Los Angeles: seeing stars in the strangest of places

If you want to spot a star in Los Angeles – a real one, not simply a name embedded in the footpath – you won't find them on Hollywood Boulevard. You'll have a better chance if you check in to the Sunset Marquis, an unassuming hotel tucked down a backstreet off Sunset Strip. The Marquis doesn't get as much buzz as the Chateau Marmont or Sunset Tower down the road, but it has been ground zero for rock revelry since it opened in 1963.

By the mid-1970s, it had become a temporary home to names such as Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and the Ramones, before hard rock acts such as Metallica, Guns N' Roses and Aerosmith started chucking TVs out its windows in the 1980s. In the '90s, supermodels with first names only (Cindy, Kate, Naomi, Claudia) skipped queues around the block to get into Rande Gerber's Whiskey Bar, a 60-person bolt hole off the reception area.

When you pull up to the entrance today, it's so discreet you might sail straight past it. A maze of cool, cream villas unfolds around almost 1.5 hectares of lush green garden, with 150 comfortable, non-flashy rooms and suites serviced by an ever-obliging concierge. There are nooks and crannies that hide a multitude of sins – amble past the shimmering blue pool and you'll find a stairway concealing the subterranean NightBird Recording Studios, where many of today's forces in music, from Rihanna to Kanye, have cut some of their biggest tracks.

This is "very LA" in that the best attractions are hard to find or out of the way. Many first-time visitors are turned off by the city's seedy arterials and soulless highways, but there's plenty to reward visitors who know where to look.

When it's time for dinner, I head to another vintage West Hollywood gem. Dan Tana's is a classic red-sauce Italian joint on Santa Monica Boulevard which opened in 1964, soon after the Sunset Marquis. Perched under a green neon sign next to the famed Troubadour nightclub, it's a bustling, low-ceiling bistro with glossy leather booths, red and white tablecloths and framed photos of its celebrity clientele.

The menu hasn't changed in 50 years: spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parma, and other dishes with starry names such as veal cutlet Milanese à la George Clooney. Tuxedoed waiters keep the martinis flowing, but it's best to heed American writer Dorothy Parker's famous words: "I like to have a martini. Two at the very most. After three I'm under the table, after four I'm under my host."

The next day, I decide to explore a different part of town. Los Angeles isn't just about Hollywood, and one of the must-see areas is the city's gentrifying downtown district. For years this was off limits to most tourists due to its highly visible social problems, but downtown has rarely been safer than it is now.