Leonora

I think I've determined that staying in downtown LA will give me the most bang for my hotel buck--provided I can get a room there end of July beginning of August. If I do that, how hard is it to use mass transpo to get to Hollywood sights and to Santa Monica? We will have rented a car to get from San Francisco to LA and was wondering if we should keep it for the 3 days we plan to be in L.A. or rely on public transportation.

MikeT

I am nuts about public transportation and use it even when it's a little inconvenient. I think it's the best, most interesting way to get around when being a tourist because you get to see so much.

But L.A. is the one place that I find impossible to visit using mass transit. I've stayed downtown and I just don't see how you can see a lot of stuff you want relying only on mass transit. I'm sure it can be done and obviously there are people who rely only on mass transit as LA residents, but I just don't find it feasible.

So keep your car and be prepared for traffic.

suze

I would absolutely definitely 100% no doubt keep the rental car.

Jean

It would be easy to see the main Hollywood sights from downtown using the Metro Red Line:

http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/red_line.htm

It's also possible to get to Santa Monica from downtown using Express Line 10 of Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus system:

http://www.bigbluebus.com/busroutes/index.asp

I guess keeping the car depends on what else you want to see besides Hollywood and Santa Monica. Keeping the car involves the daily rental charge, the nightly parking charge at your hotel, parking charges wherever you go, and gas at nearly $5 a gallon throughout the city.

mlgb

To get around Downtown, which has at least a day's worth of sights, the DASH busses are frequent and cheap (25 cents).

There's also a light rail line to Pasadena if you decide to go in that direction.

If you're there on the weekend, you can take the Metro Red Line to Hollywood, and there is a free shuttle to the Griffith Park Observatory, from the Vermont/Sunset Metro Red Line.

You can also take the Red Line to Universal Studios.

To get to points west such as Beverly Hills or the Farmers Market, you can use the Metro Red and Purple to get out of downtown quickly, then transer to one of the numerous MTA busses that travel the major blvds, or use the "Metro Rapid" busses.

There are timetables, maps and trip planners on metro.net.

If you want to do something like see the stars homes, then it's best to do a tour anyways.

joesorce

Nowadays it's much easier to get around Los Angeles using public transportation than it is by car, but some trips such as Downtown to Santa Monica can take a while...so try to stay away from heavy traffic hours for that one since it's bus, not metro. Yes it's express bus, but they have to deal with traffic snarls just like everyone else.

Get up to the Griffith Observatory on Sat or Sun, when there is a 25c shuttle running from the Vermont/Sunset metro station. Couldn't be easier and it's a must-visit place.

mlgb

Should have mentioned that the Metro Red Line stop at Hollywood and Highland is steps from Grauman's Chinese. At the adjacent Hollywood/Highland complex I believe there are tour offices that can book you various bus tours.

Also be sure to walk down the block to the Roosevelt Hotel..just beautiful inside.

For Santa Monica there is the big Blue Bus system. The freeway flyer bus (Route 10) is your best bet. It would be best to do this route on the weekdays since the service is more frequent. For most downtown hotels the stops for Rt 10 would be Flower/4th outbound and Hope/3rd inbound.

http://www.bigbluebus.com/busroutes/...fweek=weekdays