I'll be going to Yellowstone for a vacation, via LA. Plane lands in LAX at 10am on a Friday. We're leaving the following morning for Yellowstone. We'd like to check the city out in limited time, I guess we might have to settle for the very touristy things. Also my gf's parents are coming in case it matters. Any tips on how to get around and what to check out. I figure we'll rent a car for a day, LA public transportation sucks doesn't it? Is it possible to park in one place and walk to everything worth seeing? TIA.
heh... 'Nobody walks in LA' What kind of stuff are you interested in? How touristy? Just sightseeing or also amusement park? Limited time.... maybe Santa Monica pier and 3rd street promenade w/ sunset dinner at Gladstones (don't expect the food to knock your socks off, but the location can't be beat). Maybe squeeze in the Getty museum.
Renting a car is probably a good idea. In the evening I would suggest seeing Naked Babies at the UCB theatre. On Friday evenings that improv group will feature Rob Corddry among some other very funny people whom you might recognize from some commercials and the like. It is very cheap, and very funny. During the day you could go to Manhattan Beach which is not far from the airport if you wanted. It is a large beach with nice sand, the cleanest water in LA county, and usually isn't too hard to find parking at a metered spot near 26th street. Other touristy things would be to go near Hollywood and Highland, and walk down the walk of fame to Grauman's Chinese theatre. If you want to check out the best record store in town, with a huge DVD selection as well head to Sunset and Cahuenga. If you want a hike there is Runyon Canyon in hollywood, or head to the Paramount Ranch, which is just up Kanan-Dume/Kanan road from Malibu. Actually it is off a little street that connects it, but the ranch has hiking trails, up scenery that will look familiar if you watched westerns, and it also has a western town set up, that is cool to walk through. If that kind of thing appeals to you it is something that won't be crowded and is different than the usual tourist thing. Gladstones is good for dinner, as is Paradise Cove which is in Malibu.
you gotta go to Venice Beach/Santa Monica, then go to Sunset Blvd, then Rodeo Drive, watch out for the traffic though
The subway is pretty good in LA. It can take you to universal studios. Defenetly check out the santa monica pear, Its awesome. You can also drive around the Beverly hills. I wouldn't recommend going to downtown LA at night. It is so ghetto.
Good stuff. Is the Santa Monica Pier strictly a beach destination or is there stuff to check out casually? Is that where they have part of the opening of Three's Company? That might be a deal maker for me. Anyways, I'm coming from Florida, so I'm not really interested in beaches for the sake of swimming or theme parks. I'll investigate Hollywood (walk of fame, Chinese theater, etc), Sunset Blvd, Rodeo, and Gladstones. Any tips or specifics on the Hollywood area are welcome. The Naked Babies thing sounds really good, hopefully it doesn't run too late. I figure we'll try to wrap things up around 9-10 pm on account of the parents. And I guess I'm aiming at the more touristy stuff, again on the account of the parents and short time frame. Actually I haven't paid much attention to the itenarary, my gf set the whole trip up. I just took a quick look now...it's a tour going through a few parks. They pick up in LA, go near Vegas (Valley of Fire and another place), Salt Lake City (Lake Powell, Bryce Canyon), and finally Yellowstone.
yeah it is for 3s company. there is the little shops and ferris wheel and all. you can go a bit further down too and check out venice beach which is always a blast.....the strip of course, hollywood, people like 3rd street in santa monica, the grove in hollywood, universal city ..if its only a day i would probably say pick either hollywood or the santa monica area that way you can probably cram in the most 'sites' without having to waste your time driving back and forth. also you can just take the 405 up from LAX to get to them...of course you'll spend 90 minutes on that 10 mile stretch of the 405 IF you are lucky
My wifa and I took the California tour 2 years ago, Hwy 1 all the way from LA to Sana Cruz, spent a day in San Diego and another in San Fran, but our favorite was Venice Beach in LA (incidentally enough where White Men Can't Jump was filmed). If you're into commercial stuff, it's a great place to visit (basketball courts, something like tennis (but with much smaller courts) vollyball, etc. it's incredible. Tons of shops, places to eat, etc. all along the coast. If I was in LA for only a day that's where I go.
Hollywood and Santa Monica. That is all you likely have time to do in a day. You really need at least 3 days to really see LA.
Yeah, that's the ideal situation - making one or two trips around town, I don't want to drive to 10 different places especially w/ the horror stories of LA traffic. So it's pretty obvious it's Santa Monica and/or Hollywood. Is it possible to do half SM and half Hollywood in a day? Looks like Santa Monica might be the winner here if I have to pick one. Anyone have tips on good parking spots? I'm sure these places will be crazy crowded.
Aside from the pier and the shops a few blocks away, there isn't much to see in Santa Monica. You could do everything you need to in 2 hours in Santa Monica. Then on the way to Hollywood, you can swing by Westwood and Beverly Hills. You could eat lunch at Pink's hot dogs in Hollywood (they have a website).
dude, the subway system in LA is awful, nobody takes it and there is barely anywhere the system takes you...
I know this is going to pop up soon or later, and you know what, IN AND OUT BURGER SUCKS, SO IS ALL OTHER BURGERS.
