Thanks for the tips, Denice and ice leopard. Denice, appreciate the directions--not too much driving I hope.

Oh, and kris, read your blog, lots of ideas, especially food. I'll refer to it when we start planning our dining. We also plan to eat at the Farmer's Market and reserve a tea for our little girls at American Girl.

We are considering two place less than $200 a night--Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, they have Universal Studios deals, and Farmer's Daughter across from the Grove. Otherwise, we'll go to Priceline and hope we get a 4-star for less than $200.

Sportsmen's Lodge is nice, right in my home town. There's a great deli down the street ... Jerry's Deli ... which would be a great place for you to eat. Their menu is extensive, so it doesn't matter if the kids are picky eaters, there WILL be something on the menu that they'd like. I used to take my nieces there when they were young and picky eaters. Now I take their children!!

Oh, and looking at what you want to do, and the two hotel choices, Sportsmen's Lodge might be the better ... easy to get to places depending on the canyon road. I'll be glad to help with directions once you decide on your hotel. Just email me :)

And do remember, this is Los Angeles, everything is a drive. But if you can plan your times, and try to go against traffic, you can get around fairly easily (I know people will argue this), but I do. You just have to know when and how to go.

The Hotel Angeleno is pretty well located for all the things you want to do: www.jdvhotels.com/angeleno/

I would suggest you get on google maps -get directions and add in locations or your favorite route planner and put in all your addresses for each day if you plan to use car. It will give you approx. times and at least you will know minimium amount of time it takes from place to place. I did this when we went to LA last month and it worked out very well. We avoided rush hour times so time was correct on google. I would suggest going to Malibu on Saturday. We had no problem with traffic.

If possible on universal studio day you might be able to use metro rail. Here is map
http://www.mta.net/images/rail_map.pdf

We stayed at manhattan beach hotel to do stuff at Getty center(about 30 min from hotel) and Getty villa(about 30 min) and Malibu & Santa Monica because it was so much cheaper than santa monica and we could just eat lite meal at hotel. Long beach was about 30 min also. Hotel was only about 15 minutes from lax and we could stop at costco and gas up before lax rental car return. Double room is about 450 sq feet and we didn't want a small room in LA. Penthouse suites are 2 bed 2 bath . I was suggesting this residence because I thought you might want 2 bathrooms and seperate bedroom for girls but hotel is father away. There is another Residence Inn in El Segundo.

I honestly think Farmer Daughter is your best bet. It will save you a lot of driving time to most of the places you plan to visit--Hollywood, BH, La Brea area, Griffith Park & Universal City. The Grove is so nice that your daughters may want to go back over and over again. Only days that you have to venture west of 405 freeway would be to Santa Monica & Malibu, and that's not too difficult. Manhattan Beach is a nice area but you'll have to fight the 405 traffic (terrible especially around LAX) everyday to get to your destinations.

Hi Anne,

Yes the area is very safe, it in the middle of an Orthodox Jewish neigbourhood, so unless men in black with long hair scare you, then you'll be ok ;) When I was there, a family from India had come, 6 adults and 3 kids, so they were fine it seems.

As for your itinerary, I notice you don't have Venice Beach on the list, I would suggest going there. Make sure you go on a Saturday or Sunday when there are tons of tourists around and the best buskers come out.

Claudio

Thank you for all your helpful replies. We are staying at the Sportsmen's Lodge for six nights. Wanted to do Farmer's Daughter, but it costs more. Considered Manhattan Beach for the lower prices, but as we are driving from San Francisco and not arriving via plane, there are less reasons for us to stay there. We probably will for a future lazing-at-the-beach vacation though. The google distance/time idea is good--thanks, will do just that.

This is what we're looking at as far as our itinerary schedule:

Arrive on Friday at 3 p.m. check-in hotel, spend afternoon and eat dinner at Universal City Walk.

Saturday--Hollywood and Highland, Chinese Theater, Walk of Fame, Egyptian Theater (should we watch Forever Hollywood?), Disney Soda Shoppe, El Capitan (considering watching Underdog there because of our two kids)

Sunday--drive down Sunset Boulevard to Malibu--watch surfers at Surfrider for an hour, move to Pacific Cove Beach and eat at the restaurant there, move to Leo Carillo for some tidepooling

Monday--Universal Studios

Tuesday--American Girl day for our two girls--Have lunch at the American Girl Cafe, watch the American Girl musical, go to La Brea Tar Pits/Page Museum, dinner at Farmer's Market (how late are the stores/restaurants open?)

Wednesday--go to Getty Center, Santa Monica Pier to ride the ferris wheel, do Third Street Promenade, if there's time, do Venice Beach (wondering if this will freak the girls out)

Thursday--In the morning, go to Olvera Street, Walt Disney Concert Hall (should we do the tour or not?), eat lunch at Grand Central Market. (How is the morning traffic to downtown?) In the afternoon, go to Beverly Hills, ride the trolley, go to Museum of Radio and Television, look at shops, have dinner there.

Friday--free day to do whatever we missed, check out of hotel by noon

Does this look good? Thank you so much for all your help. I love this forum!

Anne you don't have enough planned on Saturday. Basically you're going for a 2 hour walk and then seeing a movie.

Maybe head down to Bev Hills on Sat morning, take the one hour Bev Hills Trolley Tour and then browse Rodeo Drive and take a drive around to see some homes in Bel Air. In the afternoon you could head to Hollywood and see the movie in the early evening, then circle back to Studio City.

You want to make the most of Sat and Sun , as traffic snarls will be half of what they are the rest of the week.

Thanks for the tip. I see the need to adjust my Saturday.