Author Topic: Visiting Los Angeles  (Read 8593 times)

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Visiting Los Angeles
« on: September 27, 2014, 03:05:14 AM »
I'm European but have been to the USA a few times - I've seen good parts of NYC, and my latest trip took me through the flyover states (driving from Omaha, NE to Austin, TX).   Due to work restrictions, I think that 2, possibly 3 weeks is my maximum stay and I'm thinking of trying to stay more in one metro area this time, to get a better feel for the city I visit.  No city can be "learned" in 2-3 days, in my experience.

So my questions to you Angelinos out there is:

- How would March/April work as a time to visit LA?  Climate, crowds, ???  Any special events to look out for to see or miss?

- Where would you recommend setting up base camp?  LA is a big big city.  So far I've looked mostly at airbnb apartments in the rough area of Santa Monica through Hollywood area, and some downtown.  I've only just started researching the area though.

- Things to do and see that I won't find in the usual guidebooks?  I recon I would have a car available most of the time, but  I'm no stranger to public transportation either.

- How do I find out what places to avoid due to crime etc?

For travel tips, I'm a single male just over 40 mostly travelling alone, and while I do enjoy pubs and restaurants, nightclubs are not really my scene.  I do like to get a "feel" for a town by socializing a bit with people, but also just walking around and snapping pictures etc.  Unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish yet, but I can usually make myself understood in English.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2014, 03:18:26 AM by lemanfan »

surfhb

  • Guest
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2014, 03:33:53 AM »
Well the weather is always good....you might have a little rain.   

I would strongly recommend making your base camp in Pasadena, particularly South Pasadena.  It has good history and many museums.   

Oddly enough my Ex rents a place on AirBnB.   Do a search on South Pasadena....her name is Lisa.   The train is within walking distance with easy access to downtown, Hollywood, Little Tokyo, ect.   

Check out this listing on Airbnb! http://airbnb.com/rooms/2516885
 

We have real Mexican food,  Tommy's Cheesburgers are the bomb and San Gabriel hosts thousands of People who travel from China for the best Chinese food in the world :)

Drive up PCH through Malibu and have a beer at Neptunes Net.

Echo Park and Silver Lake are all hipster now with some pretty good eateries.

Just stay out of South Los Angeles and you'll be fine.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2014, 05:00:28 AM by surfhb »

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2014, 03:54:16 AM »
Thanks!

I really appreciate the links and pointers.  I will probably research this a lot during the winter, if I decide to go.

Drive up PCH through Malibu and have a beer at Neptunes Net.

Thanks, sounds wonderful.  Although I'm pretty strict on no drinking and driving but I guess they have non-alcoholic drinks too.  :)

Just stay out of South Los Angeles and you'll be fine.

Do you mean the "formal" area of South Los Angeles ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Los_Angeles ) or a more general area.  How about the San Pedro area?  A brother of my granddad used to live there so I want see it myself.

surfhb

  • Guest
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2014, 04:56:55 AM »
Yeah, the area in blue on the wiki link is pretty much the area to avoid.   Doesn't matter much since there's nothing there and you'll be in a car and not walking into these areas.

San Pedro is ok......not much to see but if you head over the bridge you go into Long Beach which as a great aquarium, the Queen Mary and some good nightlife, especially in Belmont Shores area

Go further south along the coast and you go into Orange County which is where I live

We have Disneyland!   The Santa Ana zoo has the best collections of monkeys anywhere while the Bowers Museum down the street is a great anthropological museum.   Downtown Santa Ana is becoming hipster now with some good restaurants.  ( Lola Gaspar is one).   Never in my life thought of downtown SA would be hip ;)

Take surfing lesson in Huntington Beach then go bet some horses at Los Alamitos race track.   The Starting Gate across the street is a cool bar with the 30-50 crowd


« Last Edit: September 27, 2014, 04:58:30 AM by surfhb »

underscore

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 5
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2014, 12:13:07 AM »
You can look at a crime mapping site (e.g., https://www.crimereports.com/) to get an idea of how safe/not safe an area is. The LA article on Wikitravel (http://wikitravel.org/en/Los_Angeles#Districts) has a decent breakdown of areas to avoid, also.

