L.A. Have a day to myself - what to do ?

shabbyroad

Am going to LA on business in late-May.
Thinking about doing a tourist day.
What do you recommend ? (no theme parks purlease)

Rabies

just explore. walk around, wander and get lost. Or hire a car and see where it takes you.

Stimpyone

You could always spend the day down on Venice beach, it's full of weird and wonderful people ( mussel beach etc, I'm sure you've seen it on TV, bay watch etc ), the sidewalk cafe if nice for a bite to eat and the Venice Whaler or Hinano's Bar are good for a cool pitcher of beer.

From there you could stroll up the promenade to Santa Monica pier and if your into shopping you could visit 3rd street promenade ( Grafton Street x10 without the prices ).

Couple of web cam addresses

http://www.westland.net/beachcam/

http://www.westland.net/piercam/

Tom Dunne

Rabies wrote:

Or hire a car and see where it takes you.

Agreed - hire a car. Head out to Hollywood (be warned - dangerous, seedy at night), go do Venice beach, Santa Monica Pier.

The costal road (it's either route 101, or route 1 - it's been a few years since I drove it) is incredible. Sheer cliffs and stunning scenery.

secret_squirrel

Venice beach to Santa monica would be my bet - hire a bike or a pair of blades and just soak up the atmos.

Shrimp

LA at night is AMAZING!

secret_squirrel

Shrimp wrote:

LA at night is AMAZING!

Where/How - enlighten us!!!

pete

Rabies wrote:

just explore. walk around, wander and get lost.

worst advice ever for LA.

Shrimp

LA has an amazing night life. It's the world centre of night life, put it this way! it's where the stars club?

Stimpyone

Eh, you might be a bit dissapointed there Shrimp. restaurants and bars are the order of the day for the most part with a few decent clubs/Live Venues thrown in ( Viper rooms, House of Blues etc... if that's your thing )... LA is all about chillin :cool:

Rabies

pete wrote:

worst advice ever for LA.

I did it for my first 2 days in NY during the summer. Didn't know where I was, just walked around alone for hours exploring the place. Walked through one or two rough areas but weren't too bad.

pete

Rabies wrote:

I did it for my first 2 days in NY during the summer. Didn't know where I was, just walked around alone for hours exploring the place. Walked through one or two rough areas but weren't too bad.

Note the "..for LA" part. LA and New York are very different cities.

Stimpyone

Yeah I agree with pete.

The rent a car thing could also end up a bit crappy, LA is so sprawled that it's quite easy to get lost if you don't know where you are going, plus the traffic can be a freekin nightmare...... Think M50 x 10 :mad:

Superman

visit compton, Its residents seem to love the place

shabbyroad

Compton it is.

(have lived in NY and have travelled a lot in the US though strangely it's my first time in LA beyond LAX)

Think I might do a trashy Hollywood tour...