Los Angeles has been under the flags of Spain, Mexico and the United States since the Europeans came over to the Americas. El Pueblo De Los Angeles Historical Monument reflects the Native American, African, European, Mexican and Chinese cultures that contributed to the early history of Los Angeles. Eleven of the living museum's twenty-seven historic buildings are open to the public.
Aside from an extensive collection of rare books, manuscripts and art, the Huntington Library Art Collections and Botanical Gardens also contain 120 acres of landscaped gardens. Of the dozen principal gardens open to the public, the Children's Garden is most popular for the younger visitors. Children can learn about plants and different elements of nature through fun, hands-on activities.
The historic movie palace, Million Dollar Theater, was built by entrepreneur Sid Grauman before his Egyptian Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The Million Dollar Theatre has been preserved for its unique and extraordinary architecture, even though the building lay abandoned for two years. Re-opened in 2008, the theater currently shows live Spanish theater.
LA is known for filmmaking; so you shouldn't be surprised to learn dozens of film festivals occur in the LA area every year. The Los Angeles Film Festival is one of the largest, screening over 100 films during its 10-day festivities. The festival showcases independent, international, feature, documentary and short films and draws in a crowd of more than 90,000 to its special events and premieres.