kdwyer

Hi all!

Here is an itinerary for our trip to LA, getting excited now! Can you please comment or add in some tips? Thanks! Appreciate all tips I've been given so far!

Already have hotel booked up until the Thursday. After that haven't been able to get accommodation where we wanted so open to suggestion. Some days seem too full, others too empty. Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

Thanks!!

Friday June 17th

Fly into LAX and rent car. Drive to hotel in Santa Monica.

Saturday, June 18th

Leisurely day. Wander down to Santa Monica pier, then do some easy shopping along Third St Promenade. Spend time by pool. Eat at Thai restaurant.

Sunday, June 19th

Venice Beach to see the entertainment. Drive to Downtown.

Monday, June 20th

Husband conference begins. I plan to either take a train/bus to the Getty Centre and poke around for most of the day, then go back to hotel for poolside reading. Husband not interested in GC.

Evening: drive through Sunset Strip and take in a nice restaurant.

Tuesday, June 21st

Take a Hollywood Tour with a company.
Evening: downtown nightlife? Wicked (I think the show is in LA)? One of these nights will be a banquet at the conference.

Wednesday, June 22nd

Explore downtown – Asiatown, Olevera St., Farmers Market, Disney Concert Hall
Evening: Take in a concert at Disney?

Thursday, June 23rd

Explore more downtown (maybe an art museum?), relax by pool. When husband gets out of conference, drive to Pasadena. See Huntington Gardens or Norton Simon Art Museum.
Evening: Drive to hotel which is located conveniently (?) so we can leave early the next morning for…

Friday, June 24th

Day trip to Laguna Beach. Visit the Mission nearby. Explore beaches in area.
Evening: drive back along coast stopping in great seafood restaurant in … ? Stay at X hotel which is close to the airport.

Saturday:

6:45 am flight out of LA

hsv

Overall this sounds pretty good to me. Still a few comments:

Sunday:
For me, Venice Beach doesn't do much. Nice to see once, but not enough to keep me busy for a whole day. Should you go, do not arrive too early as life only appears to start after about 10.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m.
You might consider a stop and a bit of strolling around in Beverly Hills and probably some lunch there before heading to Venice Beach from where you could proceed to Downtown.

Wednesday:
Your schedule so far should last for only half a day. Farmers Market is not exactly located in downtown, though. You might be talking about Grand Central Market. That, however won't most likely keep you interested for more than 20 minutes.
Farmers Market on 6333 W 3rd St and the adjacent Grove is a very worthwhile stop.

Thursday:
I like Pasadena a lot so approximately half a day there is not exactly much. On the other hand, both the Norton Simon Museum and the Huntington Library can be "done" in about two and a half hours each.
You might look into the Westin and the Courtyard by Marriott, which both appear to be reasonably nice and are conveniently located to Freeways and Old Town Pasadena and its restaurant and bar scene for a nice dinner out along Colorado Blvd.

Friday:
For a hotel close to LAX, I'd recommend the Marriott. It is large and a typical non-descript airport property, but it has decent rooms and usually competitve rates.
Another option worth a look is the Radisson. I have not stayed there, but this older property that used to be the Hyatt and was then operated by Wyndham was renovated about 2 years ago before Radisson took over.

Have lots of fun
hsv

enjoylife

What Thai restaurant are you going to?

I recommend Thai Dishes. Yum!

hsv

One more thing that occurred to me:
I am not sure whether it would be necessary to move to a hotel in Pasadena at all. Pasadena is not exactly a long drive from downtown - probably around 15 to 20 min. if the traffic isn't stuck. You could save the check-out, check-in procedure and still go for an afternoon and evening out there and then return to your convention hotel in downtown.
Just a thought, though.

paula1470

I agree with hsv about several points. I think combining Venice Beach with Beverly Hills might be good as Venice won't take up that much of your time.

