marvelousmouse

I'm planning a road trip for this summer. I know one portion of it will be from LA to San Francisco. Initially, LA was going to be only one or two days. I really only wanted to see la brea tar pits, but as my research has progressed, the LA portion has turned into a base for at least three days. My list seems to be growing exponentially, which is surprising as I didn't really think I'd find LA very interesting. I'd really like some advice from you folks about highlights/can't misses. I don't have any specific time limit because I have a lot of time off, but I know my trip will be sometime in mid June-mid July. I also want to spend more time in San Francisco and driving the coast than in LA.

Interests: I love museums, especially cultural or history oriented. I like beaches, quirky communities, offbeat boutiques. I love to bike (especially rail trails or multiuser trails) and I enjoy moderate hiking. I definitely would choose national parks over the club scene any day. I like amazing cocktails but can generally give drinking a miss, so the bar scene is pretty irrelevant. Fashion is pretty irrelevant, but I like interesting boutiques and jewelry. I love food, especially seafood or street food. I enjoy farmer markets, or unusual local establishments or festivals. I can't sunbathe, as I turn red not brown, but I like to swim and walk on the beach. I would not turn down any truly fantastic bookstores.

I will (obviously) have my car. I realize LA is kind of sprawling, but I definitely prefer walking whenever possible. Any tips on that would be appreciated. I hate rush hour traffic and I resent paying horrible parking fees.

Lodging: planning to stay at one of the hostels. Was thinking about the Fullerton HI one, but possibly thinking I'd enjoy Santa Monica HI more, or even Samesun Venice Beach. The reason I'm considering Fullerton is that I'm planning to do one day at Disneyland. Also, if I have to drive in LA, anyway, there isn't much advantage to centrally located lodging. Do you think I should split up my stay to two different hostels? If not, which is the best "base"?


Current tentative list:
San gabriel mission, la brea tar pits, Disneyland, la county museum of art, Japanese American national museum, Griffith park in general, Getty villa, Huntington library & garden. I'm not a big Hollywood fan, but I'm open to suggestions, as I think the Chinese Theatre sounds neat. I also enjoy historic walking tours.



Also open to any day trip suggestions, but I should note that I've been to San Diego and don't intend to go there this trip. I've also decided against Santa Catalina.


I know I want to visit at least a few of the missions but I don't know which ones yet. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

stumpworks73

Take the Hollywood sign hike. Lots of web guidance on directions and where to park.

Drive Mulholand Drive at night for the best skyline view in the country.

Visit the LA Farmers Market at the grove. Many quirky shops to go with 100 food stalls.

Manhattan Beach most fits your bill of a walk around interesting beach town.

Tabernash2

Definitely see the Getty Villa or the Getty Center.

Skip Grauman's Chinese. It's a snooze.

Drive Sunset Blvd, through vintage Sunset Strip. Stop for a drink at one of the venerable music venues.

Visit Will Rogers State Park (off Sunset Blvd, also). There are polo games on many weekends, April - October. It's a gorgeous property. It costs $12 to park, though.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=626

"I like beaches, quirky communities, offbeat boutiques. I love to bike"
You can rent bikes at Venice Beach. It's definitely quirky and offbeat there! Great bike path all the way up to Santa Monica.

longhorn55

You are going to have to priorize your list as you have more to do than you can cover in only 3 days.

Plan to do the LaBrea Tar Pits and the LACMA on the same day as they are located next to each other.

Don't plan to visit the Getty Villa on a Tuesday (it's closed) and be sure to get your entry ticket in advance.

The walk to the back of the Hollywood sign is enjoyable, but it takes quite a while to do--probably more time that you have on your limited schedule.

If you like quirky things to do, go to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and get the map to the notable gravesites.

If you like offbeat shops, go to The Last Bookstore.

Jean

I wouldn't stay in Fullerton if the majority of the sightseeing is in L.A., and I agree with longhorn55 that you need to pare down your list or add more days.

Personally, I wouldn't do the Hollywood sign hike, mostly because the residents are fed up with all of the tourists clogging the narrow access streets, parking illegally, etc. I'd take one of the hikes to or from the Observatory.

I think the Santa Monica farmer's markets are the best in L.A. I like the Wednesday market on Arizona, but there are three other days. If you make it downtown, the Grand Central Market is the oldest in L.A.

http://www.smgov.net/Portals/Farmers...in_Street.aspx

http://www.grandcentralmarket.com/history

You could visit any of several missions on your drive south. They're all interesting in their own way.

http://www.missionscalifornia.com/ca...sions-map.html

Jean

Forgot to add this link for hikes:

http://www.modernhiker.com/area-maps/griffith-park/

marvelousmouse

Tabernash2- thanks for suggesting Will Rogers Park! That does sound like something I'd enjoy.

I can always lengthen the trip; right now, I'm just trying to figure out what I really want to see in LA and then plan my time accordingly.

If it's a choice between Getty Villa and Getty Center, which would you choose?

My possibilities list has been adjusted to: Little Tokyo, Will Rogers Park, one of the Gettys, LA farmers market, Santa Monica in general, Disneyland, La Brea/LACMA, last bookstore. Possible itineraries or additions, anyone?

Any neat historical house museums in LA?

I'm now thinking I'll stay in Santa Monica the whole time. I found out there is a bus tour from there to Disneyland. Has anyone had any experience with Starline Tours hop on and hop off or their Disney tour? I've only done the hop-on hop-off bus in Boston, and I decided it was kind of a waste of money there but it looks like it might be a viable alternative to driving in LA?

I also forgot to say previously that I will be traveling with my bike, but I don't know how realistic sightseeing by bike in LA is. How are attitudes toward bicyclists? Is bike theft an exceptional problem?

