Two women need help in planning a business/fun trip. Will be fly into LA for meeting in Santa Fe Springs then flying onto Fresno for another meeting. What/where are nice safe places to stay and/or avoid staying? Places of interest in these areas? There will be time between meetings for pleasure.

I like the Westwood Area (near UCLA, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills). I think it is a nice, safe, area.
I'm not sure how convenient that would be to your business meeting in Santa Fe Springs.

Santa Fe Springs isn't immediately convenient to areas that out-of-towners would consider "fun."

But, with a car, you could get to Manhattan Beach fairly easily and quickly. Take Interstate 5 south to the 105 Freeway west. Go to the end of the freeway and continue straight to the ocean. Turn left on Vista del Mar and go 2-3 miles to Manhattan Beach Boulevard. Look for a place to park and wander up and down MB Blvd. and the two blocks north and south. Lots of restaurants.

This drive can take 30-45 minutes each way depending on traffic. There is an HOV lane the entire length of the 105.

How far are you willing to stay from your meeting? I don't know of any good places to stay in or around Santa Fe Springs.

Which airport are you flying out of? Pasadena might be more convenient and it's got Old Town, antique stores, the Gamble House, and a few nice museums (as well as a Nordstrom).

Have not made plane reservations for flight to Fresno, which airport would be better to fly out of? Will be returning to LA and onto Texas from LAX.

You could even stay in Manhattan Beach if you don't mind the commute. I love the Shade Hotel.

Either Long Beach or Burbank would be better than LAX.

Long Beach would be the closest, but they don't fly to very many destinations. There are a number of hotels in the vicinity of Long Beach airport. It's a short ride to Belmont Shore which is a pedestrian street with restaurants and small stores.

Burbank would be more convenient to Pasadena.

Even SNA (John Wayne) might work out better since you can commute up the 5 FWY. You would be Newport Beach, Balboa Island and Fashion Island (shopping).

Commuting from the "westside" to Santa Fe Springs, and flying out of LAX would not be my idea of fun.

The westside is completely opposite from where you are staying. Santa Fe Springs is on the eastside of Los Angeles. You could stay in Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, down by Disneyland in Anaheim.

Fly out of Long Beach if possible or John Wayne.

If you stay in Pasadena, fly out of Burbank.

Have fun.

If you're flying into LAX, then I agree with Manhattan Beach, since SF Springs is close to the 105 freeway.

If you are flying into Long Beach, then staying in the Long Beach area would be your best bet. In addition to Belmont Shore, the downtown area is set up for tourists & business travelers with restaurants within walking distance of the hotels. The Pike, Shoreline Village, Pine Avenue, the Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific are all fairly close.

Seal Beach is also a nice little beach town.

From Long Beach, you would take the 710 north to the 105 east to the 605N to get to SF Springs.

Downtown Fresno is pretty dismal, and I would not recommend staying there. As one Fresno Fodorite advised me-- Go North!

Santa Fe Springs is 30 miles from Newport or Manhattan Beach. You don't want to worry about dealing with a 30-mile rush hour commute during a short LA trip. If you must have ocean views then look for a Long Beach hotel. However, nothing in your email indicates a desperate desire for the seashore, so my advice is to stay in a nice downtown Los Angeles hotel...there are plenty of interesting dining/tourist/shopping choices there and your commute will be half that of the other locations people are recommending.

There is a Marriot in Norwalk which is freeway close to SFSprings and to all directions for entertainment, no entertainment in Norwalk though...

Our friend drives to Santa Fe Springs everyday for work from Manhattan Beach.
He takes the 105 Freeway out and it's a straight shot out about 20 miles, depending where your meeting is. Most of the traffic is heading west to LAX in the morning while he is going east.
There is a nice Marriott Hotel in MB, close to freeways.

I think if you have to fly to Fresno the only real choice is LAX. In which case Manhattan Beach or El Segundo would be the beter choice (much better than Westwood or Santa Monica). At least you can take the 105 as Nancy says. There is a new Whole Foods food hall on the El Segundo/Manhattan Beach border (Rosecrans and Sepulveda). The promenade and pier are nice and there assorted bars and restaurants.

Thanks for the info everyone! Can anyone tell me what the drive would be like to Fresno from Santa Fe Springs? That might be an option for us.

OK, here's our plan, fly into LA on Fri night & have the week-end to play. Question: what airport do we fly to if we want to stay in a fun area in LA for Fri/Sat night? Not LAX? What area would be good to stay in, really not all that interested in the beach. Sun/Mon night we'll stay in Sante Fe Springs and then onto Fresno on Tues.
THANKS!

I would take the Interstate 5 to Highway 99, it is pleasant enough.

From Santa Fe Springs to Fresno is about 240-ish miles depending on where in Fresno. Count on about 4 hours driving time w/o stops unless you hit really bad traffic in teh LA basin.

It really would not be that much longer than flying when you factor in dropping the rental car, advance check in and security, etc.

If you can fly into Burbank, then I would stay the first weekend in Pasadena. Old Town Pasadena on the weekends is very lively. Burbank Airport is about 20-30 minutes from Pasadena depending on traffic.

If you must fly into LAX, you could still go to Pasadena, but the drive would take 45-60 minutes depending on traffic. A little closer would be downtown L.A. (Perhaps someone here can chime in on the downtown L.A. nightclub scene.)

Driving to Fresno isn't such a bad idea. Either leave very early (6/7 a.m.) or wait until after the morning rush hour (about 10 a.m.). As someone else pointed out, considering the time to drive to any airport, turn in rental car, transfer to terminal, go through security and wait at least 60 minutes for your flight, you could be more than halfway to Fresno and wouldn't have to go through the car rental thing again.

If I were going to LA for the weekend, I'd definitely stay in Manhattan Beach. Cute little beach town just 10 minutes from LAX with great stores and restaurants. I love Mangiamos.

Call Shade Hotel and tell them you want to set up a corporate rate. Easy to do and a significant discount off their typical rates. They have a great bar/lounge that gets very busy even during the weekdays. The hotel is only a year old, the rooms are spotless, the beds are super comfy, and the giant jacuzzi tub is awesome.