Los Angeles - Things To See/Do?

We lived in Southern California for 3 years or so in the late 80s. There was virtually no public transport then but I don't know whether things are any better now. I'd think it's still very difficult to get around without a car.

Hi there Mark,
As far as I know, the public transport system is still very limited. The busses tend to be used by the less wealthy element of society there, & you'd have to be pretty careful not to end up going to an unsafe area.
Despite california talking a good fight on the "green vote", the car is still king, even if you may see a few electric ones about.
LA has always seemed to me to be a city without a natural centre, (eg as opposed to London or New York), & consists of several separate areas, each with their own identity, linked up into one big connurbation.
You have the coastal areas, such as Long Beach, Redondo Beach & Venice beach, to name but a few, which are nice to see, & some pretty good Fish restaurants & quasi Italian eateries, etc.
Away from the coast, you have Century city, Hollywood, & much more.
There are plenty of tours to all the local attractions such as 'where all the big stars live' (supposedly).
I still think you'll need a car, especially if you have a good few days there. Car hire & gas is still ridiculously cheap (by UK standards), & there is fun to be had by hiring a convertible Mustang, or maybe even a Harley Davidson, to get around the very big city, as well as to get out of the place, & just go up/down the beautiful coast road.
There must be a few people here who live(d) in LA who can offer more advice.
Enjoy the trip.
Matt.

Thanks Tom & Matt - anyone else out there able to offer some advice?

Mark

You definitely need a car.

If you have good weather, visibility and no smog I recommend driving up the Angels Crest Highway by night. There you will find stunning views over the whole city of angels.

Secondly I would drive down the costal road south of L.A. direction San Diego. Lots of nice beaches, mansions everywhere, good restaurants, nice sun sets.

A good day trip is driving direction east over the mountains to the Joshua Tree National Park. Wonderful desert landscape. Worth to be seen (even if you are not a fan of U2!)... and Las Vegas is only some driving hours away!

Here is an interesting website for in-town attractions:
http://www.losangelescitytourist.info/los-angeles-attractions.html

... and there is, of course, Disneyland!

Miow, the fat cat

Many years ago starting and ending in Las Vegas we did Grand Canyon, Disney Land, up the coast to San Francisco, across to Yosemitte Nation Park and then back to Las Vegas, in a week, fantastic scenery and contrasts. And to add to the challenge we arrived in Las Vegas overnight by Greyhound Bus from Salt Lake City and flew overnight from Las Vegas to Washington DC, via at least three airports including a 3 hour layover somewhere.

So you could do a similar trip in a week starting in LA if you can overcome jetlag quickly

Depending on how far you want to go, driving up the coast to San Francisco is pretty good if the weather is not foggy, if you can book ahead for Hearst Castle at San Simeon it is a great way to spend a day
http://www.hearstcastle.com/

Steak restaurants:

Nick& Stef's, downtown L.A.
Pacific Dining Car, L.A.
Mastro's, Beverly Hills
Boa's, West Hollywood
The Galley, Santa Monica
JJ's, Pasadena


Recommendations outside of the greater L.A. city limits:
Chop House, Palm Springs
Rainwaters, San Diego
McNally's, Kern River Valley

Prepare to loose some money. A good steak with side dishes goes for 40$ and higher. Add some wine and a 15% tip ... your credit card starts groaning .. but it's worth it!

Enjoy, the fat cat

A car is an absolute necessity, and you will definitely not enjoy driving on the wrong side of the freeways with a bunch of crazy Angelinos. Its the right side of the road to me, and I hate it every time I go down there.

I am by no means an expert on LA, but get down there every so often. If your timing is right, you should try to catch a performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Frank Gehry's design in Downtown LA. Great architecture and great acoustics. The best food we have had in LA is at the Ivy: the original restaurant is in Westwood (I think that's the township), south of Sunset Blvd. The newer venue is on the beach in Santa Monica, a stone's throw from the Santa Monica pier. Same menu, great California cuisine and great people watching. Of course, there are a zillion great restaurants and any dozen people will give you a dozen different recommendations.

I do not consider LA one of the world's great cities, in its own right, as a destination. Certainly not like NYC, London or Paris. Sure, the weather is great, but most of what CA has to offer is outside LA. Since you will have a car, it would be worth driving up to Santa Barbara for a day. You may not be in CA long enough to do the Hearst Castle thing or anything else further north, but that depends on how adventuresome you want to be. Hearst Castle is interesting in that WR Hearst spent an insane amount of money on it. Being only an hour north of where we live, we took pretty much everyone who came out from the midwest to visit up there in the first years we lived out here. No great art there, though. You'd think that someone with that much money would have at least spent some of it on art. Speaking of art, the LA County Museum of Art is excellent, and not far from that LA institution: Rodeo Drive (if that's your thing).

As noted above, Las Vegas is only a several hour drive away, again, if that is your thing; it definitely is not mine. I would have to say, though, that any of the Cirque du Soleil venues there are well worth the trouble, esp. "O". The acrobatics/aquabatics and incredibly clever use of the stage must be seen to be believed. The best way to get tickets to "O" is to actually stay at the Bellagio Hotel/Casino and have the concierge get you tickets as a guest. Same thinking goes for the beaches, if that is your thing, all the way down to San Diego. NB, the water is cold. If you do actually decide to drive north, Highway 1 overlooking the coast is stunning, particularly around Big Sur, south of Carmel. If you do that, stop for lunch at the Ventana Resort in Big Sur for a meal on the patio overlooking the Pacific Ocean a thousand feet below.

