Hi

I may have bumped into a few of you on the Europe board, hence the title! The thing is this, I'm going round the world in November of this year, and aim to arrive in Los Angeles around about the start of February. By virtue of the wonders of the Date Line, I've inadvertantly got two nights there before heading up to San Francisco and was hoping someone could point me in the direction of (1) things to see (2) safer places to stay than Inglewood...!

My only pre-requisite is that I get a visit to the Walt Disney Concert Hall (I'm a collector of Frank Gehry architecture...!)

Thanks for any and all help!

Hi Jimbo:

I'm not sure if the concert hall is completed, but it's downtown LA. I don't really know what area you are interested in staying in, but Santa Monica is nice if you want to be at the beach or West Hollywood or Beverly Hills are other options. The Getty Museum might be something you would be interested in. The Huntington Library in Pasadena is another place you might like. Maybe you could give us more info as to what you like to do and I can give a few more suggestions. Enjoy your stay here in LA.

See, that's the thing, it seems to me that LA is quite an enormous place to stay, and faced with the prospect of booking ahead, I don't want to end up in a rougher area.

As for what I like to do, I'm interested in cool buildings, modern art, beaches, interesting history, nice cafes. That's about the size of it! Oh, and staying alive long enough to get to San Francisco..!!

Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills aren't rough areas and you would be fine staying in any of those places. There is also the MOCA museum downtown, but it's not that big. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art might be worth stopping at. If you stay in Santa Monica, you are close to Malibu, Venice, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach. There are lots of cafes and restaurants etc. down by the beaches.

LA is indeed huge, and being a "new" city, it is not known for "fine" architecture. However, there are some great and/or notable buildings in the metro area. Disney Hall is quite cool (and I say this not really liking Frank Gehry's work in general); the new downtown cathedral, however, is an ochre-colored warehouse from the outside-- interior beauty makes up for its exterior ugliness. Richard Meier's Getty Center is quite spectacular (making up for the Getty's notoriously spotty art collection) and well worth the trip.

The Argyle Hotel (on Sunset in West Hollywood) is one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture on the West coast. A few great Deco buildings can still be found around-- the Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica is another.

Pasadena is home to some of the best examples of Arts & Crafts-movement architecture in the country. Street after street, you can see some of the finest Craftsman houses anywhere (although the city of Long Beach has a huge number of Craftsman-style bungalows in its coastal neighborhoods).

Given your short time in LA, your best bet is to stay up in the West Hollywood/Beverly Hills area, sample the sights and architecture, and take advantage of the nightlife surrounding you. West Hollywood also has a pretty good number of art galleries-- Beverly Hills has higher-end places (some with pretty good Picasso and Chagall catalogues), and Santa Monica's Bergamot Station is a collection of several small galleries, anchored by the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Despite what you may hear, the arts are thriving here in southern California.

allow me to chime in...la is very big, spread out. you will need to have access to a car. central places to stay are beverly hills, hollywood...don't be intimadated by the names, you can still find an affordable hotel...suggested to do's: santa monica pier, the hollywood sign, eat at "in and out burger" and "pinks hot dogs" on labrea boulevard (both are must do's), the chinese theater/walk of fame, griffith observatory, tour of the movie studios if your into that...very l.a. enjoy.

LAX is pretty close to Manhattan Beach. There are really cute motels in MB for less than $100/night, maybe less in February. I stayed at an art deco motel in July for about $75. I wish i could remember the name of it, but there are plenty of beachfront motels to choose from

I'm not sure if you'll be in town on a Saturday morning, but if so, you might want to take in one of many walking tours in downtown LA. The LA Conservancy offers a number of walking tours that cover a variety of architectural styles and history. Here's the website for the tours: http://www.laconservancy.org/tours/tours_main.shtml

