Quick trip to LA to visit colleges. Wondering where to stay. Santa Monica ok or too crowded. Found reasonable rental on vrbo. Is there a better or more convenient place to stay? Haven't been there for 20 years. We will have a car to site see but also like to walk. We will be there about 5 days

thank for any help.

joyce

Where is the rental on vrbo? How many people do you have? When are you going?

And what colleges are you visiting?

Vacation Rentals by Owner Listing #125520 is the listing I found. Looks nice but i emailed for the location,and am waiting for response. Going in mid Feb to usc and ucla. I also found the Cal Mar which looks like a convenient location. Just looking for a base. We even thought of driving to San Diego for a day. We are only there Thurs to Tues and I know realistically there is way too much to do in California in this short of a time.

thanks for any help.

From the photo on the website, my husband and I think the VRBO is between Shutters Hotel and the pier (which means south of the pier).

For a little more money and a lot more charm, look at www.embassyhotelapts.com. It's in what I would consider a slightly nicer location (obviously closer to the Third Street restaurants and shopping but farther from the beach) at 1001 Third Street. Very highly rated on Tripadvisor.com.

Go Trojans! (I had to add that.)

I think the rental might be a little further down, on the other side of Shutters going towards Ocean Park Blvd. If so, you'd be able to walk to Main St. and the restaurants and shopping there, and to the Main St. market on Sunday morning, which is very nice for breakfast and shopping.

The VRBO place does look nice and there is a beach and ocean view, which is so hard to get in Santa Monica even in the expensive hotels on the beach. For that price, it's a very good deal w/the view.

Thanks to all for your input. The rental is on Ocean Ave at Bicknell. My son also liked the Bayview. Looks like it is on or close to the beach. Since we were planning on ucla and usc tours we thought it might be better to locate in Santa Monica rather than Hermosa area. If your opinion differs please let me know. We even thought of driving down to San Diego for a day. I figured that would be 2-3 hours depending on traffic. So much to do...such little time. Thanks again for any advice.

Sounds like your son doesn't really know the Los Angeles area. I would visit places around Los Angeles so that if he picks one of those schools he will have his bearings. There are other great beaches with less driving entailed.

San Diego would be a great option for one of his longer holiday weekends once he is enrolled and you come to visit.

Were you thinking of looking at colleges in San Diego also? Will you be looking at more schools in L.A. besides USC and UCLA? There are so many schools in Southern California besides the Big Two.

He thought he may like to see uc-irvince and uc-davis. He is interested in either Architecture or pre-med,however, as we all know that may change a few dozen times before graduation. If time permits we may take a quick look at uc San Diego. I think just bopping around L.A. to get a feel for the area is really a good idea. I look at this trip as a fun mini vacation to a great area and visiting a few colleges is a bonus. Santa Monica just seems like is close to everything...and on the beach. So tell me what touristy things are a must see. Thanks for your replies and information.

The daughter of a friend is in med school at UC Irvine. Although she's a SoCal girl, she did her undergrad at Boston U. The area around UCI is all planned-community (and the weather's perfect), so the contrast with BU is enormous. She's having a good experience there.

Other colleges in the L.A. area to consider: Occidental College in Eagle Rock (NE of downtown L.A.). Smaller school in a less urban area. Pepperdine University in Malibu and Loyola Marymount University in Westchester (near LAX). Both are religiously affiliated, if that matters to you. The scenery at Pepperdine is stunning. LMU's campus is beautiful, and the location is very central for most of L.A.

If you go to UC San Diego, consider also a look at Cal State San Diego.

For architecture, you and your son should definitely go to the Getty Center. Interesting Richard Meier design in a challenging location. If you had more time, I'd suggest an architectural walking tour of downtown L.A., but I think you have more than enough to keep you busy.

There are so many good schools near L.A.-- LMU, Pepperdine, UCLA, USC, Pomona. . . that you can see just about any type of campus you want. Also some other smaller schools like Redlands, Occidental, and the other wonderful Claremont schools. Even UC- Riverside.

If you have time to venture to San Diego, the U. of San Diego (Catholic) campus is almost too picturesque and meticulously groomed to believe! The Spanish architecture is stunning, and your son might like it a lot.

(UC-Irvine is not the most attractive campus, on the other hand.)

Problem is, the campuses are spread out over the area, and with L.A. traffic, it has hard to see more than two schools in one day, in my experience. So you need to be selective.

What's your short list of schools to see?
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Just in case you don't know CA too well, UC Davis is north of San Francisco. You won't be able to see it on a trip to SoCal. I vote for UCLA, but then I went there.

He really is interested in UCLA (wish we could get tickts to the basketball game UCLA USC), mainley because....warm..sports...great school, and talking to one of the Doctors I work with who of course went there clinched it. Short list is
ucla
uc-Irvine
uc San Diego (If we get there)
and usc.
I'm glad to know of a few more mentioned. I remember seeing Pepperdine when I was out there (20 years). What a beautiful area. I am just looking forward to the trip. If we need to come back to see more...oh well twist my arm!!!
Has anyone heard of the Bayside Hotel? Far from Fancy but reasonable and close to the Beach. We found a condo rental close to their also which is more my speed. Now for the touristy things...Studio tour? Hermosa Comedy and Magic Club? Any must sees?

Jay Leno does a standup routine most Sunday nights at the Hermosa C & M Club.

Try Ebay or stubhub.com for the basketball tickets.