As far as Pasadena is concerned, I also really like it and you could spend a lot more time there. What time does your husband's conference get done on Thursday? If you don't get up there until mid afternoon, that doesn't give you much time. I would go to one of the museums, then spend some time in Old Town and have dinner at one of the restaurants there. I agree that there isn't much point in changing hotels as the distance between Pasadena and downtown LA is not that far.

As far as your day trip to Laguna Beach, you will probably want to get an early start as there is lots to see and Friday traffic (especially in the afternoon is a challenge). My original suggestion was to tell you to head on down to Laguna on Thursday evening so you'd already be there for Friday but dinner in Old Town Pasadena is a fun thing to do Thursday evening. Maybe one of the other week nights you could drive to Pasadena for dinner, then on Thursday afternoon visit the museums, wait a little for traffic to die down (after 6:30 or 7:00) and then head to Laguna Beach and spend the evening. Friday morning, you could get up and go to the Mission in San Juan Capistrano, come back to Laguna and stroll around, visit the beaches and have lunch overlooking the ocean. Then in the late afternoon begin your drive up the coast. It's a nice drive through Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach but then you might have to get on the freeway for awhile. Some of the coast highway along Long Beach is not the most scenic. rjw or others could give you the exact route. There are some nice restaurants in Long Beach for dinner or you could continue on up to Hermosa or Redondo Beach for dinner.

Hope this isn't too confusing. Just keep in mind that Pasadena/Downtown to Laguna Beach, the mission at San Juan and then back up the coast to LAX is a very ambitious day especially on a Friday with traffic. Laguna is so nice, I know you will want to spend time there, even if you get some June gloom, it's beautiful.

rjw_lgb_ca

paula is right. The coast drive through Orange County is very lovely. As soon as you pass the LA County line into Long Beach, you will want to get onto the 405. Best way:

-- As you enter Long Beach, take a right onto Westminster (gas station on one corner, an In 'n' Out on the other). At the second light (Studebaker), take a left.

-- Follow until the signs indicate an on-ramp to CA-22, I-405 and/or I-605 (it's an overachieving onramp) on your right. Take it. Carefully follow the signs to get on I-405 NORTH toward Los Angeles. Take it up to LAX.

lvk

Your itinerary looks great and you have gotten good additional tips. I'll just add a few insights.

On your nighttime drive through Hollywood, I recommend driving along Mulholland Drive. You can see the lights of LA on one side and the lights of the Valley on the other.

I don't believe there are performances at the WDCH that week. The Hollywood Bowl season starts that weekend. The WDCH is definitely worth a tour, though (www.musiccenter.org). Also, close by is the Museum of Contemporary Art. (www.moca.org, Grand Ave. location)

Wicked is at the Pantages, which is also in Hollywood, so you might add that to your Hollywood evening.

If you're looking for something to do downtown, you can check out the Fashion District. Have your cabdriver drop you at Santee Alley. It's quite an interesting experience (think 3rd world bazaar) to kill a couple of hours and maybe get a few bargains. (www.fashiondistrict.org)

For a great seafood restaurant with a nice view, check out the Bluewater Grill in Redondo Beach. www.bluewatergrill.com

I agree about not changing hotels for your Pasadena portion. I believe I gave you a few hotel tips on your other thread. For just one night near LAX, you might want to try Priceline. Most LAX hotels have free 24 hr. shuttles to the airport.

Have a great time!

mlgb

Two separate Asia towns in downtown Los Angeles, Little Tokyo (1st & 2nd Streets, east of City Hall) and China town (north of freeway). Use the Dash system to get around, get a Downtown News. There's the Japanese American Museum in Little Tokyo in addition to the others mentioned. Try to get a look at the renovated City Hall lobbies and the upper tower (if open). There's a British play (Stuff Happens) that has just had it's US premier downtown which might do if you're interested in a night time activity and Disney Hall is dark.

