The most common question I get on Instagram is “how do you find all these walls?!” and my answer is always the same — I am so lucky to live in Los Angeles.
Watson and I have traveled the country hunting murals (Austin, Denver, Chicago, Brooklyn to name a few), and all those places have a pretty solid mural scene, but there is truly nothing like LA in terms of the amount of street art and proximity to one another. So many incredibly talented artists live here, and even more love to visit!
While there are murals pretty much all over LA, below I’ve gathered the 4 best spots to Wall Crawl in terms of volume & quality of murals. Beware though, they change frequently, so you may see a different mural when you visit one of these spots! 😉
ABBOT KINNEY/VENICE BEACH
So maybe I’m a bit biased here, but Venice is definitely the best bang for your buck in terms of wall hunting! On Abbot Kinney alone there are at least 15 murals at any given time, not to mention how many you’ll find off Main St. or the Strand by the beach. Here are my 4 favorite walls in Venice, but I recommend using my Google Map to find them all!
To see all the walls in Venice Beach, check out my full blog post here.
MELROSE AVE./WEST HOLLYWOOD
Melrose Ave — not to be confused with Place! — is a mecca for trendy restaurants, vintage shops, celeb sightings, and MURALS. You’ve most likely seen the Paul Smith Pink wall on Instagram, and there’s normally a line of bloggers waiting to get a photo at any given moment. The best area by far is the parking lot by Sportie LA: if you can manage to get there on a weekday there won’t be any cars in the lot, and it’s very likely you’ll see an artist working! Here are some of my favorite walls on Melrose, but I recommend using my Google Map to find them all.
To see all the walls on Melrose Ave, check out my full blog post here.
ARTS DISTRICT IN DOWNTOWN LA
If you aren’t looking to walk far, drive, or Bird during your wall crawl, Arts District is for you. All of the walls are within a short walking distance of each other! Not to mention the best dog-friendly brewery, Angel City, is here. If I didn’t live in Venice, this would be the best bang for your buck ;). Download my Google Map to take yourself on a wall crawl!
To see all the walls in the Arts District, check out my full blog post here.
LONG BEACH
Last but not least, the LBC! Long Beach is a bit of a drive south from LA, but so worth the trek. They have hosted the Pow Wow Mural Festival in Long Beach the last several years, so the downtown area is absolutely full of beautiful murals. I highly recommend using the Pow Wow team’s map to find all the best walls!
Are there a lot of murals in your area? Comment below with your favorite one!
We’re Watson & Michelle: BFFs from Venice Beach, taking on the world’s best dog-friendly spots one mural at a time. Watson is a bichon-maltese mix who loves bad pickup lines, fart jokes, twinning with walls & La Croix. He’s AKC Canine Good Citizen certified. Michelle is a Digital Producer and Content Creator, leading the charge at enso collaborative toward positive scalable impact in the world using technology and art.
3 comments
LOOOOOVE the LA Art Scene and how creative and colorful the cities artists make this city! 🙂 Thanks for sharing Michelle!!
Amazing post, Michelle! I can’t get enough of all the photos of sweet Watson and these amazing murals! The “You are going to be fine” mural is my fave! We have quite a few cool walls here in Houston but nothing like all the ones you have there!
Wow these wall arts are amazing! Loved reading your blog, we are coming over to LA in April so we will make sure we hunt down these wall arts, thank you for sharing.