Jimbo,

All of Deborah's suggestions are good but, based on your interests, I will attempt to add a few more specifics. First, because of your interest in cool buildings, I would consider staying at the Argyle Hotel on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. Following is an excerpt from their web site: "Designed in 1929 by architect Leland A Bryant, the Sunset Tower (now, the Argyle Hotel) was a landmark from the moment it opened. Its dramatic siting on the Sunset Strip and elegant Art Deco styling, together with its proximity to the famous restaurants and nightclubs of the 30's and 40's, contributed to its appeal." It�s really a great hotel in a great location and the building is a pretty spectacular example of Art Deco. Here is information on the hotel�go to their web site and check it out:
8358 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Tel: 800-225-2637
Tel: 323-654-7100
Fax: 323-654-9287
[email protected]
www.argylehotel.com
My second choices (in the same area) would be the Hotel Le Montrose (all-suite hotel with an incredible roof-top saltwater pool) and the Hotel Sofitel (part of the French chain with upper rooms offering views of the Hollywood Hills). Assuming you have a car (you do have a car don�t you?) this area will serve as a good �jumping off� spot to get to other interesting places. Like Deborah, I don�t believe the Concert hall is completed yet but don�t let that prevent you from visiting it anyway to see Frank Gehry�s vision taking shape. While you�re in that area, there are many other interesting buildings to see and, not far from there is MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) to take advantage of.

If, as you say, you�re really into cool buildings and architecture then you simply must plan a visit to The Getty Museum. While the collection of art there is not on par with some other museums, the facility, grounds, gardens and views are well worth the price of admission (it�s free by the wayJ). The architecture alone is worth making the trip for (great restaurant up there too).

All of Deborah�s beach suggestions are great and I would make a special effort to get to Venice Beach�which you may have heard of. Others things in the general area worth a mention are The Huntington (for the grounds alone) the Long Beach Aquarium, and the Museum of Latin American Art in LA�just to name a few.

Have a great stay,

Strive

Jimbo,

All of Deborah's suggestions are good but, based on your interests, I will attempt to add a few more specifics. First, because of your interest in cool buildings, I would consider staying at the Argyle Hotel on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. Following is an excerpt from their web site: "Designed in 1929 by architect Leland A Bryant, the Sunset Tower (now, the Argyle Hotel) was a landmark from the moment it opened. Its dramatic siting on the Sunset Strip and elegant Art Deco styling, together with its proximity to the famous restaurants and nightclubs of the 30's and 40's, contributed to its appeal." It’s really a great hotel in a great location and the building is a pretty spectacular example of Art Deco. Here is information on the hotel—go to their web site and check it out:
8358 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Tel: 800-225-2637
Tel: 323-654-7100
Fax: 323-654-9287
[email protected]
www.argylehotel.com
My second choices (in the same area) would be the Hotel Le Montrose (all-suite hotel with an incredible roof-top saltwater pool) and the Hotel Sofitel (part of the French chain with upper rooms offering views of the Hollywood Hills). Assuming you have a car (you do have a car don’t you?) this area will serve as a good “jumping off” spot to get to other interesting places. Like Deborah, I don’t believe the Concert hall is completed yet but don’t let that prevent you from visiting it anyway to see Frank Gehry’s vision taking shape. While you’re in that area, there are many other interesting buildings to see and, not far from there is MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) to take advantage of.

If, as you say, you’re really into cool buildings and architecture then you simply must plan a visit to The Getty Museum. While the collection of art there is not on par with some other museums, the facility, grounds, gardens and views are well worth the price of admission (it’s free by the wayJ). The architecture alone is worth making the trip for (great restaurant up there too).

All of Deborah’s beach suggestions are great and I would make a special effort to get to Venice Beach—which you may have heard of. Others things in the general area worth a mention are The Huntington (for the grounds alone) the Long Beach Aquarium, and the Museum of Latin American Art in LA—just to name a few.

Have a great stay,

Strive

If you enjoy architecture, the Getty Museum is a must! In my opinion, it's LA's best attraction by far.

Also worth seeing:

the new cathedral downtown (close to the new Disney Hall)

the Gamble House in Pasadena (classic example of Arts and Crafts style)

the Huntington Library and Gardens in Pasadena (on Henry Huntington's old estate with a decent collection of British art, some famous old books, and absolutely gorgeous gardens)

As you are interested in architecture check-out the Los Angeles Conservancy website. They offer walking tours of downtown LA which boasts some of the best Art Deco building anywhere. That way you could see the Disney Hall ( very impressive so far), the Cathedral, and some gorgeous Deco buildings.(other styles as well). The tours are about two hours and are reasonably priced.

