LOS ANGELES IS sorely lacking in good, interactive public space. The only fun place to mix with the general populace is at the beach. The rest of the time, you drive in your private vehicle from one private venue to another, never communicating with your fellow Angelitos except to honk at them. Most people never have to share the sidewalk or take mass transit, and coming from a city where commuting takes up half your day, L.A. can feel isolating.

But cheer up, Bay Area visitors! There's a new type of common ground in L.A.: the mall. Shopping centers are no longer simply collections of stores. They're the new public spaces and the latest type of tourist attractions to boot.

Beverly Center is a long-standing favorite, though compared to the newer, outdoor-oriented malls, its roofed-in design seems dated. There are four floors of big department stores and smaller shops like Diesel and DKNY in this eight-level dinosaur. (The other levels are for parking.) It's just south of Hollywood and Beverly Hills and holds the country's very first Hard Rock Cafe. It's also a swell place to spot the hoochie wives of the rich and famous, and sometimes, actual celebrities; look for a list of movie-star shoppers on its Web site.

To further trap the tourists, the Beverly Center holds a California Welcome Center, where you can purchase tour tickets, rent cars, and make restaurant reservations throughout the city. (I recommend the Hard Rock.) The Welcome Center also provides translations and orientation services for groups. Bring your book club.

The newer malls in L.A. are built from the ground up with the tourist in mind. Next door to the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre is the recently built, $600 million Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex, which houses the Kodak Theatre (where the Academy Awards ceremony is held). The rest of the neighborhood is packed with tacky tourist stores, drug dealers, and homeless (just like Union Square), but the mall is a safe (read: private) place for visitors to come and hang out after they've snapped some photos of Tom Cruise's footprints in cement.

The complex is garish as all get out, with a four-story archway and two 33-foot-tall elephants atop giant pillars flanking the central Babylon Court. It has a view of the Hollywood sign that's perfectly framed for having your picture taken. Free summer concerts take place in the courtyard at night. It's total shop-tainment!

Unfortunately, there are very few places inside this mall in which you'd want to shop or eat. Most of them are boring chain stores like Gap, Oakley, and Tommy Hilfiger, with a bunch of Hollywood memorabilia stores thrown in.

The Grove, on the other hand, has taken this mall-as-a-destination thing to a whole new level: It's a gated mall community with a concierge desk. It's also outdoors, surrounded by a wall of stores and guarded with dozens of security officers. The central courtyard is a combination of a fake town square and a fake Main Street, with its own two-tier trolley running between the mall and the old (and actually cool) farmers market next door.

The central fountain erupts in choreographed water displays every half hour, set to the tunes of Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra, and the like. (It was designed by the people who created the Bellagio's fountain in Las Vegas.) There are tons of outdoor tables and a big central lawn where live acts play between the water shows.

The goal of this mall is to bring in the families, and it works – there are more baby strollers here than in Noe Valley. The children can do their own shopping at GapKids, BabyGap, and Pottery Barn Kids. Families sit on the grass or buy ice cream from the pagodas. It looks like a park, but it feels like shopping.

The developers behind the Grove also built the Commons at Calabasas, which looks positively old-school with its one-level outdoor parking lot. Then again, it features an Eiffel Tower replica, a running stream through the grounds, and a giant central clock tower sponsored by Rolex. This one is located way out in the San Fernando Valley and isn't really worth the drive just to see. On the other hand, it's one of the best places around to eavesdrop on filthy rich teenagers yelling at their parents on their cell phones and to watch them make out with each other in the parking lot after it gets dark. That's good public interaction and its own kind of shop-tainment.

If you go

Beverly Center 8500 Beverly Blvd., L.A. (310) 854-0070, www.beverlycenter.com.

Grove 189 The Grove Dr., L.A. (888) 315-8883, www.thegrovela.com.

Hollywood and Highland 6800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. (323) 960-2331, www.hollywoodandhighland.com.