I'd avoid setting up base camp too far west of downtown (e.g., near Santa Monica) unless you expect to spend most of your time there. It's a nice area (I live there), but rush hour traffic during the week can be pretty awful, and you probably don't want to spend your trip sitting in traffic. Pasadena would work well; it's a quick trip on light rail to downtown (and points beyond), but far enough away that it doesn't get the worst of the traffic. Plus, it has a pretty neat downtown by itself. North Hollywood might also be worth a look for the same reason.

If you're outdoorsy, you should make time to explore some of the parks near LA. The Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains have lots of hiking, mountain biking, and general outdoorsy things to do, and they're close enough to be a day trip from most anywhere you'd be likely to stay. Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks are farther, but close enough that you could do them as weekend trips.

Renting a bike would be a fun way to explore the city (if you're confident with urban riding, anyway). Riding the bike lane on Venice boulevard from where it starts in mid city to the ocean in Venice would show you a few different faces of LA. There's also a very popular bike path that goes from Santa Monica all the way down to Torrance on the beach. Downtown has a pretty nice network of bike lanes, too, and lots of neat things to take pictures of. Our bike infrastructure isn't the best, but LA isn't an awful place to ride.

I'll second the recommendation to drive up PCH through Malibu. Another scenic drive is the Angeles Crest Highway, which traverses the San Gabriel mountains between LA and Wrightwood. That might be closed if we get a particularly snowy winter, though.

If you're into the music, seeing a show at the Walt Disney Concert hall is fun. http://www.laphil.com/

I hope your enjoy yourself if you decide to come here.

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2014, 10:13:07 AM »
I hope your enjoy yourself if you decide to come here.

I actually just bought tickets - will be there in the second half of March.   Thank you for all the info - I will continue to read up on LA and SoCal and will come back with more questions, I'm sure. 

Just loaded my iPad with the book "Car-Free Los Angeles and Southern California" - will try to use public transportation and possibly a bike when I can, but I'm sure that I'll also rent a car for parts of the time there.

For a small towner from Sweden, Los Angeles seem so... big.  Large.  Spread out.  :)

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2014, 01:14:12 PM »
Is there an LA version of http://nymag.com/ - especially tips for events, bars and stuff like that?

KS

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 208
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2014, 10:48:08 AM »
For a small towner from Sweden, Los Angeles seem so... big.  Large.  Spread out.  :)

It's not just you, it really is sprawling! Don't worry about seeing every bit of it, a lot of the sprawl is just suburbs anyway. I don't have a ton of suggestions because when I go down there it's usually just to visit my in-laws and we spend most of our time at or around their place. But if you do end up visiting the San Pedro area to see where your grandfather lived, and are looking for something else to do nearby the Battleship Iowa is in the harbor and we had a fun outing checking it out and learning about it's history (if you're into that kind of thing).

http://www.pacificbattleship.com/

Also, not sure if there are other options but this site may be what you're looking for? http://www.lamag.com/events/

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2014, 11:48:38 AM »
thanks KS!  :)

underscore

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 5
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2014, 10:17:36 PM »
In addition to lamag.com, there's http://laist.com/.

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #10 on: October 01, 2014, 11:42:33 PM »
Thanks, underscore!

clarkfan1979

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3352
  • Age: 44
  • Location: Pueblo West, CO
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2014, 07:50:03 PM »
If you go late March, I would go snowboarding/skiing at Big Bear or Mt. High. It's a thrill to start at sea level with palm trees and two hours later be in the mountains with snow.

I moved to San Diego in May 1998 and did my first trip to Mammoth for 4th of July weekend in 98. They still had a 8-10 ft. base. We drove through death valley with temps around 110 on the drive up. You then engage in a small climb and eventually hit pine trees and snow. It was weird.

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2014, 03:04:01 PM »
If you go late March, I would go snowboarding/skiing at Big Bear or Mt. High. It's a thrill to start at sea level with palm trees and two hours later be in the mountains with snow.

Thanks for the tip, but I'm not really a ski / wintersport kind of person.  Only been on downhill skis once and busted my knee so I limped for months afterwards.  :)

surfhb

  • Guest
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #13 on: October 21, 2014, 11:46:44 PM »
http://m.laweekly.com

LA Weekly is the de facto source for things to do here

Are you staying with Lisa in Pasadena?  She said you inquired :)

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #14 on: October 22, 2014, 01:06:41 PM »
Yes, I asked her.  Looks promising for at least parts of the stay - but I have simply not decided yet.  Still reading up a lot of what to do and what to skip. :)

DSKla

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 85
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #15 on: December 22, 2014, 10:49:35 AM »
I find that most travelers enjoy either the westside or downtown (as far as places to do things IN the city), so you might check airbnb for those locations. That would give you access to all the buses. Pasadena is nice but if you're mostly doing things in L.A. you may find it's a bit of a commute.

