Los Angelenos are often pictured as cultural lightweights, obsessed with TV and the movies, but as in any multicultural metropolis, there is a diverse and thriving cultural scene that encompasses music, theatre, dance and opera. The city's leading light is the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County otherwise known as Music Center, 135 North Grand Avenue (tel: (213) 972 7211; website: www.musiccenter.org). In the heart of Downtown, Music Center is made up of four separate venues: the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (host for many years to the Oscars ceremony), the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theater and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 South Grand Avenue (tel: (323) 850 2000; website: www.laphil.com).

The best source of up-to-date information on cultural events is Discover Los Angeles (tel: (213) 624 7300; www.discoverlosangeles.com). Tickets can be purchased from Ticketmaster (tel: (213) 480 3232; website: www.ticketmaster.com). Other agencies that handle concert, sport and theatre tickets include Musical Chairs (tel: (310) 207 7070 or 1 800 659 1702; website: www.musicalchairstickets.com), Al Brooks Theatre Ticket Agency (tel: (213) 626 5863 or 1 800 341 2766; website: www.albrooks.com) and VIP Tickets (tel: 1 800 328 4253; website: www.viptickets.com).

Music: The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (website: www.laphil.org) is one of the best in the world and performs at the Walt Disney Concert Hall (see above), as does the Los Angeles Master Chorale (tel: (213) 972 7282; website: www.lamc.org). The Los Angeles Opera (tel: (213) 972 8001; website: www.losangelesopera.com) performs at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (see above). Chamber music and performances by distinguished alumni can be heard at the Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, 200 South Grand Avenue (tel: (213) 621 2200; website: www.colburnschool.edu). The classic summer venue to hear music outdoors is the Hollywood Bowl, 2301 Highland Avenue (tel: (323) 850 2000; website: www.hollywoodbowl.com), with concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as jazz and pop artists.

Theatre: The Ahmanson Theater (see above) stages large classical productions. Smaller and more adventurous productions take place in the Mark Taper Forum, a theatre-in-the-half-round, also at Music Center.

The Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Avenue (tel: (310) 208 5454; website: www.geffenplayhouse.com) stages classical and contemporary plays in a historic building in Westwood Village. The Pantages Theater, 6233 Hollywood Boulevard (tel: (323) 468 1770; website: www.broadwayla.org) is an outstanding art deco theatre that hosts Broadway musicals and concerts, while the Pasadena Playhouse, 39 South El Molino Avenue (tel: (626) 356 7529/PLAY; website: www.pasadenaplayhouse.org) is an incredible 1925 Spanish Colonial Revival building. The Ford Amphitheater, 2580 Cahuenga Boulevard (tel: (323) 461 3673; website: www.fordamphitheater.org) is a 1200-seat outdoor space, where works by contemporary playwrights, as well as music, dance and film events take place.

LA Stage Alliance, 644 South Figueroa Street (tel: (213) 614 0556; website: www.theatrela.org), is an association of some 150 theatres; services include LAStageTIX, a half-price day-of-the-show ticket outlet.

Dance: The Joffrey Ballet Company (tel: (312) 739 0120; website: www.joffrey.com) has its main west-coast season in the spring at Music Center (see above). The UCLA Center for the Arts, 4405 North Hillgard, Westwood (tel: (310) 825 2101; website: www.uclalive.org), is the venue for touring dance troupes, as well as the UCLA Dance Company.

Film: The historic Grauman's Chinese Theatre, 6925 Hollywood Boulevard (tel: (323) 464 8111; website: www.manntheatres.com/chinese), presents first-run movies. El Capitan Theatre, 6838 Hollywood Boulevard (tel: (323) 467 7674 or 1 800 347 6396; website: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/el_capitan), also screens first-run films. The Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard (tel: (323) 461 2020; website: www.egyptiantheatre.com), shows foreign films and documentaries in Hollywood's oldest restored cinema. Only in Hollywood would you find The Silent Theatre, 611 North Fairfax Avenue (tel: (323) 655 2520; website: www.silentmovietheatre.com) screening only movies from the pre-talkie era. The Pacific Theatres Cinerama Dome, 6360 West Sunset Boulevard (between Vine and Ivar Streets, with DeLongpre to the south) (tel: (323) 464 4226; website: www.arclightcinemas.com), has been refurbished in keeping with its late 1950s architecture and turned into the centrepiece of a three-level entertainment and retail centre, with 15 screens and shops and restaurants.

As for films that are shot in the city, it would be easier to compile a list of those that weren't. Films that capture various different moods of LA include Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950), starring Gloria Swanson, and more recently Swingers (1996), LA Confidential (1997) and Colors (1998).

Literary Notes: Los Angeles has inspired many writers and served as the setting for their books and novels. Nathanael West (1903-1940) lived in Hollywood from 1933; his novel The Day of the Locust (1939) is considered one of the best about Los Angeles. The Loved One (1948) by Evelyn Waugh and After Many a Summer Dies the Swan (1938) by Aldous Huxley were both set in LA. F Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon (1941-), his final unfinished masterpiece, was also set in LA.

LA has attracted many detective writers over the years. Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) lived in LA, and his most famous character, Philip Marlowe, explores the dark side of the city, in such novels as The Big Sleep (1939) and Farewell My Lovely (1940). Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles by Elizabeth Ward and Alain Silver is an enlightening look at the author's relationship with the city. Another detective writer James Ellroy was born in LA in 1948 and the city inspired his LA Quartet of novels - Clandestine (1982), Black Dahlia (1987), LA Confidential (1990) and White Jazz (1992). William Harrington created another LA detective, Columbo (not from TV). Some novels in the series include The Helter Skelter Murders (1994), The Hoffa Connection (1995) and The Game Show Killers (1996).

Other novels about LA include Joan Didion's Play It As It Lays (1970), Alison Lurie's The Nowhere City (1965), Walter Mosley's Black Betty (1994) and William Penn's The Absence of Angels (1995).