Getty View Trail

Here’s how to see the Getty Center without reservations, without cost, and without crowds: Take a hike on the new Getty View Trail.

While you won’t see any art en route, you will get an inspiring view of the world’s most expensive art facility from a ridgetop above Sepulveda Pass. You’ll also get a bird’s eye views of two of the world’s priciest neighborhoods—Bel-Air and Brentwood, as well as of the freeway that separates them.

In 1769, Captain Gaspar de Portola, commander of the first Spanish land exploration of California, marched through Sepulveda Pass into the San Fernando Valley. Today, the San Diego Freeway extends through the pass, which connects the Los Angeles Basin and the city’s westside with the southern San Fernando Valley.