Seal Beach is just few yards north from Children's Pool. Do pardon me Barbara for the incorrect nomenclature. If they're looking at maps for southern CA they'll see lots of references to Pacific Coast Hwy 101, as well as signage locally. Much more walkable and more to do from Mission Bay than on Harbor Island, just sayin.

As far as a hotel in Los Angeles goes, Glendale would be a good place, since it is fairly close to Dodger Stadium. A little further east would be Pasadena and there are numerous hotels there due to the Rose Bowl location.

If you use the shuttle to Union Station as Jean suggested, you can also take the Metro from there to a station in Pasadena area where you can leave your rental car in the Metro parking lot while you are at the game.

Driving in Los Angeles can be difficult, but downloading Waze is a very good idea. It will take you around accidents and will tell you the route to take as you are driving.

aliced, those are great ideas for family outings.
ltr, that plan for staying in Glendale and taking transit to the game could be a great solution. Assuming they can reverse the plan, late at night after the game the system will be running regularly?

Looks like Wednesday night is still your wild card.
Best options could be staying in San Diego as suggested, or Glendale as ltr describes.
Or go closer to Hollywood as are the hotels I listed.

I think you probably want to minimize the number of hotel moves you make, with 5 people.

The Dodger Stadium Express info is here
https://www.metro.net/riding/dodger-stadium-express/

• Buses run every 10 minutes, starting 90 minutes before game time through the end of the 2nd inning for all home games.
• You can exit at one of two stops – behind Center Field or at the Top Deck. Service back to Union Station will pick up at the same stops after the game.
• Return service ends 45 minutes after the final out or 20 minutes after post-game events.

I wouldn't use the Dodger Express if you're going to book into Glendale though. Just go very early and leave late, and drive. The Hyatt Place in Downtown Glendale gets good reviews and has rooms that can sleep 5 people (which can be an issue in LA).

I agree that the Harbor Island/Liberty Station/Airport Location is fine in San Diego if you want to go to the Zoo and Coronado /Point Loma but I'd rent a car. BTW the Cabrillo National Monument isn't free, unless you already have an annual pass. I guess relative to other things to do in San Diego, it isn't that expensive, though.
https://www.nps.gov/cabr/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm

Or, if you aren't going to go to the Zoo and just want a beach, you could look up in North County, eg around Del Mar and go to Torrey Pines or one of the North County beaches.

I wouldn't wait too long to book San Diego, it tends to fill up fast in summer (although at the moment it is pretty gloomy along the coast).

As far as Public Transportation in San Diego, I've only used the North County system (NCTD) Breeze, which runs along PCH from about Carlsbad to UCSD.

Wow! So much helpful information. Thank you all. I'm still sifting through all of it. I'll let you know how it goes.
So far we've booked (with cancellation option) the Best Western Plus Midtown LA near Wilshire/Vermont station. This would allow for convenient public transit to the game while also being close to some Hollywood sights that interested us. But we are still investigating Pasadena and will look at Glendale based on ltr's recommendation.
The cheaper rates in Pasedena (and probably Glendale) are attractive. That's a better option on Thursday. But it would be less convenient on Wednesday. As MoBro said, we'd rather not move rooms. In the end, we'll just have to weigh our convenience vs. our budget.

I *really* appreciate all the advice on driving in LA. Very helpful to me.

Because the OP chose to start two threads, this one doesn't make everything clear. I think their plan is to do their L.A. sightseeing on Friday morning/early afternoon before hitting the I-5. The sightseeing mentioned is all on the "other side" of the hill. If that's their plan, Glendale doesn't make sense.

Pasadena doesn't make sense either...

Yep. Frankly, I'd skip the sightseeing and hit the road early.

Yes, please delete this thread. It doesn't even include the most critical piece of information: this trip is the week including July 4th. Stopping for lunch in a beach town on the drive from SD to LA (July 3rd) would be like falling into a spider web. That drive is already going to be long and slow without detours into the more popular destinations for a summer holiday weekend.

Your two threads about traveling to San Diego and Los Angeles have been merged into one. All responses to both threads are now here.

Moderator1, there's a third thread titled something like "Accommodations after Dodger Night Game."