mia22

My husband and I are going to LA next month. Our main goal is to see the ff: Getty Museum, a beach (maybe Venice beach, Huntington beach), Griffith Observatory. We are also into restaurants. We can rent a car but if public transpo is available that is much better. Thank you!

MoonFish

I would stay in the Santa Monica beach area.
Close to Getty, LAX and great restaurants.
Lots of price points...Shutters, Huntley or Le Meridian $289,now, to Hampton Inn and similar.
Don't rent a car...Uber.

Gjusta or Gjelina in Venice or Jay's in Santa Monica...which is a dive but fantastic food and a block from pier.

LA is an incredible place to eat!
Check out Jonathan Gold's, 100 best places to eat in LA...mostly cheap and delicious, ethnic, which LA does so so well.

Nobu in Malibu on the deck overlooking the ocean with some of the best sushi, an hour or two before sunset is an incredible moment of food and views!

Make sure you visit some of the great taco shops for a carne asada burrito or rolled tacos.

MoBro

We like the Pacifica hotels in the Marina del Rey/Venice area: Inn at Venice Beach, Jamaica Bay Inn, The KInney. Have stayed at each of them and can recommend them.

jamie99

Huntington Beach is out of the way from your other destinations, it is down in Orange County, not LA County. Any particular reason? I mean it is a very nice town with good surfing but not convenient without a car. The South Bay beach towns are closer and also have good surf and plenty of restaurants.
I would have a car except for maybe Griffith Observatory (closed Monday) which has truly terrible parking these days.

bachslunch

Public transportation is indeed available -- made extensive use of it on a visit to LA earlier this year.

If staying in Santa Monica in the vicinity of the Pier, you can use the Expo Line heading east. To go to the Getty Center, take the Expo Line to Sepulveda, then a 734 bus (weekdays) or 234 bus (weekends) to the Getty Center stop. It takes about twice as long as driving per Google maps, though you don't have to pay for parking at the museum.

The Griffith Observatory is a good ways away from the coast. Google maps suggests you can drive there in about 45 minutes. Again, it's about twice as long to get there via public transportation and you need to do this on the weekends when the Observatory shuttle runs. Take the Expo Line to Expo/Vermont, 754 bus to the Vermont/Hollywood Red Line stop, then the Observatory shuttle the rest of the way. By far the most interesting thing about the Observatory is the view from there, followed by the building itself. Unless you're keen to take in a planetarium show, you'll likely find the exhibits underwhelming and best for kids.

LA is a sprawling place, so relying on taxis and/or uber will likely be costly. A transit pass is probably wise if you're going to use public transportation since they don't offer transfers. You can get one day or 7 day passes. Or you can rent a car if you're willing to shell out for parking, car rental, and gas.

There are lots of places to eat in Santa Monica and Venice.

mia22

Hello all thank you for your replies!

Huntington beach because my husband is an avid surfer and says that the beach is an iconic spot. We are going next month and we hadn't even checked out the waves yet.

If we are going to skip Huntington and Griffith, and still want to see Getty Museum and a different beach, is Santa Monica still the best base?

KarenInFla

We were just in LA for a week and stayed in Culver City (mainly because we were visiting our daughter who lived close by). There are lots of restaurants in the area and it's easy access to places you're interested in. The Culver hotel is conveniently located (we've never stayed but know people who have and liked it). Our daughter recently moved to Culver City but lived in Santa Monica prior to that so all our earlier visits took us there. I agree, it's another nice area that I'd suggest you consider. For previous trips we've also stayed in Venice and Marina del Rey and found that worked out well.

We also went to the Getty museum on our last trip. It's beautiful so get there early, specially if you need to park, because you can easily spend several hours there (pack a lunch and enjoy a picnic). But if you Uber, you'll save the $15 parking fee (the museum and grounds are free)!

We've been to Griffith observatory and, yes, parking is a challenge so be prepared to park far away and trek up to the entrance. We went to Mount Wilson Observatory a couple weeks ago (only open on weekends) and did the tour. That was cool but it's a longer (albeit scenic) drive. Driving through the San Gabriel mountains makes you feel like you have totally left the city!

I know you were talking about Huntington beach but it triggered another suggestion - Huntington Library (and gardens). It's another beautiful destination though a bit of a drive.

If you're interested in doing the beach, there are other areas that offer surfing via a day trip so you can avoid making Huntington beach your home base (a bit too far, IMHO).

As for accommodations, we never stay in hotels. We always book with VRBO or Airbnb and have always had good experiences. Often for the same money, you can rent an entire apartment or guest house rather than just a room. However, if you decide to rent - a word of caution. Do not assume that air conditioning is standard in all dwellings. As you can see by this week's LA forecast, it can get quite warm (though nights cool off) so take that into consideration when booking accommodations. Some rentals also come with dedicated parking (a big plus if you rent a car) but we did also Uber occasionally for convenience sake.

