I’m surprised by Renee’s impression of Venice Beach. We have walked that boardwalk so many times since the 70s, and as recently as April 2. It is better than it’s been in a long time. We saw no pee or crap anywhere. Sheesh.

Again, I think your 15 year old son would be interested in seeing it, and reporting back to his friends. The Venice canals are fun to walk, as well.

There are BIRD electric scooters available all over that area. You and your son might enjoy riding them on the bike path. I almost tried one. . ..

So... I would disagree. UCLA now receives more than 100,000 applications every year. And they give zero aid to out-of-state applicants. You would be on the hook for $59k/year.
If you'd like to wander around a college campus for an hour or two... or even take a tour.. why not visit a college that he might actually attend? If you are out of state, truthfully, there are merit scholarships or financial aid at private nonprofit schools that would be better than trying to attend out-of-state public universities. The greater Los Angeles area has many.

These three would be the most convenient to work into your trip:

• Chapman University in the city of Orange, Orange County. Very doable if you go to Newport, mentioned above.
• Loyola Marymount University in Westchester/Fox Hills (near LAX)
• Pitzer College, this one is not far from Glendora either. (Note: It's part of the Pomona College Consortium. All these schools are great, but Pomona and Harvey Mudd are almost impossible to get into. Pitzer is more reasonable.)

A few more, further afield:

• University of Redlands further east of your lodgings in Glendora.
• Whittier College in Whittier
• Occidental College. (also in San Fernando Valley between Glendale and Pasadena)

For any of them, you can see their stats on the College Board website. You don't need an account.
btw. https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges

https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-venice-homeless-05102017-story.html%3foutputType=amp

it really is bad and sad out there.

Here is something your teen might enjoy:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/davidhochman/2017/11/29/2017-best-escape-rooms-in-los-angeles-by-category/amp/

We will have to agree to disagree re: the condition of Venice Beach. It has always been somewhat gritty, but I really did not see anything like that one-year-old article describes.

I guess you could wander around the alleys and look for that stuff, but we did not experience problems when we walked up and down the Venice boardwalk on April 2. We are fairly tolerant, though. The smell of marijuana does not upset us.

I still say it's a place a teenager would be interested in seeing. Get a BIRD and ride it up to Santa Monica for lunch. We went there to Cha Cha Chicken, which is a fun place to grab a simple bite. Cha Cha Chicken, Santa Monica Restaurants,

If you're afraid of a funky place, just don't go there. If you're open-minded and tolerant, you'll do fine.

Well then let me throw out a different suggestion.

Once you have the car at LAX, head south on Sepulveda (CA 1) to Hermosa Beach and have a late breakfast or early lunch at Martha's on 22nd, set a few yards from the beach and offering one of the best breakfasts in the South Bay area. Walk off the carbs along The Strand, the beachfront pedestrian/bike path; you can decide which bank to rob so you could afford to buy one of the houses you'll pass.

Then head north along the coast, visiting Manhattan Beach (maybe a walk out the pier to watch the surfers) and on to Marina del Rey and Venice. I'm not personally fond of Venice at all, but if it's a must-see, so be it. I'd probably aim for Santa Monica before heading inland to get to Glendora. Here's a little map illustrating this. (I picked Avis car rental but they're all pretty close to each other.) https://goo.gl/maps/XFsPCf4iSJE2

I think you'll have to make peace with awful traffic the whole time you're in the region; it's just the way things are, and Glendora isn't very convenient to much of anything besides Pasadena, and not so much even there. Use the HOV lanes when you can, and follow the radio traffic alerts as mentioned. To do so you're going to need some fluency in the road system; you'll discover people use a mixture of terms. Some people will call it "the 405" while others (mainly older folks like me) will still call it the "San Diego Freeway." "The Ten" is the "San Bernardino Freeway" to some, and "the 110" is still the "Harbor Freeway, etc."

Gardyloo, that sounds like a good plan for day one. Good way to see cute beach towns from the start.

This sounds like a great plan. I think we'll do this route on day 1. Thanks!!!

I'm bookmarking for good info.

If you want a South Bay breakfast, I'd go with the classic..Uncle Bill's (especially if you are doing it on a weekday..no reservations).


uncle bill's pancake house - Home