Los Angeles - Recommend location/hotel

Josey Wales

Hi,

Trying to plan a trip to Los Angeles. It is a big spread out city so I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on what are would be the best to stay in?

Or a recommendation for a nice hotel with a good location?

Thanks.

Barlow07

My advice would be stay away from LA, its a "DUMP". I heard all stories before i went and thought i'd experience it for myself, how sorry i was that i did not listen to the advice i was given by friends and family.

Thumbs Down :eek:

BuffyBot

Afraid I have to say the same. Not a particularily appealing place at all. IF you must go there, stay somewhere reasonably central (Downtown) etc and make sure you factor parking charges into your accomodation budget (assuming you're renting a car..if not, LA again, is probably not a good choice)

6ix

As you've already said, LA is huge.

Wikipedia wrote:

Los Angeles, often called simply L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second-largest in the United States. It is an alpha world city, has a 2005 estimated population of 3,844,829[1], and spans 498 square miles.

As you can imagine, with 500 sq miles, it's important to pick somewhere that is near whatever you want to see. I've stayed in Santa Monica, and found it great for the beaches, Hollywood, Beverly Hills etc.

As for the other poster's advice... I'd agree that it's not a "nice city" like New York or San Francisco, but it's an experience. Perhaps he/she didn't stay in a particularly good area.

I had the benefit of staying right on the pacific, and Santa Monica is a pretty cool area. I couldnt see myself ever living in LA like I could in other cities, but seeing it was well worthwhile. I wouldn't term it a dump, and there's plenty to do and see.

Oh, I stayed in the Huntley Santa Monica. Nice place, with a great restaurant on the top floor with excellent views. Not sure how much it was, I didn't have to pay

Edit: I wouldn't necessarily stay in downtown - not much to do there. However, renting a car is the only option if you're in LA for any length of time.

cacio

I fell in love with la when i went there. going back again this year. i stayed in days inn on sunset. not the most luxurious place but its pretty central. hollywood blvd is a 2min walk away and santa monica, beverly hills etc are about 15min drive. i think next time i'd stay near the beaches. here's a little tip for you. if you want to see the hollywood sign, dont follow directions from people there. drive towards the hollywood bowl and get on the freeway, take the exit for burbank (its only 5mins on the freeway). you'll come to a small crossroad with a shop on the left and houses on the right. go right and follow the hill to the top. you'll have the most amazing view of the sign and valleys fom there. we got as close to it as possible. enjoy your trip!

Superman

LA is ghetto! stayed in downtown LA (theres not much there except that building from Dragnet etc.) in the days Inn near the train station, I wouldn't say its an amazing place to stay but was cheap and we were taking trains so it was handy, cuase you don't want to stay near the LA bus station cause its in compton.

Overall it was the combination of ****ness of how the city looked, the overwhelming poverty and the dodgyness of the characters in downtown LA that made me hate the place.

A good story is when we walked around downtown looking for somewhere to eat, we found nowhere and were constantly watchin out for guys in vest running around and hiding listening to their police scanners so they could leggit if anything poped off. allot of crack dealin whas goin on. we gave up on getting food and went to our hotel and ordered dominoes.

Overall i got the impression that if your a millionaire with money to burn and don't feel guilty about spending loads when theres so uch poverty you can have a great time in LA, other wise go to san francisco, A great place!

6ix

Superman wrote:

Overall i got the impression that if your a millionaire with money to burn and don't feel guilty about spending loads when theres so uch poverty you can have a great time in LA, other wise go to san francisco, A great place!

If anything, there are just as many homeless etc on the streets of San Francisco, because of its reputation as a hippy city etc. Certainly in my experience that was the case.

OP, I wouldn't let all this talk of the ghetto put you off. While I recognise that there are parts of the city that are unsavoury for tourists, this is inevitable in any city, particularly given the huge agglomeration that you're visiting.

As noted above, stay in Santa Monica, or Manhattan beach or somewhere. Any half decent "Trip Advisor" type site will tell you not to stay in Downtown/Hollywood, while any rapper will tell you not to stay in South Central or Compton

I'm far from a millionaire, but I enjoyed it. I prefer San Francisco overall, but I'd have no hesitation in returning to LA.

ChuckProphet

as already said, stay in santa monica. i think 3rd street is the main drag

Noelie

Hey Guys,
I'm going to LA in May and i'm planning of going to Universal Sutdios one day, my g/f wants to do a hollywood tour another and so to the beach for a day, we're planning on staying beside Universal Studios as i've been told it's beside hollywood also, are the beaches far from Universal?

6ix

Have a look at this link for example. Santa Monica & Venice Beaches the closest beaches to Hollwood, and they're about 15-20 miles away I'd say.