An oasis of art and literature near Pasadena

Noteworthy for: Rare editions of many great works of literature are on display in the library. Unfortunately, they can only be viewed by qualified scholars.

Talk of the town: Every few years the gardens' Corpse Flower blooms, producing an extremely foul smell for about 12 hours during its peak fertility.

Located in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area, San Marino, The Huntington is well worth the trek from Downtown. The large rose garden alone is utterly romantic, with over 4,000 individual plants arranged to trace the development of roses since ancient times.

A private, non-profit institution, The Huntington was founded in 1919 by Henry E Huntington, a businessman who built a financial empire that included railroad companies, utilities, and real estate holdings in Southern California. Huntington left a legacy of one of the finest research libraries in the world, a splendid collection of European and American art, and an array of botanical gardens with plants from a geographic range spanning the globe.