mrx085x1829

As mentioned in my earlier post I am going to do my first US/Calfornia Trip in October or November for 3 weeks. I will go on my own. I will arrive in San Francisco then also visit LA and then San Diego. From San Diego I am going to fly back to Europe and then back to Austria.

I already have plenty of plans for SF and San Diego. But so much for Los Angeles. For LA visiting the Griffith Obsvervatory, the Getty Museum, the La Brea Tarpit Pits and visiting a Movie Theme Park like the Unversal Studios is all I can think of.


Are there any other sights or things to do you would consider as must when visiting Los Angeles for the first time?

I am aware that it is tricky to visit LA because everything is so spread out ( I learned it in my first thread here already) but I am going to do my 3 city trip with a car so I am quite mobil in case I should use the rental car and not only the Metro or the bus?

ps: I am only interested in stuff that are only releated to LA. Visting a beach in LA is not necessary for example because the San Diego stay will be very beach centric already.

Thanks for your help in advance

greetings from Austria

PrairieHikerII

LA has about every nationality on Earth. Explore the ethnic enclaves and eat some great food. Chinatown is very popular and is the largest in North America. There are also Koreatown and Little Tokyo.

clarkgriswold

Santa Monica Pier
Malibu/ The Getty Villa
Will Rogers State Park
The UCLA campus/a sporting event
Beverly HIlls/ Bel Air/ Rodeo Drive
The Petersen Auto Museum
LACMA
The Holocaust Museum
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum
The California Science Center (free) Natural History Museum Next Door
The Los Angeles Zoo and (next door) The Autry Western Heritage Museum
The Los Angeles Zoo
www.discoverlosangeles.com

suze

{Visting a beach in LA is not necessary for example because the San Diego stay will be very beach centric already.}

Venice and Santa Monica and Malibu are iconic... unique and different from the beaches in San Diego. You might want not to skip them entirely because of that reasoning.

Yes to Griffith Park and La Brea Tar Pits. Also Chinatown, Olvera Street, and the Farmers Market are fascinating old-timey LA institutions.

maitaitom

Below are some I like with links to my visits ... lots of photos: (by the way, in my opinion, the Venice Boardwalk and the Hollywood Walk of Fame are two of the most over-rated places on earth. Also, the new Academy Museum was a massive disappointment. I wouldn't waste the money ... and I, sadly, paid to become a member thinking it would be a great museum). Since I'm a member I can now go for free until this Fall. After a lot of criticism from members and visitors alike, I'm going to see if the exhibits have been made more interesting than they were on our first visit. Stay tuned.

Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/hun...on-san-marino/
https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/hun...on-san-marino/

Hollywood Forever Cemetery (Take the tour ... fascinating, fun and informative)

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/hol...ery-hollywood/

Getty Center (The Getty)

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/get...y-los-angeles/

StuDudley

""by the way, in my opinion, the Venice Boardwalk and the Hollywood Walk of Fame are two of the most over-rated places on earth.""

I agree. Also, farmer's markets in Europe put those in the US to shame.

Stu Dudley

janisj

There is too much to see/do in a short visit so to help winnow down the list a little:

I'd skip Venice Beach -- a lot (a LOT) of homeless.

I'd skip The Holocaust Museum since you are from Austria and if so desired you have much access to Holocaust sites in nearby areas.

I'd skip the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Its is just blocks of people's names on stars in the pavement. Many/most you would not have heard of since one does not need to be a major star to be 'honored'

I'd skip the zoo since (if you are so inclined) you'll be in San Diego with the zoo and wild animal park.

I'd skip the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum (unless Maitaitom comes back with a glowing review of the 'new and improved' exhibitions)

mrx085x1829

Thanks a lot for the lots of tipps.
It is really a good advice to visit the ethnic enclaces like China Town, Korea Town and also Little Tokyo. China Town and Korea Town are especially interesting because I have not been to China and Korea yet so getting familiar with the local cuisine would be really interesting. Despite the fact that I have been to Japan already a visit to Little Tokyo could also be quite cool.

