Christmas in Los Angeles
 

My family (me husband and two teenage children) are travelling to USA from Australia in November/December 2009. We will be spending Christmas in Los Angeles....can anyone recommend somewhere for Christmas lunch, and any other Christmassy things we can do/see?

Not sure if your children are into this (girls or boys)? If these are teenage girls, they may enjoy the holiday afternoon tea at the Biltmore Hotel. The Rendezvous Court is all decorated and it has special teas for children.
http://www.millenniumhotels.com/Mill...vousCourt.html

I don't know about Los Angeles, but at least here in the snowy midwest, Christmas is a time of a lot of shows and things of that nature. Maybe someone knows of the best Los Angeles area event website? There will be shows like the Rockettes with dancing and singing. Santa will be everywhere.

Christmas in California is just different from Christmas elsewhere. It's always a sight to see a fully-decked out Santa when its 80 degrees outside.

Since the OP is from Australia, I'm sure her family is fairly used to a warm Christmas.

Yup, good point.

It was weird for me though, when I spent Christmas in LA. It just didn't feel right to see carol singers in Santa Barbara, when I was walking around in short-sleeves.

One time we were there for Thanksgiving Weekend, it was 100 °F the entire weekend!

Disneyland does a fine job of decorating the park for the Holidays. Don't miss "It's A Small World".

A few years ago, we had spent Christmas with our teenage boys in Los Angeles. Weather was just beautiful.

We stayed at the Biltmore on the Executive Floor and got an excellent rate (no business travellers during Christmas). I can't recommend it highly enough - the ambiance of the hotel is breathtaking, especially at Christmas. And the historic pool is amazing.

We liked the walks to L.A. Cathedral and to the old pueblo & mission (Olvera Street). You will see a lot of Christmas decoration there. We also liked the covered hispanic market. On Pershing Square (views from the Biltmore rooms), there is an ice-skating ring, a giant Christmas tree and frequently live bands - lively scenes.

On Christmas Eve, there is a six-hour (come and go whenever you want), admission-free singing&music show at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center - certainly a very good thing to do.

On Christmas Eve, we had an excellent dinner at the Water Grill. On Christmas Day, it was more difficult to find an open restaurant. Finally, we opted for the restaurant at the Hilton and had a traditional American Christmas dinner (turkey etc.).

One idea for food on Christmas Day is to go with a cuisine from a non-Christian country. The hotel restaurants will probably be open, but will be pretty empty. Plus the wait staff and cook staff won't be too happy about being there, so it might not be the happy Christmas meal you are looking for. But it would be a good time to get some great Chinese or Indian food, etc.