One last tip (in case this is your first LA trip) - be sure to look at "time" and not "distance" when planning your travel within LA since a 5 mile distance can easily become a 30 minute (or more!) drive depending on time of day, destination and route! Good luck and have fun!

MoBro

For surf beaches, you could go to Malibu Beach and Zuma Beach.
But I suggest you have a car that day, to cruise the coast.
The Charthouse is an old standby of ours, to sit over the beach and enjoy lunch or dinner. Also Moonshadows is more contemporary, and very good.

RE: Getty, there are two: the Getty Center and the Getty Villa. Not co-located. We like both of them very much. There are beautiful views from each.

The Villa is more antiquities, formal gardens, and historic architecture (closed Tuesdays).
The Center is 'modern' art, also beautiful gardens and grounds (closed Mondays).

Admission is free for both, but parking is $15.
For the Villa, you need to go on-line and get a 'timed-entry ticket'.

http://www.getty.edu/visit/

Either one is well worth a visit, and have nice cafes to grab a bite and sit outdoors.

jamie99

If your husband is set on Huntington Beach then you really need a rental car, Google Maps is showing at least 2 hours each way via public transport from downtown Union Station to the pier in Huntington Beach involving at least one change. You are talking about traveling from one county (LA) to another (Orange) and while our public transport is much better, we still do not do very good at trasferring between different agencies.
Both the South Bay beach cities as well as Malibu are good suggestions and much easier to reach.

bachslunch

Note that at present the Getty Villa (Malibu) is having some work done, so parts of the museum and some of its collection are not available to see. What's there is still worth a visit, but you'll have to wait until work is completed to get the "full" experience there.

MoBro

Thanks, bachslunch, that good to know.

suze

I think a rental car would be well worth the expense for the convenience for the places you want to see.

There's nothing difficult about the driving and you can cover so much more ground than trying to do this by public transportation (which is not how/where I'd want to be spending my time as a tourist in Los Angeles).

MoonFish

I would never stay in an AirBnB or HomeAway if my life depended on it.
It has ruined our coastal So.Cal community and living next to one is a complete and utter nightmare!
Get a hotel room.
Don't ruin others peace and quiet enjoyment of their neighborhood!

Thank God the tide is turning that most cities in the USA are banning STVR!!!

aliced

Rent a car. Santa Monica is a good base. You can get to either Getty (Malibu or Brentwood) "fairly" easiily, just do not attempt to get to/from Brentwood during rush hour. Griffith is awesome, and near the "new/old" downtown LA section by Grand Central Market, the awesome Broad museum, Disney Concert Hall (yes, am architecture fan), and close to The Last Bookstore, another icon. From Santa Monica you can bike down to Venice Beach easily (well, Shutters provides free bikes but I can't come close to ever staying there).

bachslunch

I've been to the Griffith Observatory, and I would be hard-pressed to describe it as being "close" to Downtown (The Broad, Disney Concert Hall, etc.). Though I guess that depends on how one defines the term. Close to Hollywood, yes.

I also didn't find the observatory to be "awesome," though the view from it is nice (assuming smog isn't an issue) and the building is reasonably attractive. The exhibits struck me as being sparse, kid-oriented, and underwhelming, though a planetarium show might be good (didn't have time for this). To each their own, perhaps.

And while I did enjoy The Broad, the collection contained too many so-so works for me to think of it as "awesome." Too many monumental works by minor artists for my taste, though there were a number of good works as well.

Now the Getty Center and Norton Simon Museum? Yeah, those were awesome, I thought.

mia22

Thanks guys! Looks like Santa Monica is it for us.

What about LACMA? That was another suggestion.

rjw_lgb_ca

LACMA is a world-class museum. Well worth the time. In fact, I'd say that it's a better MUSEUM than the Getty Center.

The Getty Center is a superior architectural site, and has wonderful visiting exhibitions. But its permanent collection is spotty and scattershot IMHO.

Frankly, both are worth the time. For somewhat different reasons.

Santa Monica is fine for headquartering your visit. Have fun!

mlgb

What about the Kimpton Palomar?

bachslunch

I liked LACMA a lot as well and its best pieces stand up to anyone's. Going there is a must, agreed. But there was no shortage of ho-hum stuff there as well (the collection is huge), and my feeling was that the Getty's quality-to-quantity ratio was better. I wouldn't consider The Getty's collection "spotty and scattershot," but different strokes and all that.

But this is like debating the merits of single malt 20 year old scotch brands. Can't go wrong with any of them.

MoBro

LACMA is great, of course. It would be a much different experience than going to a Getty, which are both set off by themselves, with open views all around.

Urban LACMA is smack in the middle of the 'Miracle Mile' stretch of Wilshire Blvd.

It's a fun, walkable area with lots of little ethnic restaurants. Around the corner is the Grove:
https://thegrovela.com