I also would not rule out visiting the beaches @suze if they offer a different vibe than the SD beaches. Which LA beach would you consider as best to visit? According to the info from Janisj I would rule out Venice already due the many homeless.

Thanks for the warning concerning the walk of fame. I have already thought that this destination much overrated.

Visiting the Zoo would be interresting for me but like @janisj pointed out I will also be in San Diego and visiting the San Diego Zoo is already on my bucket list. Visting 2 zoos would be a bit over the top. Although I have to admit I have not researched yet with zoo is the better. The one in San Diego or the one in LA.

jamie99

San Diego has superb beaches but there is only ONE Malibu so I would add that to your list.
In October and November I would try and visit a sports event, football will be in season and depending on their schedules you can see either the Rams or the Chargers (we have two teams) play in the new SoFi Stadiium, where they are having the Superbowl this Sunday Baseball will be in the World Series or playoffs and it is a little early for basketball I think.
San Francisco has a much superior Chinatown. Instead visit Thai Town if you like Thai or there are other ethnic enclaves besides Koreatown, like Persian in Westwood, Little Armenia, there is an Ethiopian enclave and do not overlook your search for the best tacos in town.
Petersen Automotive is a good call, they have some real works of art there.
I don't like the simulator rides at Universal and would rather visit a working studio like Warner Bros. but other people love Universal.
There is also doing a TV taping, but those take about half a day of your limited time.

janisj

I don't think you've nailed down exactly when in Nov/Dec but re sports tickets:

• NFL (American Football) tickets can be very (sometimes VERY expensive). They are great to experience but you'd have to see if they fit in your budget.

• NBA (the major professional basketball league) also has some very expensive tickets but every arena has some quite modestly priced seats. All the teams have several pre season (sort of practice) games with cheaper and easier to obtain tickets. These preseason games are usually late Sept through mid October. Then the season starts for real usually the last week in October/first week in November.

• Baseball - the regular season ends in very early October and then the playoffs start, finishing up with the World Series beginning the last week in October. Play off tickets are hard to get/expensive but if you are here in very early October the last few regular season games are easy, unless the team is in a close pennant (championship) race where every game matters a LOT.

• Then there are college/university football games with marching bands and lots of festivities. Uni/College basketball starts in early November.

Jean

How many days in Los Angeles?

Depending on your interests, you might be interested in the Grammy Museum in downtown LA. The Grammy Awards (as in gramophone) are given annually to achievements in music. The award selections receive a lot of criticism (what awards don't?), but the museum is very good.

I live in an L.A. beach town and agree that your goal should be to visit a beach area in LA that is unlike SD. Venice, SM and Malibu are certainly not like SD, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'd recommend any of them for a variety of reasons. Homelessness (not just in Venice), car traffic, expensive parking, mostly unimpressive or blocked water views...

If the weather is good, much better experiences would be the Channel Islands (boat tours from Santa Barbara or Oxnard) or Catalina Island (ferry from LA). The Channel Islands are called California's Galapagos because of the several animals that exist nowhere else.

On the mainland in the LA area, I'm partial to the less developed Palos Verdes Peninsula, but it's a fair distance away from the typical sightseeing stops in LA and, again depending on your interests and time, might not be worth a visit. Wonderful views, a lighthouse, a small museum focusing on the gray whales that migrate just off the coast here, several hiking trails...

The San Diego Zoo is one of the greatest zoos in the world... if you're into zoos. The SD Zoo also operates the Wildlife Safari, where the humans are confined (in a vehicle) and the animals are free.

https://sdzsafaripark.org/safaris/wildlife-safari

mrx085x1829

Thx for the further replies. Visiting a sports event was already recommended in my first thread and I put it already on my bucket list. Thanks for mentioning it again.

janisj I have not fixated the finale date of arival. Won't do that befor the first March week but if think it is going to be the first 3 weeks of November. Thanks a lot for mentioning some interesting sporting events.

