What to do in L.A. ?

Velitrius

Velitrius

Joined
Mar 3, 2000
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Velitrius here, honored clergyman of the Terrible Ironic Horde. Giving hope to the hopeless, help to the helpless, and clues to the clueless.

Headed to Los Angeles for a few days, and only want to do 2 at the Disney complex. Going to catch a Mariners Game at Anaheim one of the nights, so we have a couple of days to burn up doing Gawd-Knows-What. So I look to the wisdom of BFC for some off the wall, low cost options in the area.

The boys are 16 and 13, meaning they'll likely want to kick back by the pool and people watch on the female people. So I have to be able to offer up some recreational opportunities that sound interesting enough to pry them away from that.

Don't want to add any more "theme parks" to the trip, so thinking beach, or muscle car museum, or something else off-beat.

Also, awesome eating spots around Anaheim that serve great micro-brews would be greatly appreciated.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress...

Vel
 
Venice/Muscle beach is interesting.
Peterson auto museum is great.
You can walk the sidewalks and see the crazies around Graumans Chinese Theater.
I liked the tour of the Queen Mary.
We looked at the showroom of Boyd Coddington's shop. I don't know if they are still open.
You can drive the coastline through Malibu.
 
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino

http://www.huntington.org/

The Botanical Gardens are out of this world.

Huntington-Botanical-japanese-Gardens.jpg


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The art gallery (formerly Huntington's mansion) is a trip into the 18th century.

ArtGalleryRoomBig.jpg


La Brea Tar Pits

http://www.tarpits.org/la-brea-tar-pits

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Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

http://www.nortonsimon.org/

A really good art museum

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Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument AKA Hearst Castle (if you're up for a four hour drive)

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=591

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LA is a big city. There are many things to do. Universal Studios and the Hollywood Walk of Fame are two great locations.
 
bdmicarta, I'd never heard of that auto museum... it looks fab. The Queen Mary also looks like a neat visit.

Piso Mojado, my boys will likely dig the Tar Pits, but not so much a 4 hour ride anywhere. Heck, the plane ride is only 2 hours!

Rupestris... HALF BACON! My gall bladder already hurts so good. Taps from Stone and Iron Fist breweries will be a must as well.

Getting some great ideas here folks....
 
The Peterson Car Museum is just a block from the La Brea Tar Pits. You can do both, and grab a hot dog at Pinks (Google it) in an afternoon.

You could also do Olivera Street (very old L.A.), ChinaTown, and Phillipe's (where the French Dip Sandwich was invented) in an easy day.

Or you can do Beverly Hills (Rodeo Dr), Santa Monica Beach, and the Getty Art Museum (they're all in 5 miles).

Griffith Park has the Observatory, The Autry Western Museum, a huge collection of old trains at Travel Town, the Zoo, horseback riding, and miles of hiking trails.

Chino is closer than Long Beach (where the Queen Mary is tied up) and has the largest collection of old airplanes you'll ever see in one place.

While Huntington Gardens are very nice I prefer Descanso Gardens in La Canada (about 15 minutes away). It's known for the Camilia's and they should be blooming this time of year.

Jay Leno often shows up at the flash car mobs in Burbank, so if you get online you might be able to join one of these. They can last 6+ hours and have thousands of cars show up. There's almost always a car show going on somewhere on the weekends.

The Hat, Tops, Tommy's, In-and-Out are all local burger joints.

If you want to see some celebrities I recommend going early to the Starbucks in Westwood on the weekend. Or old town Pasadena on Friday night.

Have fun, you can't do it all. If you need more just let me know. I've lived there (off and on) 20 years.
 
Thanks for the hints, Eisman... always looking for that thing to do that isn't the thing everybody else does when I go someplace.

Wife and I lived in Ventura County for a stint back when I was in the Navy, but that was 30-ish years ago.

Not really big on celebrities (we're not the Entertainment Tonight or People magazine crowd), we just like for the boys to be able to do some things and see some stuff that they'll enjoy and hopefully remember fondly as they go along... and get some sunshine! Lived in Washington State for life, and right around this time of year we like to go and get some sun on our faces for a few days.

Griffith Observatory looks awesome as well. Didn't know that was there.

Keep 'em coming...
 
You could do the Rose Bowl Flea Market (2nd sat each month) if you're there next week.

Or go to Pamona Raceway.

Or take a ride to Placerita Canyon (where gold was found) and see the nature conservatory. Then swing back by the W.S. Hart Museum (more cowboy stuff).

Or if the kids want rides take them to 6 Flags.

Or take a ride up PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy) to Malibu and then cut thru the hills on Latigo Canyon (one twisty road) to the Simi Valley. I prefer Kanan Dume and it gets a lot of guys trying out their sports bikes and fast cars, but Latigo is what we drove in manual for fun.

Or go to the Science Center down by USC.

Go watch the horses run at Santa Anita.

Take a ride up to Mt Wilson (Observatory and on a clear day you can see Catalina).
 
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