Bill_I

We are going to be out there at approximately the same time, Jun 18 - 29. Even though I have family in Santa Monica, we still stay at hotels for most of the nights. Since I have kids with us, we do alot of the amusement park thing - Knotts Berry, Magic Mountain, & Universal. But also, this trip, we are going to the LA County Museum of Art for the King Tut exhibit that starts next week. We already have tickets for that. The museum is next to the LaBrea Tar Pits & Page museum. We are also fairly sure that we might drive up to Simi Valley 1 day to visit the Reagan Library. Where we stay near LAX is at Sheraton Four Points. Now that is not for everyone, I have read the reviews. We have stayed there a number of times before & always had decent rooms so far. But we get a very good price there, my wife gets travel industry rate. We literally get back to the room at 11pm & are out again on the go at 9am, so not too worried about the amenities there. We are also staying at the Knotts Hotel (formerly a Raddisson) at Knotts Berry Farm, & spending a few nights at the Comfort Suites near Valencia. We also go to the beach for a few days, including Venice Beach, usually on a Saturday or Sunday. If you are actually on the beach at the right time, there are some tide pools around the rocks, where you might be able to see a few water creatures. Before going to Venice Beach, we usually have a late breakfast at the Omlette Parlor on Main Street, in Santa Monica/Ocean Park. When done with that we usually then get to the beach around 11am - noon.

gough

Don't give downtown short shrift. I've been fortunate to visit L.A. three times in the last two years, and have found downtown to be a highlight. By contrast, driving to or through other neighborhoods has always taken much longer than I hoped. Much of downtown can easily be seen on foot, or the DASH bus system is cheap, frequent, and convenient. Also, from downtown you can easily get to many places on the subway/light rail.

The Walt Disney Hall self-guided audio tour is a must. Very nearby is the Museum of Contemporary Art, also well worth seeing. I've enjoyed a cheap and delicious breakfast or lunch at the Grand Central Market in lively surroundings. Don't miss the Bradbury Building across the street, one of the most interesting works of architecture in the country. (You've seen it in Blade Runner.)A new building getting raves from critics is the Cal Trans building. Also see the new Catholic cathedral. These two buildings are near each other. One of the best pedestrian streets in the city, in my opinion, is Broadway downtown. Very interesting to see the "adaptive re-use" of so many old buildings --- many were movie theaters --- and the lively street life.

On our last visit we saw some truly impressive art in galleries in Chinatown. It's an interesting couple of streets to wander around in.

If you don't feel up to spending the time necessary to fight traffic, there are any number of decent and attractive restaurants downtown. We've liked the outdoor evening dining at Cicada and at Pinot (is that name right? next to the library, also a beautiful building.)

If you go to Venice, (which I think is good people watching, more interesting to me than the rather bland 3rd St. mall in Sta. Monica) be sure to spend some time walking in the residential neighborhood on the canals. Some very interesting homes, old and new.

kdwyer

Thanks for the great suggestions! What other things are there to do in Pasadena if we do get there for longer than scheduled?

THANKS!
KD

Woody

< We've liked the outdoor evening dining at Cicada and at Pinot (is that name right? next to the library, also a beautiful building.) >

I frequently take out of town guests to Cafe Pinot for outdoor evening dining, and they are universally pleased. It's at 700 W. Fifth St., Los Angeles, CA 90071, tel (213) 239-6500.

Woody

hsv

On the Pasadena segment of your trip:

In the neighboring community of Arcadia there is the L.A. County Botanic Garden, an arboretum that displays various species of plants from all around the world. A park of peace and quiet.

A bit further North, there is Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, a botanic garden with an impressive amount of camellia bushes growing in a California Oak Forest.

If you go on Sundays, there is a pretty large flea market at Brookside Park around the Rose Bowl Stadium.

Travelkitty

Glad to see someone mentioned the arboretum, one of my favorite places! I'd visit The Huntington, the arboretum and norton simon in that order.