Jimbo, you might actually be a good candidate for staying in downtown LA. There's a pretty high density of things to see, and if you're an architecture buff, a couple of don't misses - Union Station for one; the new cathedral for another; the Gehry erection for a third ('scuse me while I kiss the sky - I live in near line-of-sight with the EMP in Seattle and have gotten over my attraction to the maestro's ouvres); Isozaki's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and a slug of other buildings, plus it's convenient to Pasadena - DO NOT miss the Gamble House (as in Procter and), and you can even get up fairly easily to Hollywood and Highland to see the Chinese Theatre and Babylonian elephants rampant.

You can also poke through Olvera Street (close to Union Station) for a glimpse of Old California (as in Zorro) as well as Mexican street market kitsch, and have an 8c cup of coffee at Phillipe's Original, a very fun landmark cafe next door.

Use Priceline (UK if need be) for a place to stay; you'll save tons and have a nice bed to come home to. See www.biddingfortravel.com for bidding pointers. You might also consider taking the train (there's a sleeper too I think) from downtown LA to San Francisco, thereby avoiding another trip to yucky old LAX.

Actually, the Biltmore Hotel downtown is an LA treasure from an architectural standpoint-- and a very nice hotel to boot! So staying downtown for 2 days would be a not-bad-at-all proposition. Quite a few good restaurants there as well. Note that downtown does roll up its sidewalks fairly early-- the best nghtlife is west of there (Hollywood/West Hollywood/etc.). Still, there is some great architecture there, so....

Hey everyone

Thanks very much for your help so far guys! I came back to work this morning to find a plethora of answers, very gratifying!

I have one more question... now are you all sitting down? The thing is this, what if I don't actually have a car... No, seriously, I'm in LA for two days between Auckland and San Francisco, is hiring a car an absolute must? Is the public transport that bad/difficult/expensive?

Cheers so far!

While there is public transportation in LA (buses, subway), you will spend a lot of time on the bus, etc. Los Angeles is so spread out and for the amount of time you are here, you really should rent a car if possible. If you can't, here is the link to the MTA.

http://www.mta.net/

Good luck.

To car or not to car in LA is a complicated question. There have been big advancements in public transit over the past few years, so it's not the laughing stock situation it was previously. Deborah's right in that it's easy to have public transit suck up a lot of time, but the same is true (or truer) of driving on LA streets and freeways. "Rush hour" seems to go on all day in some areas, especially around LAX and the beaches, it seems, and public transit, especially the metro rail services and other express types, may well be faster to some destinations.

With only two days, you should decide on what you absolutely need to see, try to keep your choices limited to a fairly compact area, then you can decide about hiring a car. Many hotels (in downtown LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, etc.) charge a lot for parking, and that, combined with the cost of the car and fuel, might easily equal or exceed the cost of limited use of taxis or limousines.

If you stay downtown, for example, you can get to the airport, Hollywood, or Long Beach by rail, and to Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and Santa Monica easily by express bus, at minimal extra time (or less) than driving yourself in traffic. However, if you want to explore the canyons, beach towns, etc., a car is a necessity.

There are around 15-20 million people living in Southern California, over maybe a 10,000 square mile area, so with 2 days you can't see more than a tiny percentage of what there is to see. So set priorities and plan your next visit.

Gardyloo is correct that you can take public transport to some of these places, but The Huntington Library is really closer to La Canada and The Getty is in a spot that you might have to transfer buses a couple of times. I still think that if possible, rent a car, but if not, it's like Gardyloo says, choose what you really want to see in some specific areas and and see those on this trip.

Jimbo..I was under the impression you were
Have a good trip.Remember that LA and San Francisco dont represent the whole country.Lotsa liberals there;#)

Whoops,hit the wrong button. Meant to say I was under the impression you were protesting the US?