janisj

Maitaitom: You should post a link to your thread about that amazing night/public transit in LA. If there is ANY lingering doubt, that will 100% convince them to keep the car

suze

I drive all around LA just fine w/out a GPS. A good old fashion map did the trick.

bachslunch

sf7307 said: "...trying to figure out how to get where you want to go, making your way to the bus/train station/stop, waiting for the bus/train, making whatever transfers you need to make, and then walking to the actual site you want to see..."

I do this all the time when I travel, actually.

I hate renting cars with a passion and will do almost anything not to. Unless I truly can't avoid it, I'll use public transportation. Should I visit LA (and here's hoping I do so in future), I intend to do so without a car by staying downtown (which is the transportation hub location) and then using a combination of public transportation and walking. In fact, I'll probably do so just to show it can be done -- did the same thing in Memphis and Indianapolis and Nashville, where often panicked common wisdom says "don't ride the bus." Really, it wasn't a problem if you plan things.

NeoPatrick

bachslunch, I agree with you 100% -- including those three cities you mention -- but LA is the limit for me. (One doesn't normally go 30 or 40 miles from major attraction to major attraction in those cities like you do in LA -- and for nearly all the attractions in LA -- you need to change means of transportation a LOT -- unless you're in a car.

LA is one of the very few cities where I wouldn't think to go without renting a car -- and I learned that from doing in JUST once. Your "should I visit LA and here's hoping I do" indicates you really don't know what you're in for if you stay in downtown thinking it is a transportation hub to the main things most people would want to visit in LA. It ISN'T.

tenaya

Like bachslunch - I do this all the time -- in Europe - in Asia - in Africa - BUT NOT IN LOS ANGELES!!! And actually the destinations mentioned are VERY easy by car - hit the PCH - as the Pacific Coast Highway is signed - and you are there. Santa Monica (lovely)/Malibu couldn't be easier. No Sat Nav necessary.

mlgb

Perhaps some of you should read yk's trip reports about seeing LA by public transit.

Malibu from Hollywood..do it on the way into town.

Especially if you stay downtown or in Hollywood, it's actually pretty easy to see "tourist" LA without renting a car.

NeoPatrick

OK, anyone want to post directions to the Getty Museum from downtown by public transport along with a schedule?

How about to the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City?

What about to the Huntington in Pasadena, then to lunch in Pasadena along South Lake, then a stop at the Norton Simon and a return to downtown? Estimated total times of all those transporatations, changes, waitings?

Want to go from shopping along Broadway in Santa Monica to the Getty Malibu then back to your hotel in downtown?

suze

bachslunch, Let us know how that works for you ;-)

Seriously (and agreeing with NeoPatrick) I never rent cars traveling, I can't think of a single other city I'd say it was a requirement. And of course you CAN manage to see Los Angeles without one. But it won't be pretty, or easy, or imo much fun. LA is a city built for and around the idea of automobiles. It's VERY spread out for starters. Even staying downtown, it's not like you can walk anywhere. Even going from, for example, Pershing Square (the heart of downtown) to say Farmers Market, or Olvera Street, or Melrose, or Hollywood. A car is how you'd do it. Not to mention wanting to get out to the beach like Santa Monica, Venice, or Malibu.

janisj

I use public transport for lots and LOTS of trips. Los Angeles is the one place I'd NEVER visit w/o a car. LA County is over 4000 square miles. Almost no attractions/sites are w/i walking distance of each other . . . you need a car.

bachslunch: Yes - you can get to limited places by public transport. Point A to Point B/some tourist attraction or site.

But you can't really get from A > B > C > anywhere else. So for most visitors w/o a car, they either have to seriously restrict what they see/do, (I mean REALLY cut the wish list down to maybe one thing a day) or they will spend many extra hours a day just hopping from line to line, train to bus, back to train.

mlgb: If I remember -- yk's trip was a weekend and they were doing mostly art walks and such. No major 'tourist' attractions or drives to the beach. Plus she has the definite advantage of a brother living there who can drive them to the more inaccessible places.

