Finalising LA itinerary, need comments and advice
 

Hi all, I'm a female solo traveler will visit LA this summer for a week, will stay in HI Santa Monica (1436 2nd Street). Budget for transportation around $300+ for a week, but don't wanna spend more than $400 for transportation.

Arrive LAX 13 Jul eta 13.30
Plan to go to Santa Monica by FlyAway Bus from LAX (gonna have one medium Rimowa suitcase, I hope it's ok with the bus).
Check in to HI Santa Monica.
Go to T-Mobile store in Wilshire Blvd to buy SIM card and plan.
Then I plan to do sight see in Santa Monica (I assume it's already 6pm or so).
Question:
Since I will stay in Santa Monica the entire week, what places of interest I should see there? Must-eat/recommended foods/restaurant please.

14Jul
Join Hostel activity Getty Museum trip 11am-4pm then plan to take cab or bus to Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills
Question: anyone know the bus number or if it's easy to catch a cab near Getty Museum?
Is the Grove near beverly hills? (what is exactly the Grove? is it just another shopping mall?)
Plan to eat dinner in Spago, is it as good as all the hype? Any other fine dining place that recommended in Beverly Hills?

15Jul
Join Hostel activity Venice Beach Tour 11:00am – 1:30pm then plan to go to Hollywood, I plan to sightsee all the touristy thing in Hollywood: walk of fame, Chinese Theatre, Hollywood sign (from Griffith park/obs)
Question: need advice, Santa Monica to Hollywood by Bus or new Metro Expo Line? Which one safer?
Once arrive in Hollywood and Highland how to go to Griffith Park by bus? or just take cab?

16Jul
Join Hostel activity Downtown LA Tour 09:30am – 03:30pm then dunno what to do next, maybe go up to Universal and buy advance ticket for Monday.
Question: I plan to buy VIP experience for Universal studio, I don't wanna buy via their website, is there any place (preferably in Santa Monica) NOT on their ticket office and NOT online either that sell ticket for VIP experience universal?

17Jul
Join Hostel activity Temescal Canyon Hike 9:30am – 1:00pm dunno what it is, originally wanna do Runyon Canyon Hike, but the hostel do this Temescal thing.
Question: Anyone care to share the experience of hiking on both Canyon, is it same same experience? Which one nicer?

18Jul
Gonna do Six Flags (joining Starline tour, they have hotel/hostel pickup service, bless them yeah)

19Jul
Gonna do Universal studio
Question: How much approx cab fare from Santa Monica to Universal?
Do you know any shuttle for transport only to and from universal that is not bind by time frame?
Starling tour also have 'transport service' to and from Universal but only like for 9hrs time frame (return trip for about $50), I wanna spend more time Universal (is 9 hrs enough for VIP experience+theme park???) so am thinking that I go by Cab in the morning (gotta arrive at Universal by 7am, gosh!) and back by Bus/Metro (maybe 8pm).

20Jul
Plan to go to Malibu (maybe Getty Villa if I'm not bored by the Museum), wanna eat fresh seafood here.
Question: Any recommendation for good seafood restaurant here?

21Jul
08.30am is the amtrak schedule going to Anaheim that I wanna take.
Question: Do I have to check my luggage if my Rimowa suitcase dimension slightly bigger (like over 2inches taller) than their carry on-board maximum?
If I do have to check in my luggage, how early I should arrive in Union station then?
I plan to not buy ticket in advance to avoid stress in catching train, good idea or not?
Santa Monica-Union Station by new Metro Expo line can we take a suitcase? or just take Cab/Uber? have any idea of approx how much by cab? Afraid it's like exactly on rush hour if going by car.

I also have question in mind about the city itself:
1. Which area in LA I should avoid altogether day and night?
2. Is healthy food/organic supermarket/shops easy to find? Do you guys have any recommendation?
3. Is gym in LA accept daily visitor like for one day pay per visit or strictly for member? Any gym near my Hostel in Santa Monica?
4. General advice for must eat food recommendations in LA (read about ramen burger, where one could find such thing? is it really that good??)
5. Any activities or point of interest that you guys feel I should fit in to my itinerary above?