Jean- thanks for the hiking link!

longhorn55

It's not a historical house tour, but the Los Angeles Conservancy does some excellent architectural walking tours of downtown LA. I highly recommend them.

https://www.laconservancy.org/tours

marvelousmouse

If the hop on/hop off bus is not viable (the reviews make me nervous) would you recommend driving from Santa Monica or taking the bus? Are there any good parking garages near the places I want to see? How is parking in general in LA? The two cities that I've had most experience driving in are Portland and Seattle. I'm expecting that LA is much worse than Seattle, but I don't know. How much is meter or garage parking generally? Which is more common?

clarkgriswold

I'd skip Disneyland if you're only in L.A. for three days, it's an hour out of town,could be two hours in morning traffic depending on where you end up staying. Also it's annoyingly overcrowded in summer.

If you're thinking of the SMonica hostel book it soon, June July they'll fill up shortly. Don't stay in a SM hostel unless it includes parking, don't stay in a Venice hostel unless the parking is security patrolled 24 hrs.

The Museum of Tolerance
The Page Museum next to the tarpits
The Natural History Museum

I shouldn't be adding anything to your list because you already have too much to do for 3 days....

L.A. Rush hour is 3 hours. Try to arrive on a Friday and plan on L.A. on Saturday and Sunday when traffic is lighter especially before noontime.

Jean

Little Tokyo has pretty much disappeared, but the Japanese American National Museum is interesting. There are a few other spots in downtown L.A. worth attention: Grand Central Market, Disney Hall (docent tours some days), the view of City Hall looking down through the Grand Park, the architecture and interior of the L.A. Central Library, the Grammy Museum. Parking downtown is almost entirely in garages, but you might find some short-term/metered street parking in Little Tokyo and near Disney Hall. Elsewhere throughout L.A., you'll find garages, street-level parking lots and metered street parking. Rates vary greatly.

The Getty Villa is in a beautiful setting on a bluff above the beach in Malibu. The Getty Center is in a great setting for views (on a clear day) of the entire L.A. Basin and has an interesting garden of (mostly) native plants. The collections at the two Gettys are very different and presented in different ways. The GC is a more "traditional" museum space (albeit in multiple buildings), and the Villa is a copy of a 1st C. Roman villa with display areas created within the interior. Peruse the website to see which collection and current exhibits appeal more. Parking reservations are required for the Villa. The views from the Observatory are also great but more toward the downtown L.A. area.

You need to lock your bike everywhere, and I would look for routes with dedicated bike lanes. Bicycles are permitted on the light rail Metro lines, and some buses have outside bicycle racks.

My favorite historical house is Gamble House in Pasadena, near the Norton Simon Museum. Access is possible only on docent-led tours.

http://gamblehouse.org/

Jean

I forgot to mention that you could easily spend a day at the Tar Pits and LACMA. LACMA is huge.

Michael

For something off-beat: http://mjt.org/themainpage/main2.html

Surfergirl

Definitely the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, since the fossils that are excavated outside are brought into the Page Museum, first to the fossil lab, then put on display. You can see what they are doing right there!

The California Science Center in Exposition Park (just off the Expo Line) now has a great Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit that will continue through the beginning of September. For more info, go to: californiasciencecenter.org
You can also visit the Endeavour while there.

If you are going to the Huntington Museum out in Pasadena, you might as well stop at my favorite art museum in the area, the Norton Simon Museum. Whereas I don't think Getty had a whole lot of good taste in art, Norton Simon sure did. And walking around the outside garden within the museum (where the little café is located), you might think you entered a little bit of Monet's garden. It is lovely!

Also, absolutely best walk in town is the Venice canals. That would be at the top of my "things to do in L.A." list.

jamie99

I really like the Huntington Library and Gardens, and I would drop San Gabriel Mission, as there are much prettier ones you can visit on your drive north, Santa Barbara and Carmel both have lovely missions.
Just don't plan on spending too much time if you go to Hollywood, it really only takes an hour or two to visit.

sf7307

In addition to the Huntington (my very favorite, allow at least a few hours for the gardens and the library, the art museum is ok if you like the kind of art they are partial to - the only art I like is the room that has Gainsborough's Blue Boy and many other full-length portraits; the library interests me much more) and Norton Simon (haven't been) in Pasadena, you could do a Gamble House tour and a walking tour of the neighborhood - many great examples of Greene & Greene arts & crafts style architecture.

marvelousmouse

I'm leaning towards making my top two priorities Huntington and page/la brea. Is is possible to do both of those in 1 day? I'm really tempted by lacma but I have spent a lot of time in art museums this last year while there's nothing like Huntington where I live.

Surfer girl- I thought the Venice canals sounded like a really neat walk but I've seen a few concerning posts about rising problem in Venice with the homeless population. Should I be concerned about that? (If any locals know, please chime in)...that's rather put me off my orginal idea of biking from Santa Monica to Venice beach.

I like the suggestion of Dead Sea scrolls, but I'm going to the Pompeii exhibit in a few weeks in seattle so I'm thinking the Dead Sea scrolls will be too similar to spend time on in LA. But if anyone has been to it, please let me know what you thought because I do love ancient history. I may change my mind- it's more that csc doesn't hold much interest to me other than the Dead Sea scroll and the Jerusalem imax, thanks, everyone's been really helpful

marvelousmouse

Also- anyone have any suggestions for a terrific Sunday brunch in LA? Amazing Bloody Marys would be a definite plus!

clarkgriswold

You should have no problems biking from Santa Monica down through Venice, Marina del Rey and further. Problems in Venice are more related to car break-ins, crimes after dark, etc. Not a comfortable place to STAY while on vacation these days but that doesn't mean that it's completely out of control or should be avoided for just a daytime visit...especially just a look-see while biking down the strand.

marvelousmouse

Thanks! Glad to hear that!