Here are some neighborhoods where you can get around to a lot of things on foot or with a short ride:

Downtown (can be sketchy)
Santa Monica
Venice
Culver City
Westwood (not much fun but UCLA is there)
Hollywood and West Hollywood
Silverlake

Here's a link to routes where people turn public staircases into urban hikes all over town. No money, lots of walking.
http://www.secretstairs-la.com/welcome.html

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #16 on: December 22, 2014, 02:53:48 PM »
Thanks!  :)

Trip getting closer, reading a lot, trying to look at maps. 

Spondulix

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 656
  • Age: 44
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #17 on: January 01, 2015, 02:23:21 AM »
I wouldn't stay in Hollywood. Most of it is an expensive dump (but fun to visit!)

In Santa Monica, you're going to be paying premium prices. If you want to be in that area, I'd look in Venice, Mar Vista, Culver City (although parts of CC can be rough)

Pasadena is nice, but it is actually a distance out of Los Angeles. I worked in Pasadena and lived in Venice, and it would take 2+ hours to get home on a bad day. I'd save Pasadena for a day trip and stay further west, especially if you want to spend time in the typical touristy places (Hollywood, Venice, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica). Anywhere you're looking to stay I'd check out the neighborhood in Google Maps.

AirBnB rules are changing in some areas where you have to do a 30 day rental. Burbank would be great to stay, but falls under that rule. In the San Fernando Valley, Studio City, Sherman Oaks or Valley Village are nice options that are pretty close to central destinations but without the cost.

What I might suggest is staying two places. I'd do somewhere in central or northern Los Angeles, then maybe a week near the beach. If you're into beach culture (shops, restaurants, people watching), you could easily spend days just beach hopping. DH and I did that recently spending 2 days on the PCH from Long Beach down to San Clemente (stopping where it looked interesting - places like Huntington, Newport, Seal, Laguna, Dana Point), and it was a blast. You could do the same thing on Pacific Ave/PCH from Marina Del Rey up to Malibu or beyond, also. Every beach town has their own feel, and the LA beach culture is very different from OC.

Someone else mentioned with traffic - you definitely want to compartmentalize your visits to certain areas or else you'll lose half your days to travel. Don't try to do Malibu and Hollywood in the same day, for example. Metro is great, but bus travel is not (downtown to the Getty took tourist friends 6 hours!)

Really, for three weeks, you might want to take 2-3 days and go up to Santa Barbara and down to San Diego. The drive up the Big Sur is amazing (and Monterey/Carmel is great), so you could spend a few days and do that as a side trip. I would totally recommend that, cause LA can be exhausting if you're not used to big cities and crowds.

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #18 on: January 01, 2015, 04:24:48 PM »
Thanks!

What I might suggest is staying two places. I'd do somewhere in central or northern Los Angeles, then maybe a week near the beach.

I'm in the area 10-11 days, depending on how you count arrival day (11 hours time difference will mean a bit of jet lag).  The plan now is to stay Wednesday until Sunday in or near the downtown area, possibly even without a car.  After that, sunday until tuesday or wednesday get the car and drive out of the city, probably north (Malibu, Santa Barbara), and then spend second wednesday - final Sunday closer to the beach.


boy_bye

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2471
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #19 on: January 01, 2015, 09:33:03 PM »
Thanks!

What I might suggest is staying two places. I'd do somewhere in central or northern Los Angeles, then maybe a week near the beach.

I'm in the area 10-11 days, depending on how you count arrival day (11 hours time difference will mean a bit of jet lag).  The plan now is to stay Wednesday until Sunday in or near the downtown area, possibly even without a car.  After that, sunday until tuesday or wednesday get the car and drive out of the city, probably north (Malibu, Santa Barbara), and then spend second wednesday - final Sunday closer to the beach.

I visited LA for the first time last March, and we stayed in Downtown and had a wonderful time, but you need to be aware that the homeless situation in Downtown is like nothing I've ever seen (and I've lived in New York and spent time in Brazil). There were tons of homeless folks just a block or two away from where we stayed (near Cole's restaurant, which was great) ... and some of them were quite aggressive. It shouldn't hamper your trip, just something to be aware of.