SOCALOC

Is this a trick question?

SeaUrchin

You really should get a good map of Los Angeles area and take a look at the freeways and their number names. If you stick to the freeways between the sites you shouldn't get lost. I think checking out an overview before you get here would be wise, then when you are here use your navigation system.

If you are traveling with two other people you can use the diamond or car pool lanes.

In Malibu you will be looking at people's garages unless you go to a restaurant or access the beach. The shopping center is nice but in my opinion unless you live there Malibu isn't that pretty.

bachslunch

NeoPatrick asked: "OK, anyone want to post directions to the Getty Museum from downtown by public transport along with a schedule?"

Here's one way to do so from the LA Metro website, using their trip planner, leaving at ca. 10 AM:

Ride Metrolink Ventura County Line (CHATSWORTH) heading north
From: UNION STATION/800 N ALAMEDA ST Lv: 09:50AM
To: VAN NUYS STATION/7720 VAN NUYS BLVD Ar: 10:19AM
Pay $6.75 + keep Media for next vehicle *Metrolink tickets must be purchased before boarding *, Monthly Pass/TAP: $168.25
Ride Metro Rapid 761( WESTWOOD) heading south
From: VAN NUYS BLVD/KESWICK ST(SW corner) Lv: 10:28AM
To: SEPULVEDA BLVD/GETTY CENTER DR(SW corner) Ar: 11:05AM

Trip time is about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Trip distance is about 29.09 miles.

A week-long pass costs $20.00.

divineMissM

I don't need a car in LA but Leonora does with that itinerary. I stay in Westwood which has great bus service. An express bus from the airport takes 25 minutes and cost 5 bucks. The city bus gets me to The Getty in 10 minutes, to Santa Monica in 13 minutes, to Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive in 10 minutes and to the Farmer's Market area in 15. I think it took 22 minutes to get up to Hollywood but been there once, done that. At Hollywood you can hook up to the metro up to Universal, or to downtown, and there is now a shuttle to the Griffith Observatory on weekends, too.

Based on one's itinerary, LA without a car is possible, but some things are going to take quite a while via public transporation. Then again, in LA, most things take quite a while BY CAR, too. I've heard several foreigners say that they are reluctant to visit LA becaue of the driving. They shouldn't feel that way, there is plenty that they can get to using public transportation.

And if I lived in LA, the last thing I would do is to tell people to put another car on the freeway! So I can see why they're always shouting NO YOU DO NOT NEED A CAR IN LA!

maitaitom

"Maitaitom: You should post a link to your thread about that amazing night/public transit in LA. If there is ANY lingering doubt, that will 100% convince them to keep the car"

Remember Charlie on the MTA by the Kingston Trio? This was Tom on the Gold and Red Lines recently with Tracy and friends on a little excursion from my home to Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood and back. "Oh, he'll never return, no he'll never return....."

I doubt you would run into my angry friend with the menacing crutch, but the round trip was tripled in time by using "rapid" transit.

http://web.me.com/tomfielding1/Tom_%...Hollywood.html

mlgb

Obviously if you want to go to the Getty from downtown you take the rapid bus along Wilshire to Westwood Village (takes about 20-30 minutes) and then transfer to the 761 which stops at the Getty parking lot.

Of course if all you want to see are cultural sights in West LA and Westwood you stay in Westwood . The Kimpton is very nice.

But I suspect that you really didn't want an answer.

maitaitom

When you visit America's favorite city, Pasadena (voted on by a panel that included me and only me), you might want to visit:

http://www.gamblehouse.org/

http://www.nortonsimon.org/

sf7307

Don't forget the Huntington Museum, Library and Botanical Gardens -

http://www.huntington.org/

LEANNA

Once you are here you will understand how VAST Los Angeles is!!!

"there is no there there!!"

And I live here!!!

suze

what Leanna said ;-)