@Jamie99 I was aware that SF has a China Town as well but did not know that is better than the China Town in LA. I will visit the China Town in SF then. For LA did not know that there other enclaves as well. They are worth a visit for sure if there is enough time left.

@Jean I have scheduled 6 days for LA. Visting Catalina Island or the Channel Island was not on my radar to be honest but they really look very intruiging. Palos Verdes Peninsula seems quite interesting as well. It is to far away for a one day trip from LA but maybe worth a visit when driving to San Diego if I should decide to drive there and not flying there.

Surfergirl

Certainly Olvera Street & Academy of Motion Pictures and Arts (down the street from LACMA and the Tar Pits). Pinks, of course, relatively close to the Tar Pits on La Brea.

Two iconic places to visit in October for evening entertainment would be the Hollywood Bowl and the Greek Theatre . . . both open generally through half of November. In fact, I just got tickets to see the Who at the Bowl November 1st. I'll also be at the Bowl for Pet Shop Boys/New Order in October. The Greek Theatre (Get me to the Greek!) is right in Griffith Park, and generally has some really good shows in October (or as we concert goers say, "Rocktober").

I just went to Universal Studios for the first time in about 10 years this past weekend, and it is great fun! Get the one with the "express pass", where you get through the lines one time for each ride on a fast track. The newish Harry Potter area is brilliant! Also Jurassic World (bring a rain poncho!). The studio tour has a couple new things since last there, but I was a little disappointed that because of the changes made to the back lot, we didn't get to see the Back to the Future set (which I believe has been converted to something else) or the Leave it to Beaver home.

janisj

"janis I have not fixated the finale date of arival. Won't do that befor the first March week but if think it is going to be the first 3 weeks of November. Thanks a lot for mentioning some interesting sporting events."

You're welcome. My post was mainly to explain the quite specific dates for various sports seasons in the States. For example - if you visit in November there will be no Baseball games anywhere so you can strike that off your list. Football and Basketball season will be in full swing. Another major league sports season that is running in November is Ice Hockey - there are teams in Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose.

MichelleY

I would move your trip more into October. November usually has colder, rainy weather. Plus, the 3rd week of November, puts you into the Thanksgiving holiday.

mrx085x1829

Surfergirl Thanks a lot for for the information.

@janisj Thanks for the information about the sporting events.

@MichelleY To be honest I did not consider that there might be difference in the wather and being in country durring a a major holiday is also not the smartest thing to do.

Coming in the middle of October until early November would also be totally possible.

In that case I also would be in the states during Halloween. Watching a Halloween event while I am in the states could be quite intersting.

According to my original plan I should already be in San Diego around the 31th of October. Do you guys know if there any decent Halloween Events in San Diego?

suze

{Which LA beach would you consider as best to visit? According to the info from Janisj I would rule out Venice already due the many homeless.}

I haven't been recently to say, but as I mentioned Venice, Santa Monica, and Malibu are kinda famous more than any beach in San Diego.

richardstutsman7851

Forget Universal Studios- Only an amusement park these days. If you want to see actual filming and behind the scenes work go to the Warner Bros. tour. They take you around the back lot and stages to see old sets and current filming including inside stages, if a production will let them.

PrairieHikerII

I don't think Malibu beach has as many homeless as Venice and Santa Monica. Also, does anyone go to Disneyland any more? I went as a boy and enjoyed it.

StuDudley

Regarding Chinatown in San Francisco. Grant Street is the touristy, souvenir/trinket-infested street in Chinatown. Instead, focus on Stockton Street - one block west of Grant. Stockton is where the Chinese go to purchase food & other things. Much more authentic. Or better yet - take a free (donations welcome) Chinatown walking tour offered by SF CityGuides (off-shoot of the SF public library).
https://sfcityguides.org/tour/chinatown/
See other tours offered at
https://sfcityguides.org/
My wife is a City Guides volunteer who is one of the guides on the two Victorian House tours.

Here is something I posted many years ago:
San Francisco - Stu Dudley's Recommendations
It is so old that many of my responses are truncated because I used "illegal" characters - like a double "less-than".

Stu Dudley