should be your day to knock out your Hollywood to-do list.
Regen Projects is a six-minute drive down Highland Avenue, but if you take the 20-minute walk you can stop at Overduin, Sean Kelly, and Michael Kohn Gallery. From Regen Projects, Marian Goodman’s Bruce Nauman show is a few blocks east on Santa Monica Boulevard, and Karma and Megan Mulrooney (with a stop at Reena Spaulings) is a 17-minute walk west. Continuing south on Highland takes you to Tanya Bonakdar, Various Small Fires, and Nonaka-Hill, which borders the newly fashionable Media District. (No one actually calls it that.)
There you’ll find Deitch, Lisson, Matthew Brown, the Hole, and Parker, plus very cute shops, restaurants, and cafes. Of these, Sam Parker says to get a bite at Stir Crazy: “Can’t go wrong with some anchovies with herbs, bread and butter, and a glass of something crisp.”
Not tired yet? The rebranded Melrose Hill is a six-minute drive east to Western Avenue, with more than a dozen galleries between Santa Monica and Beverly Boulevards—there is Chateau Shatto, Morán Morán, the Brick, and more. I recommend Ehrlich Steinberg’s Tenant of Culture solo show, where the artist’s background in fashion shows through two essential features of her sculpture: beauty and rigorous formal construction.
While you are there, stop by the pop-up space across from Zwirner for One Hundred Percent, a 90-artist group show curated by Aram Moshayedi, by and for artists affected by the fires.
To walk or not to walk?
Is Hollywood the most picturesque walk? Decidedly, the answer is no. I’ve never had a problem there, but we all have different comfort levels in terms of distances and civic dysfunction. If you’d prefer a two-minute drive to a quarter-of-a-mile walk (which, in fact, I often do), Hannah Hoffman has a game-changing piece of advice: “LA is the only place I know where you can book an Uber by the hour,” she recently texted me, alongside instructions for navigating the app. “Uber > Services > Hourly. You are welcome.”
Around Frieze: Santa Monica, Venice, Culver City and Beverly Hills
Frieze previews open in Santa Monica on Thursday, February 20. Make this your West Side day, where options include taking a car to the Hammer’s Alice Coltrane show, the Getty, or Del Vaz Projects in Jay Ezra Nayssan’s Santa Monica home. (Just don’t overdo it—picking one item off this list is plenty.)
Chris Sharp’s Post-Fair, a new low-cost “alternative” art fair, will also be opening in Santa Monica on Thursday, with a very cool lineup of galleries including New York’s Laurel Gitlen, San Francisco’s House of Seiko, and a solo Kaari Upson presentation by Sprüth Magers (which, notably, isn’t returning to Frieze this year).
Heading back east, the 10 Freeway is good for stops at Culver City galleries like Blum and Honor Fraser, or Mid City galleries like Chris Sharp Gallery and Good Mother, which is showing an immersive installation by Devin Troy Strother.
If you’re having dinner in or around Hollywood, it’s better to take Santa Monica Boulevard through Beverly Hills for galleries like Marc Selwyn and Gagosian, or Blakehouse, gallerist Peter Blake’s excellent group show in a Richard Neutra-designed home. For an entertainment industry lunch spot try Toscana on San Vicente, says collector Jarl Mohn. But for a “total scene,” he recommends Baltaire. “Top-rated people watching.”
An important note on rush hour
“Plan your outings based on the direction and timing of traffic,” says dealer Dominique Clayton. Rush hour is like a bout of inclement weather that strikes twice a day, and Angelenos have a known aversion to going out in a storm. So, if you’re staying east of the 101, “Head to Frieze late morning,” says Frieze Focus section curator Essence Harden, once congestion has died down.
The prize for leaving before 10 a.m. is an additional 40 minutes to the drive. If you leave the fair before rush hour, you could theoretically get Downtown in 30 minutes on the 10. But if you’re still west of the 405 after 3 p.m., forget it, says Mohn, the collector. You’re “trapped.”
In that case, Sprüth Magers director Hannes Schroeder-Finckh says: “Wait it out watching a movie at Lumiere Cinema.”
Somewhere in the middle: Miracle Mile, and MacArthur Park
Around the center of town, LACMA is walking distance from Sprüth Magers, Anat Ebgi, and 1301PE to the south. Mark Dion has a Pacific Standard Time show at the La Brea Tar Pits next door, featuring sculptures and drawings inspired by his residency excavating the pits’ fossils.
A short drive from there, Pace, Kordansky, and Perrotin are all within walking distance of one another. Further east, if you have a car, MacArthur Park is a stop between Melrose Hill and Downtown that includes galleries Hannah Hoffman, O-Townhouse, and Commonwealth & Council. Also check out Chez Max et Dorothea, a nonprofit dedicated to the legacies of Max Ernst, Dorothea Tanning, and the “living principles of Surrealism.”
Around the East Side: Downtown, Chinatown, Glassell Park, Atwater
From the Other Art Fair in Atwater, the Pit and Guerrero are easy drives. By car, you could continue onto galleries in the outer suburbs, like Gattopardo in Glendale or Sea View in Mount Washington. In and around Downtown, you’ll find more walkable little pockets. Chinatown has Charlie James, Human Resources, and Bel-Ami, plus Leroy’s, a perfectly preserved former Chinese restaurant where Gene’s Dispensary curated a great wildfire benefit group show.
In the Arts District, you can see Hauser & Wirth’s David Hammons‘s show and the Box’s withdrawn Frieze presentation. “In respect to our original enthusiasm to exhibit the work of Stan VanDerBeek, Sarah Conaway, and Ursula Reuter Christiansen, we will be installing Our Externalized Frieze Booth in the auxiliary rooms of The Box,” the gallery announced last week. Canary Test isn’t particularly close to anything, but it’s a great conceptual gallery where Hamza Walker will be DJing Friday night.
These pockets are not connected by walkable routes for the most part, but there are exceptions. You can walk from Francois Ghebaly and Night Gallery to the Santa Fe building galleries (Nicodim, Vielmetter), then onto Maru Coffee, Ditroit Taqueria, and Soho Warehouse. The Broad and MOCA are neighbors, and MOCA Geffen is an easy 10-minute walk to the Arts District. You can catch Wael Shawky’s Drama 1883, fresh from the 2024 Venice Biennale, where it was a crowd favorite.
Once at the Geffen, MOCA chief curator Clara Kim says to walk across First Street for a bite. “Grab a delicious salad and matcha iced tea at Cafe Dulce or sit at the sushi counter of Hama Sushi.”
For the most part, a fellow art critic and walking expert, one of the rare Angeleno without a car, does not recommend walking between Downtown pockets. “It looks close on the map, but it’s actually a huge area and the clusters are not connected or really safe to walk,” they say. Instead, walk from Francois Ghebaly and Night Gallery to the Santa Fe building galleries (Nicodim, Vielmetter), then onto Maru Coffee, Ditroit Taqueria, and Soho House, for your food and drink needs.
Parting words of advice
Writer and art dealer Dominique Clayton says to “eat a snack and take a breath mint before you ask me questions at the booth. If I have to look good at work and make the art look good then you should put some effort in as well.” Also, “Never assume you know someone’s ethnicity in L.A. You’re probably wrong, so never make an ethnic joke!”