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #20 on: March 14, 2015, 03:51:29 AM »
Trip is getting closer, arriving in California on Wednesday. :)

First few days in an apartment in downtown Los Angeles, found through airbnb.   After a few days, flying up to San Francisco where I'll meet a friend and then driving back south along the coast.  The last few days in LA, probably closer to the beach this time.

If anyone wanna meet up for a coffee or a beer along the way, just message me. 

Rika Non

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 144
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #21 on: March 18, 2015, 06:30:42 PM »
All I can say is I'm sorry that you're visiting LA.  My general approach is to try to drive through without getting stuck in traffic.  I'm an outdoory type who hates crowds, so LA is basically the definition of a nightmare for me. 

But to throw out a few stops, do visit the La Brea Tar Pits (Page Museum), it really is unique for the area.  Not quite LA, but if you will be there for 2-3 weeks, a day trip to Catalina Island is nice, I always love the rides on the ferries since you get to look back to the city from the water.

If you have a car, and like driving, go the coast to Santa Barbara and from there heading north you get into the start of the wine country which is nice way to kill a day.  This time of year if you care for nature is the time for the dessert wildflowers for another day trip or over-night trip, go to Mojave or Joshua Tree.

Gerard

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1570
  • Location: eastern canada
    • Optimacheap
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #22 on: March 19, 2015, 06:42:05 PM »
The viewpoint of a frequent tourist, rather than a local:
Downtown is less sketchy than it used to be (although it gets bad/sad fast as you go east of Main (east of Cole's, as somebody else said). There are a few neat things there: MOCA, the central market (for tacos etc., not produce), the Japanese American Museum, the seedy former grandeur of Broadway, and of course buying chola clothing at Fallas Paredes and its neighbours. Not far from there, East Cesar Chavez Ave has very good cheap Mexican food and cool hats.
Venice Beach is fun, but gets empty and sucky as evening approaches. Santa Monica and up the coast from there are nice "classic" southern California. You can even go to Malibu by city bus! (the 534)
LACMA, a wonderful museum, is about halfway between Santa Monica and Downtown and well worth a visit if you have to travel that route anyway.
I second the idea that you spend part of your time near downtown and part near the water. It sucks to go back and forth, at least until they finish the exhibition line extension. You might not even need a car all the time if you do that.
I've stayed a few times at the Cecil hotel downtown, which has a cool film-noir vibe, and is really cheap since the time they found that dead Canadian in the water tower.

lemanfan

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1271
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #23 on: April 03, 2015, 08:20:30 AM »
Now the trip is over and done.  Ended up something like:

- The first three days downtown without a car, lodging in a room on the edge of Chinatown found through Airbnb.  Which is sort of a lie - the first two days a local friend drove me around to various sights, including San Pedro where an older relative used to live.  Great to get an insiders view.  The third day, a saturday, I commuted by bus and uber to first the tar pits and LACMA, followed by drinks and dinner in Hollywood, followed by a visit to a small live theater in Atwater Village.  The play was called "The Fugue". http://echotheatercompany.com/programs/fugue-by-tommy-smith/


- The fourth day, a sunday I flew from Burbank Airport to Oakland, where I picked up a rental car.  Drove through Palo Alto for some IT sightseeing up to San Francisco, where I stayed overnight.   Monday was spent partly with a friend up there, and then I started driving south along Highway 1, staying Monday night in Carmel.

- The next few days was spent driving down to Santa Barbara and then I stayed in that region for a couple of days, ending with a whale watching trip originating in Oxnard.  Very relaxing! 

- Then the last two nights of the trip was spent in LA closer to the beach - I stayed in a hotel three blocks from the beach and just south of the border between Venice and Marina del Ray.   Also drove around a bit, including parts of Mulholland Drive.  Had great fun.

- And then home, LAX through Amsterdam and back home.  Delays due to the european storm called Niklas.

@baku_frugal:  I'm not at all sorry I visited LA.  I had a great time, and will probably go back in a not to distant future.  The Central Coast was also very nice to visit.


lise

  • Guest
Re: Visiting Los Angeles
« Reply #24 on: April 03, 2015, 09:10:35 AM »
Glad you had a great time.

I was in LA last weekend and I do enjoy visiting the place.  Even thinking about moving there from NYC - New Yorkers think I'm crazy! 

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!