Mostly random thoughts; I'll try to post more over the next week or so if anything seems to strike me as "not to be missed". Meanwhile, maybe give us an idea of what you might want out of a California experience. Framing a response is sort of like trying to plan a six day sojourn in France, when there are a myriad of possibilities from Paris to Bordeaux to the Cote d'Azur.

Norman

Mark,

On the other hand, San Francisco is, IMO, one of the world's great cities, with limitless things to do, and you absolutely do not need a car there. Are you going to LA on business followed by time for pleasure?

Norman

Thanks very much for your replies so far.

The restaurants look great - my mouth was watering just looking through their menu's!! We are both "foodies" and could definitely see us filling up there!

We will have 5 days to fill our time (Thursday-Monday inclusive) although for 3 nights we have concerts to go to (as mentioned in the "Music Room"), so will not be venturing too far away. As also mentioned we were hoping not to have to use a car, and a bit of research has shown that we should be able to use the Metro for the more "local" attractions.

Initial thoughts include a visit to Universal Studios and perhaps (as a seafarer myself!) a trip down to the Queen Mary (and the Aquarium) at Long Beach. My wife is interested in the Hollywood/"Stars"/Rodeo Drive side of things. She may like to stroll around the Farmer's Market as well. The Walt Disney Concert Hall looks interesting, and maybe the Getty Centre?

Thanks again,

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Cosmoliu:
Mark,

On the other hand, San Francisco is, IMO, one of the world's great cities, with limitless things to do, and you absolutely do not need a car there. Are you going to LA on business followed by time for pleasure?

Norman

I'll echo that. It's a fantastic city with a proper city centre, shops on streets rather than in malls, bars where friendly people talk to you and it's very compact so if you stay in the centre you barely need a car. We stayed on Fisherman's Wharf for a few days and as far as I remember the only time we were in the car was to cross the Golden Gate. It was the complete opposite of LA which I confess I found quite a grotty, tasteless place.

Mark
I have lived in LA and also visited it many times since. Feel free to give me a call if you want to chat about it.

Lots of good advice on restaurants here already. You will need a car I'm afraid. Where are you actually staying?

When planning your trips allow a lot more time than you would for a similar journey around your neck of the woods: what may not look far on the map can take ages, depending on the time of day. Also when trying to find your way onto the freeways from other streets you need to kepp a good eye open for the signs - they are not as easy to spot as our blue motorway ones.

Although there is a "downtown", what most of us think of as LA is really a federation of adjoining towns and cities, and it spreads a long way! If you want a decent guide book I have found the Frommers Guides to be pretty reliable.

Hope your recovery continues well.

Thanks Chris - best time to call?

Mark

7ish this evening if that works for you?

mark,

i live there / here now, and grew up in l.a. i am therefore singularly unqualified to advise about the place. hopefully you and chris had a good chat, he is a good fellow and will steer you right.

i will suggest musso & frank's grill in hollywood for a steak. i'm taking my son there for his 20th on saturday (although he doesn't eat steaks). it's more of a history thing - lots of has-been hack studio writers have destroyed their livers there, and it shows. consider eating at the counter, by the grill. the waiter manny may do a few magic tricks for you if he's in the mood. also, if you can, take a car trip out to ojai. beautiful little spot, about an hour north of the city. if you're interested in audio (doubtful as the mrs. is along), check out brooks berdan's shop in monrovia, east of pasadena. he has a turntable museum of sorts, and is a naim dealer. and lots of jadis and wilson gear. skip disneyland and hit venice beach on a nice day. lots of local color (might consider keeping the pepper spray handy in venice, or at least hold on to your billfold).

there is a metro subway system now, tied in w/ metrolink commuter trains. if you give it a little study, it will take you to some interesting spots - goes through hollywood (don't go late at night unless you're armed), to downtown (which is becoming a legitimate center of sorts, if it's only for homeless and rehabbed art deco buildings), and pasadena. check out union station, which is a tremendous exemplar of art deco architecture, if you're interested, the apex of the metro, in the historic downtown. take a trip out to pasadena on the gold line - very walkable old town (also full of craftsman and deco gems), 'though the real treat is san marino, the real beverly hills.... so, you could do a "carless" tour, if pasadena, downtown, and hollywood were the desired locales. the l.a. metro has a good website. cap off your train experience by taking the metrolink out to acton, where there is absoulutely nothing but dry desert hills ... finally, consider a trip up to the observatory in griffith park, for the view of the city. can only get there on park buses.

san francisco is a great city, i always enjoy visiting there - it's like a museum. so are a lot of other cities great places. but l.a. is something more, in my view - the future? - or at least the home of philip marlowe. this city lays bare all the human traits - greed, anger, madness ... but i suppose i'm prejudiced.

i hope you enjoy your visit.

best, artie

I just got back from LA. It is my favorite city in the US for art. Great food, too. Send me an email and I will send you some more ideas. Stay at the Chateau Marmont in the John Belushi bungalow, like I did.

To do, my top five are:

In Pasadena. Huntington Library for tea, then the Norton Simon Museum. Check out the Art Center of Pasadena. Plus the cash only Pie'nBurger and check out the Chronicle Wine Store behind it.

Get some wine there and go to the open air Hollywood Bowl for Live Music.

Dan Tana Restaurant. Dated but cool, and it was good enough for Magic Johnson's retirement party.

Getty Museum. Off the chart.

Will Rogers State Park for Polo and a tour of his house.

Peterson Museum of Automobiles.

Many more: Venice, Spruce Goose, Coastal drives, especially north to Santa Barbara are breathtaking. Disneyland. Rodeo Drive. Hollywood. The new Frank Gehry Disney Center downtown. No where in the world does the low culture-high culture mix as well as LA. Have fun.

Check out this alternative view of Los Angeles.

Nice one Tom!