LA's skyline in the morning fog. Photo by Michael Rybak.

This month’s issue of Sky is dedicated to Los Angeles, my hometown. In the magazine you’ll find tons of information on fabulous places to stay, eat and shop. What I’d like to share with you is another big reason why the city is such a fantastic place to live: the green spaces. Sure, there are the beautiful beaches—lots of them, but what many people forget is the amazing array of wilderness that’s available within city boundaries.

That was brought home to me during the month I spent in Los Angeles over the holidays. My husband and I were staying with friends in the house-packed hills above Encino, in the San Fernando Valley. One morning our friend invited us to go along on his morning dog walk. Five minutes away from his home was one of the entry points into the Santa Monica Mountains which run 40 miles from the Hollywood Hills to the Ventura County border. Most of the 150,000 acres is preserved in a series of parks and recreation areas. From our vantage point we could see downtown LA looming like Oz in the morning fog, miles of mountains to the north and the ocean to our west. It was magical, and even more so knowing how close civilization lurked. We had our walk (the dog his run) and were down on Ventura Boulevard having coffee and bagels at Jerry’s Famous Deli 10 minutes later.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse's album cover for "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" was shot in the Topanga Canyon. We didn't exactly rock our picture like he did, but it was fun! Photo by Michael Rybak.

That wasn’t our only outdoor expedition. When friends came in from New York, we hit the road (the 101 freeway to be specific) around 10 a.m. one weekday (neatly avoiding rush hour) and headed out to Topanga Canyon Road, for a scenic drive through the unspoiled canyon and a quick visit to Topanga Canyon State Park, billed as the largest state park within a city limit in the United States. Not five minutes into our hike, we encountered several deer and a prairie dog compound. We also swore that the scenery reminded us of numerous album cover shots we’d seen over the years (not surprising, given that Topanga Canyon is a musician’s enclave), so we figured we’d pose for some of our own.

Topanga Canyon road ends at the ocean in Malibu, which gave us the perfect opportunity to stop at Moonshadows restaurant. The Malibu institution sits right on the water, and seals and dolphins entertained us as we waited for our lunch. “Find those on the Hudson River,” we taunted our New York pals.

You don’t have to put on hiking boots to get a taste of the Southern California outdoors. We always stay at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena precisely for its 23-acre parklike setting. Taking a walk in the neighborhood surrounding the luxury hotel won’t bring you into the mountains, but you’ll probably find a television crew or two shooting in the area, which is full of spacious mansions and looks more like the East Coast than the northeast side of Los Angeles.

The Santa Anita racetrack with the San Gabriel Mountains as a backdrop. Photo by Michael Rybak.

This is the time of year to take advantage of another institution in the Pasadena area: Santa Anita Park in nearby Arcadia. Its reputation as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the country is fully on display on the new HBO series, Luck, and the horses will be running there through April. Located at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, the views are spectacular and the stargazing’s not bad either if you’re sitting in the Turf Club, where notables like Mel Brooks are often gathered.

Winter is a great time of year in LA. Get out and enjoy the weather that the rest of the country is only dreaming about!