Visiting UCLA? Must see & Do

UCLA – Exploring Westwood Village

This weekend I had a fantastic time with my sister, staying at the UCLA Guest House and spending time with her touring campus taking pictures. The Guest House was a nice surprise, a small 50 room hotel right on campus, across the street from the Franklin Murphy Sculpture Garden. Parking and breakfast were included in the price (although parking is first come first serve) Once we parked we did not need the car again until departure, everything we needed was walking distance, and what a beautiful walk it was. The trip was our first time visiting UCLAs adjoining Westwood Village and I had a long list of things I wanted to do and see there starting with dinner at 800 Degrees. 800 Degrees, a popular pizza place for Bruins, gets five stars from me for casual/elegant atmosphere, delicious pizza and friendly service. A great place that routinely welcomes UCLA students, alumni & parents. Just a short stroll from campus UCLA and Westwood Village.

800 Degrees

Our next stop after dark was the Fox Theater & Bruin Theater to take more pictures. My new FujiFilm x100T camera takes amazing pictures in low light, and I was excited to shoot the gorgeous neon signs of both theaters that sit across the street from one another. My sister shopped in the vintage store while I took pictures which kept us both busy and happy for about an hour.

Bruin Theater & Fox Theater

The theaters are popular hubs for early screenings of movies catering to the Bruin population and hold a number of red carpet events annually. Both theaters display old world architectural style and details lost in today’s cheap/modern theater design. After dark we felt completely safe strolling back across campus to our little guest house for the night.

Day two we started the day with a four mile walk around the UCLA school perimeter, passing through Bel Air and Westwood Village along the loop. Walking to the right as we left our guest house we headed for Sunset Blvd. walking along the edge of campus to the jogging trail that runs between UCLA and Sunset Blvd. winding it’s way uphill toward Bel Air. Passing Bel Air we walked left on Veterans Blvd. and took in the beautiful neighborhood populated by so many lucky Bruins. On Gayley we came across fraternity row housing, enjoying cheerful inflatable flamingo party decor still left out by ? from what must have been a very fun social event. At the end of the loop we found ourselves on Hilgard passing all of the picture perfect UCLA Sorority housing. All in all it was one of my favorite UCLA visits so far and I can’t wait to return to UCLA and Westwood Village for the fall counselors conference! Go Bruins!