We'll be in Torrance, CA around Christmas for our son to take a helicopter safety course.

Any recommendations on what to do?
Restaurants?

Are there any wineries within driving distance?

Thanks!

Excellent restaurant in Torrance is The Depot (in old Torrance.) Also check Chez Melange in Redondo Beach.

You can drive around the Palos Verdes Peninsula and head towards the Wayfarer's Chapel, built by Frank Lloyd Wright's son. Lovely views.

On that drive you will be near the new Trump National Golf Course. There is a restaurant there. I haven't been; probably quite pricey but could be great ocean views.

If weather permits, walk along the strand/beach Torrance-Redondo-Hermosa-Manhattan.

Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach, down near the ocean, has a pedestrian zone with restaurants/bars, mostly for young people. I don't think the food is anything to rave about; in summer it's pretty lively, not sure about winter.

(Torrance is very near all these beach cities)

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. If I come up with other ideas, I'll post again.

Don't know about any wineries nearby. The folks at the Depot or Chez Melange would know.

Have fun!

You do realize that from Torrance it's only 20 miles to downtown LA, 15 to Long beach....heck, it's only 120 miles to San Diego or Palm Springs! So, since you'll be there for a whole week, I think you probably need to peruse an LA-area guide book and plan some days out.

Wine areas closest to Torrance would be Temecula. Santa Barbara County (Santa Ynez/Santa Rita Hills) is nicer, but maybe too much for a daytrip (at least 2 hours each way). There are also a fair number of wine bars if you just want to do tasting versus a Sideways tour. Long Beach has several, but I would think there are others nearby.

There are some rather well-regarded Japanese 'izakaya' restaurants around Torrance. Musha in the shopping center at Carson and Western is good. There's also a Japanese-Korean style AYCE BBQ place in the same center, Koji.

Quite close to the airport just east on Lomita Blvd is Il Chianti, which is an outpost of a Japanese chain that is Japanese-Italian fusion!

If you're interested in Spanish food, La Espanola Meats has "Paella Saturday" as well as a deli.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dail...-saturday.html

If you let us know how far you would be willing to drive, what type of food you like, and what other interests (besides wine tasting), you have and we can give you better suggestions. Here are just a few that came to mind:

The Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach usually has good acts, and Jay Leno every Sunday: www.comedyandmagicclub.com/

I'm assuming you'll be at Torrance Airport/Robinson Helicopter. There is a "Wine Styles" wine shop just around the corner from there on PCH & Crenshaw. I believe they have $15 tastings: www.winestyles.net/torrance

Just upstairs from Wine Styles is the Burke Williams Spa.

Restaurant Christine www.restaurantchristine.com/ and Misto Caffe www.mistocaffe.com/ are two of my favorite Torrance restaurants.

We are also becoming very fond of the restaurant at Trump National Golf Course. There are great walking trails there for walking off your meal. www.trumpnationallosangeles.com

Whale watching is available from shore at either Point Vicente Interpretive Ctr in Palos Verdes or from boats out of Long Beach, San Pedro or Redondo Beach.

If you like beer--head to Naja's on the International Boardwalk section of the Redondo Beach Pier. Check out Riviera Village--lots of restaurants and wine to be had. Check out Bouzy--the wine bar at the new Chez Melange (okay--admit to a plug here--SIL is the sous chef).

You could see the Christmas version of "Late Night Catechism," if tix are still available. Show night is Dec. 23 only: http://www.hermosabeachplayhouse.com/ChristmasLNC.html

Or attend Smooth Jazz Christmas at the Cerritos Center (about 18 miles, but a very easy drive if not rush hour): http://www.cerritoscenter.com/ticket...nSeasonId=2641

It would be helpful if you provided more info re. your ages, interests, etc.

Are you game for a great circular day drive that has it all - beaches, Malibu, mountains, Fillmore/Santa Paula agriculture, Ojai swankness, Oxnard, Malibu and more beaches, home again? Take your time, get a map, and follow along:

Take Torrance Blvd or Sepulveda west to the coast.

Drive north through Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach to Playa del Rey (ocean views), pick up Hwy 1 (surface street) Lincoln, in Santa Monica hop on the 10 Freeway going west (to Santa Monica even though you are there already) for a mile until it fizzles out and dips down to ocean level as a surface street, becoming Hwy 1 going into Malibu.

Watch your speed - the speed limit goes up and down...

Keep driving, 15 miles or so at least (?), eventually down the hill and past Zuma beach (Point Dume), great ocean views, and in a few miles look for the turn off on the right for Decker Canyon - look for it, signage is not a big deal.

Now you use your steering wheel through the scenic drive, up and over the mountains - stop and look back and take some pix, all the while wondering who the heck lives up there?.

When you get down into “The Valley” (San Fernando Valley), pick up Nr. 23 and hop on the 101 Freeway North (actually going west at that point) for a few miles, then take 23 north to Moorpark.

Take the Los Angeles Ave exit, turn left (west), it is still Nr. 23 (if you had stayed on the freeway it would change and become nr. 118 going east) and it is also numbered 118 west.

Ignore Spring Rd, but turn right at the next major intersection with Moorpark Ave (still nr. 23), stay on it, still nr. 23 although the name changes to Walnut Canyon Rd., then it curves and becomes Broadway Rd. going west, then it turns north and is called Grimes Canyon Rd. (still nr. 23).

The scenery changes something drastic - rocks, almost alpine looks...

Then the road straightens out, now you are entering the vegetable and fruit basket of Southern CA, and you have to be on the lookout for a left turn into Bardsdale Ave - right when nr 23 makes a dogleg to the right where it changes name from Grimes Cyn Rd. to Bellevue Ave.

Bardsdale Ave heads west through the plantations - make sure you turn left (south) at either S. Sespe St or Hueneme St or San Cayetano - they all take you to S. Mountain Rd where you take a right (west) and keep going until it drops you (under the freeway 126) into Santa Paula. Nice small-town feel.

A quick left and right gets you to S. 1oth St, keep going, it’s the Nr. 150 and it drops you through lovely scenery (very different once again) into the back end of famous Ojai.

Look around, feel rich and famous (hey, everybody else in Ojai either is or does...), have lunch, you’ve earned it.

Then take the Nr 33 down to Ventura, hop on the 101 South (actually going east at that point), get off after a few miles, in Oxnard, at the Hwy 1 Oxnard Blvd exit and head south on surface roads into Oxnard, follow the Nr. 1 signs no matter what through town and you’ll soon be on the flat land (another vegetable and fruit basket) going past the military installations of Port Hueneme and then Point Mugu, and when you turn at the humongous rock now heading east along the beaches you are heading back into Malibu again.

A couple of miles after that huge rock where the road turns, on your left, is the Neptune’s Net - seafood restaurant and convenience store, a landmark, stop for fish and chips or whatever, it’s a famous hang in the middle of nowhere. With a bit of luck you can watch a school of parasailers across the road on the beach, or some movie star come up from Malibu...

Then head home, backtracking what you did in the morning. You’ll have seen more different types of scenery in one day than you would have imagined. Who says LA is monotonous?