Everything else on this site costs nothing. These cost a little, and we list them because what you get is far bigger than the price.
$1.50A 1901 funicular with two orange wooden cars that climb one steep block from Hill St to California Plaza. The ride lasts about a minute.
Pay with a TAP card that has stored value and it drops to 75 cents. Ride it up from Grand Central Market and you come out two blocks from The Broad and MOCA.
Source: Angels Flight Railway
$0.50The city shuttle from the Vermont/Sunset B Line station up through Griffith Park to the Observatory's front lawn, every 20 to 25 minutes from 10 am to 10 pm.
The cheapest way to skip the Observatory's paid parking and the traffic jam at dusk. It is 35 cents with a TAP card, and the last bus down leaves around 10 pm.
Source: Griffith Observatory
$1.75One base fare takes you by train from Downtown to the last stop, a 10-minute walk from Santa Monica Pier, in about 46 minutes. The same drive costs more in beach parking alone.
Tap a TAP card rather than paying cash: transfers are free for two hours and you never pay more than $5 in a day. Sit on the left going west for the Culver City hills.
Source: LA Metro
$4A city-run outdoor pool complex on the site of the 1932 Olympic swim stadium, open year-round, with a 50-meter lap pool and a separate family pool.
The best $4 in the city on a hot afternoon, and it is next door to the Science Center. Recreational swim runs in the afternoon, so check the pool's schedule before you bring a towel.
Los Angeles is a company town and nothing free gets you inside the company. The tour drives through working backlots and soundstages in Burbank, which the Walk of Fame and a distant look at the Hollywood Sign cannot stand in for.
Everything above is free. This is the only paid pick on the page, chosen because no free option replaces it.
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