My husband and I are taking my 18-year-old daughter and her friend to LA in early January. He and I will be going to the Rose Bowl. We are staying at the Sheraton Universal and will be there from Monday noon until Thursday afternoon (the game is on Wed.). Any suggestions for restaurants, day trips or other activities? We are from Houston so I'm not sure the shopping will be that different in LA. The girls would love to go where the celebs go, and also see the areas featured in their favorite TV shows - The OC and Laguna Beach - but I don't know if this is a good way to spend the time we have or not. Thanks very much for any help you can give us!

Orange County is quite a trafficky haul from Universal on weekdays, and January can be rainy...so you'll want to have a backup plan since visiting the Newport Beach & Laguna areas could be iffy.

Warner Brothers studios is just a couple miles from Universal and is a totally different type of tour...more focused on the actually moviemaking/working studio aspects. You can do the tour in 2-3 hours if you don't have too much time...might even be able to do it on the same day as the game, what time is the game? ( or you could drop the girls on your way to the game maybe).

Another thing they could do is head down to Hollywood & Highland while you are off to the Rose Bowl. The subway stop is just outside Universal and it is just a few minutes down to Hollywood/Walk of Fame/ Footprints of Stars/ Souvenir shops etc. "Vert" is a Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Hollywood Highland mall/ great food and trendy fun atmosphere.

You could do a shopping trip to Robertson Blvd. Lots of cute boutiques and star sightings there.

I would definitely include a walk down Rodeo Dr. where Nicky and Paris and Lindsey are often photographed coming out of the stores.

My 17 year old went to the LA area on a band tour over the Summer and her favorites were seeing the OC sights in Newport Beach, snorkelling off Catalina Island and Disneyland. My brother took me to a restaurant right on the beach in MAlibu....our chairs were literally in the sand. The food was just ok but I loved the place. I think it is called Paradise Cove.

Great advice so far. As everyone knows, The OC is filmed 100% in LA County (mostly on Manhattan Beach soundstages)-- any shots of Orange County exteriors are either stock or second-unit. I love Laguna Beach (the city, not the show-- gawd, would I love to see the lot of spoiled brats run over by an OCTA bus!!!), and on a sunny day, even if it's cool, it's beautiful. If it's raining, however, it's not worth the hassle.

As far as celebrity sightings, one sees famous and almost-famous people in unsurprising and unexpected places. Urth Caffé in West Hollywood gets younger "stars" for teas, chais and what-not; then they go to Sweet Lady Jane's for desserts. Rodeo Drive is cliché, but I've seen the Big Names having lunch (Neal Diamond-- does he still count?!) or almost run me over (Mary Tyler Moore-- "I'm WALKING HERE!!"). Beverly Center is a small step up from your average shopping mall, but hey-- the stars have to go buy underwear somewhere too. Make one dinner a Splurge Dinner and go to a really pricey place like Capo in Santa Monica, the Ivy in West Hollywood or Spago in Beverly Hills-- you just might fulfill your Celebrity Jones. Oh yeah!! Stop by the Beverly Hills Hotel or the Peninsula-- a few minutes in the lobby could yield success.

However, you might actually have more fun doing what local young people do. Melrose Avenue shopping is always fun on a Saturday. Take a spin on UCLA's lovely campus, then hang out in Westwood Village, or head west to Brentwood and walk along the shops and cafés of San Vincente Blvd. If you're in a Ladies Who Lunch mode, hit Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. A bit more young-skewing is the Third Street Promenade in SM. Venice Beach has some cool shops scattered all over. If the weather's nice, how about heading to Hermosa Beach with inline skates or rented bikes and cruising the Strand?

With over 1,800 restaurants in the Zagat directory in the greater LA area, you're going to have to give some guidance. What cuisines are loved/hated? What's your price range? etc.

The best dining is right there in Pasadena. Yujean Kangs for gourmet Chinese, lots of Asian restaurants.

The Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica is a must. Abercrombie, Von Diesel and other trendy stores are there. The Grove in L.A. is a beautiful area to shop and dine. As for the stars, you'll find them at the Promenade and perhaps the Beverly Center but not on Rodeo. You'll find tourists on Rodeo.

Robertson and Melrose are good suggestions for shopping, too.

For a couple of years in the 1980's, I lived in Studio City, surrounded by the various film and TV factories. Occasionally, I'd see a celebrity on the street or in a cafe. However, the absolute best place to see celebrities was in the grocery store. In Studio City there is (was?) an upscale grocery named Mrs. Gooches-part of a small local LA area chain. I'd guess that over two years, I saw at least 50 celebrities of varying degrees of fame shopping in Mrs. Gooches and I did not got to the market often.

I agree, I have seen more celebrities either at the store, the movies or oddly, hiking in the hills then at "spots" I've seen Uma Thurman, Charlize Theron and the lead sing of the Red Hot Chili Peppers all hiking/walking dogs up on Runyon Canyon though Orlando Bloom supposedly walks his in Fryman (or is it spelled Frierman?) : I used to see gobs of celebs at either Erehwon health food store on Beverly, or Whole Foods on Fairfax..Saw Nicole Richie if she counts.. Sunday Night at the Arclight cinema.. yeah, like it's 7 PM and you're wearing giant sunglasses indoors.. gimmme a break!
Sometimes you see bad boy celebs at dive bars in Silverlake or Molly Malones on Fairfax in WeHO. I used to see celebrities at the mall in Century City.. saw Angelina Jolie when she was with Billy Bob and a mess of children and "staff" eating candy...you see them in Weird places.. oh Dave Grohl at the Grove... lol... eating ribs!

Definitely hit Rodeo Drive, and trust me LA is way different from Houston when it comes to shopping. There's no comparison there. You may want to check out the Kodak Theatre and walk down the street of stars.

Thanks for all the replies! In response to the post asking for our restaurant budget/likes & dislikes, budget is not a concern (we just don't want to have to get extremely dressed up or go somewhere quiet and stuffy); and none of us are picky eaters - we like all cuisines.... particularly sushi.

I'd have posted exactly what rjw_lgb_ca did if I could have organized my thoughts as well.

UCLA/Brentwood (maybe while you're at the game), and Santa Monica for the whole family. Good chance of seeing someone famous at the Ivy in Santa Monica (called the Ivy at the Shore). But even if you don't, it's a nice restaurant. I wouldn't recommend actually shopping on Rodeo Drive, but it's worth going by just because you see it on so many tv shows and movies.

Since you like sushi, make a reservation at Nobu at Malibu. We've dined there and seen a few stars. Plan on a 45 minute drive from Beverly Hills since you're not local. The sushi is very, very good. A good website is seeing-stars.com, by the way. Take your kids to the Getty.

take rjw_lgb_ca's advice. very thorough.

also, another poster mentioned studio city-- DH works up there in the industry and sees tons of celebs out and about at starbucks, the grocery, etc., all the time. however, spending time at places like that in the hopes of seeing someone famous would be really dull!

have fun pasadena is gorgeous.

Hey arc,

I just answered your other post, where you say that you are staying at the St. Regis Monarch Beach.

Anyhow, I didn't know if anyone mentioned www.tvtickets.com. You can go on this website and try to get tickets to shows that are taping around the time you are visiting.

sorry, our plans have really changed since I wrote this post - we are no longer staying at the Sheraton Universal but are staying at the St. Regis Monarch Beach instead!

Fred Segal

siver lake

Kepp in mind - when driving in and around LA, distance is measured in minutes, not miles.
It's common for a 25 mile trip to take 60 minutes or a bit more, so plan accordingly. Especially when out there for the Bowl game.