Many2 thanks in advance!

A few comments to start this off:

Runyon Canyon -- doesn't matter which one is nicer or better, Runyon Canyon will be closed when you are here (from April to at least July) due to pipe repair work. We just learned about this 2 weeks ago.

Which Getty Museum are you referring to? The one off of Sepulveda? From Santa Monica, you can use one of the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus routes to reach Westwood Blvd. & Wilshire (or the No. 2, Westwood & Veteran). The Metro Bus 761 can be found on Veteran by Wilshire. If you take this bus towards Pacoima, it will stop at Sepulveda Blvd. and Getty Center Drive.

Among the Big Blue Bus routes that work are the Santa Monica Blvd. route (Big Blue Bus 1), Wilshire Blvd (Big Blue Bus 2), or Montana Ave (Big Blue Bus 3), or Ocean Park Blvd. (Big Blue Bus 8) Chances are that if you are staying in Santa Monica you'll be within walking distance to a stop for one of these routes.

The Grove is, indeed, an outdoor, high end, shopping "mall" that's designed IMO similarly to Universal "City", which is just outside Universal Studios. One of those fake but fun shopping/people watching/movie going/ dinner eating city within a city experiences. The Grove has extra added appeal to me, only because it is located next to Farmer's Market, which is a never ending cool experience to me. It is not located in Beverly Hills. It is "Beverly Hills adjacent". It is located next to CBS studios at 3rd & Fairfax. Another upside to the Grove is that it houses one of the very last big box bookstores in town.

Have fun!!

Do you like raw fish? (that's what I gorged on in la.) I will rec more if that's your thing.

Healthy food is not hard to find in LA- but I found the portions larger than I am used to, so ask about portions before you order.

There is a hotel down on the main drag that has an attached Mexican restaurant (well, probably more like high end fusion) that had excellent margaritas and food. I think it's Blue Plate Taco.

The farmers market downtown LA has a great French bakery place and awesome food choices in general.

I found Japantown a lot of fun to wander around.

Even if you don't go in to page or LACMA, walk through the grounds- the outdoor stuff is pretty cool.

Lots of cute shops in SM so get a map or ask for recs. Generally open late, too, because of all the people walking around.

There is a breakfast place across from the hostel that the front desk guy recommended- no Bueno- life is way too short to eat processed crap.

I don't care for the ramen burger, if you like fusion stuff, I'd go for poke or to Sunny Blue (omusubi)

@Surfergirl thanks for the infos!

@marvelousmouse umm not raw fish, but maybe like steamed crab/lobster? any recommendation?
is japantown=little tokyo?

Didn't have any crab sorry, east coast lobster isn't local. LA had great uni (sea urchin), oysters, ceviche, and poke. (most of which are difficult to find in WA).

But check out water grill in Santa Monica- overlooks pier and the food was good. Has both lobster and crab on menu. I pigged out off their raw menu, but really, it all looked delicious and the service was great.

And yes, little Tokyo, sorry!

Here are a few of my favorite restaurants in downtown L.A (most of these need reservations), plus if you get a chance, walk around the Grand Central Market. Have fun.

<B>Redbird</B> - located in the old, historic St. Vibiana’s Cathedral.
<B>http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/redbird-los-angeles-ca/</B>

<B> Maccheroni Republic</B> - Great pasta. Reasonably priced. No reservations. Opens at 5:30.. Try to get here early
<B>http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/maccheroni-republic-los-angeles-ca/</B>

<B>The Factory Kitchen</B> One of my three favorite restauarnts at the moment.
<B>http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/factory-kitchen-los-angeles-ca/</B>

<B>Church & State Bistro</B> tres delicious French food.
<B>http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/church-state-bistro-los-angeles-ca/</B>

<B> Grand Central Market</B> Food choices galore from Deli to Chinese to Mexican to italian to more at this istoric L.A. spot.
<B>http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/grand-central-market-los-angeles/</B>

((H))

@maitaitom Thanks!!