Heading to LA June 5th with 15 year old boy. Is not into Disneyland. Spending one night at Royals/Angels game. Any suggestions for other 3 nights? Best Beaches? Universal? Fun restaurants with ocean view? We are staying in Glendora but will have rental car.
Thanks!

Sorry for the double post.

Glendora is not near the ocean, as you know, but if you don't mind driving, I'd take him to the Malibu area, because he's probably heard about it. You could go to nearby Zuma beach, also.

Duke's at Malibu is a good place to eat that's oceanside. It has an old surfer vibe. Duke's Malibu. I posted about going there for Easter brunch.

Gladstone's has a good outdoor patio. Gladstones Malibu. It's where Sunset meets the Pacific Coast Highway.

There's also Moonshadows, where Mel Gibson famously made a drunken fool of himself several years ago. More pricey: Moonshadows Malibu Ocean view dining and nightlife, California

Or you could stop in the grocery store there, and make a picnic for yourselves.

If he's interested, you could visit UCLA and Westwood, also. And maybe cruise Sunset Blvd/Sunset Strip.

The teen might like the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire.
Agree with MoBro about visiting Malibu and Duke's.
About the baseball, if you are not set on the Angels (who play in Anaheim, down in Orange County), it looks like the Dodgers are playing longtime rivals SF Giants on June 15 at home and there are fireworks afterward. This is a very popular matchup so tickets might be a bit more expensive.
Any interest in visiting a working studio like Warner Bros or Paramount instead of Universal which is basically a theme park.

If your teen is interested in science, the La Brea Tar Pits museum might be of interest. They have skeletons of animals that were caught in the tar for centuries and the tar is still bubbling up in the small pond in front of the museum.

For cars the Nethercutt Museum in Slymar is great and if you can do a tour there are fantastic mechanical musical instruments as well as cars in the second building.

Duke's looks awesome!! We'll hit that place first. Sunset blvd sounds good and it's on the way to Glendora. What's in Westwood??

Thanks!!!!

Westwood is the section of LA that houses the UCLA campus. Nice area, you should at least take a walk around. It's Beverly Hills-adjacent.

The stretch of beach between Santa Monica pier and Venice Beach is Classic California... the boardwalk, surf shops, quirky people is perfect for a 15 year old. .. especially on the weekends...

Yes, my cousin works at warner brothers....will prob hit that spot again. Was there a few years ago....shot the breeze with Zach Levi........had no idea who he was. I thought he was part of the kitchen help!

Who is he?

Venice Beach is NOT a fun place to go to anymore. It is a long homeless encampment with lots of pot shops and the smell heavy in the air. If your son is thinking about colleges then UCLA is a good visit but not much to see in Westwood Village - lots of closed down shops.
Tell is what he likes and we can better make suggestions. Sports? Movies? Outdoors? Museums?

That’s really not true of Venice Beach anymore. The huge infusion of tech money has transformed it into “Silicon Beach” and cleaned it up, pushing out most of those older, seedy elements. We have gone to Venice Beach and stayed there many times since the 70s. Were just there over Easter and remarked about the cultural changes we observed.

I'd like to see Venice Beach myself. I was there 30 years ago and thought it was really neat. Sounds like it has changed a little! Malibu looks nice. I'm looking at Newport Beach for a day also. I ate at the Crab Cooker 30 years ago.....is it still good? Looks like a lot of places to hit between Malibu and Glendora. I want to avoid traffic if all possible so when does Rush hour start? Or does it ever end?!

Twice, for the worse and then for the better.

I agree, sf7307. Venice Beach went through a bad stretch for several years, but I think it's better now. Some will complain about the 'gentrification'. Although, I heard the tech companies are moving up to Santa Monica, instead of Venice Beach. Not sure why. Maybe more storefronts.

The Crab Cooker in Newport Beach is our all-time favorite! We've been going there since the mid-70s, and stop in every single time we are able. Last time was one year ago. It never changes! Have lobster tails, cole slaw, and potatoes for me!

As a general rule don't leave Glendora before 9am, and don't return from L.A to Glendora anytime between 4pm and 7pm or you are 90% sure to hit the worst kind of parking-lot-traffic.
What time does your flight arrive into LAX on day one? Timing is everything if you're planning to detour out to Malibu and then up Sunset Blvd.

Flight gets into LAX at 9:00 a. m. Don't like early flights but wanted to avoid traffic!

What Venice Beach are you all talking about? I work on Venice Beach. I stand by what I said. The boardwalk is a long drug-ridden homeless encampment. Sure parts of Venice are being gentrified and the main drags of Main Street and Abbot Kinney are ok. There are some cool restaurants on Rose if you want to step over people and around pee and crap on the sidewalk to get there. But, most tourists head to the boardwalk and I would not take my child nor visitors to the boardwalk for any reason. Head to Malibu or down the coast.

If for whatever reason, you might not end up at Dukes, then Malibu Seafood is also a really good place to eat and the views, from the outdoor top seating area is great. But, I always get there by 11AM as it can get crowded. If others are with me, then I have them go online and figure out what they might want to eat beforehand and then when we get there, they grab one of the tables at the top level while I stand in line and order the food.

Driving there, I go over Las Virgenes as it's peaceful and quick as I'm always on my way to Malibu Seafood. 101 freeway, off at Las Virgenes, and though the gorgeous canyons until the end which is PCH (Pacfic Coast Highway). You'll see Pepperdine University to the right on the hill.

By the way, it's also a really nice drive around Pepperdine campus with great ocean and Malibu views. Anyhow, when you come to PCH, turn RIGHT and head up PCH for about 5 minutes and Malibu Seafood is right there. You will need to slow down as not to pass it. Park in the parking lot and not along fast-moving PCH, and $5.00 needs to be put into one of the white envelopes, on the parking lot stand area, and then inserted into the attached box. You will need to write your car, license plate number on the white envelope.

When people come to visit me, I always take them to Malibu Seafood and they love the food, how chilled out it is, the gorgeous views and getting there though the canyons.

Malibu Seafood | Fresh Fish Market and Patio Cafe

L.A. Drives: Topanga and Malibu canyons

Happy Travels!

"As a general rule don't leave Glendora before 9am"

Even right now on a Monday morning at 10:47 a.m. it will take you between an hour and an hour and a half to get to Santa Monica Pier or Venice Beach from Glendora. 1070 am radio is your friend. "Traffic on the 5s."