Los Angeles Worth a Visit?

Nikki Sixx

I’ve never been to Los Angeles, are there good things to see there? Is it worth spending a week there?

Caranica

Nikki Sixx wrote: »

I’ve never been to Los Angeles, are there good things to see there? Is it worth spending a week there?

Good God no. There is no centre as such and a car is a must. Parts are very very rough. By all means stay in one of the beach towns nearby and drive in and see Hollywood etc but it's a must skip rather than a just see imo.

eeloe

as above, not really much to do unless you are staying in the beach areas, or going to universal hollywood.

Duffryman

Absolutely no!

Have been there twice, for two days at a time – once at the start of a trip, and once at the end. Even two days is a bit of a stretch. Honestly don’t know how you’d fill a week there. Definitely wouldn’t interest me anyway. Too spread out, woeful public transport, and pretty expensive too.

This might not be your thing either, but it’s only about a four-hour drive from Vegas……

PringleDemon

2 days max ! A few days around San Diego would be a better option . Only 2 hrs drive from LA , lots of different beach suburbs worth checking out .

Nikki Sixx

I’ve heard San Diego, Santa Monica and San Francisco are nice. Just trying to plan a trip around California.

techdiver

If you are into movies and history of movies etc, it's well worth a visit. Was there for a few days in 2013 and really enjoyed it. Spent a good portion of the day out at Warner Studios doing tours. It's a muct for movie/tv fans. I was geeking out at the access to some of the famous props/costumes/vehicles/sets etc.

Went to a taping of a popular chat show. Did a tour of Beverly Hills also and walked around there a bit too.

Also Universal Studios is good fun. Mixture of a theme park and movie studio tour.

If you stay in the Hollywood area it's also close enough to travel to Santa Monica by public bus service also.

Also caught a Basketball game in the Staples Center also. We had no trouble whatsoever and found the public transport better than expected as long as you stay in the correct areas. The people were also much more friendly than I expected.

So my experience is different than some here, but it's all about what you are looking to get out of it. I do agree though that unlike NYC, San Fran etc, you would not need to spend more than 3 or 4 days in LA.

snotboogie

You need to do your homework, if you rock up without a plan you'll be lost. Well worth it if you put in the effort though; LA has arguably the best food scene in the world now, a very diverse nightlife (surprisingly laid back in places) and the entertainment is unmatched globally especially in comedy, music and sports. For a big city the beaches are ok and there are plenty of day trips up and down the coast. It can be very dangerous in places but no worse than other big West Coast cities like San Fran and Seattle, agian do your homework and especially watch yourself downtown. The public transport sucks but Uber is affordable and has made the city far more traversable than 5-10 years ago, saying that I have gotten the bus in LA on a good few occasions and while I saw plenty of characters nobody bothered me at all.

LA is a megacity and it can be overwhelming, everyone want to compare it to New York but I found it very similar to Beijing and Bangkok in that the negative aspects of the cities are immediately visible but the positive aspects slowly reveal themselves the longer you stay there and the more you get the lay of the land.

gaillimh

Nikki Sixx wrote: »

I’ve never been to Los Angeles, are there good things to see there? Is it worth spending a week there?

Personally the areas within a few hours drive of LA city itself I found to be much nicer.
Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Laguna Beach, San Diego all lovely.
Would love to go back to California

Nikki Sixx

Thanks for everybody’s input. It is amazing with all the celebs that live in L.A. that it’s a boring city. Just the centre of film making I suppose and not much else.

Duffryman

Nikki Sixx wrote: »

I’ve heard San Diego, Santa Monica and San Francisco are nice. Just trying to plan a trip around California.

A trip around California is a different thing altogether, and I'd recommend it in a flash.


San Francisco is a far nicer city than LA to spend time in. For a complete change from cities, Yosemite National Park is spectacular. And if you can head south as well, try take in San Diego, with a trip over the border into Tijuana (if Trump hasn't built a wall before you get there!). A day in that place really is an experience.....

Yamanoto

Caranica wrote: »

Good God no. There is no centre as such and a car is a must.

My first 2 visits to LA, I used nothing but public transport.

Stayed in Pasadena (on the light-rail Gold line), visited Amoeba records on Sunset (Red line to Hollywood & Vine), LA County Museum of Art (Metro Bus), Santa Monica (Big Blue Bus) & the Getty Museum in Brentwood (Metro Bus). Santa Monica is now reachable by light-rail on the Expo line.

Of course a car makes life a lot easier in LA, but it is totally doable without one.

ffm

Nikki Sixx wrote: »

I’ve heard San Diego, Santa Monica and San Francisco are nice. Just trying to plan a trip around California.

How are you traveling when you get there? I drove from San Francisco to San Diego about 10 years ago. Without doubt the best holiday I've ever had. Huntington Beach is a must in my opinion, as is Laguna Beach as was mentioned earlier. Both not too far from LA, I think. San Diego is class as well. San Francisco was grand, but it was freezing, which was a pain in the hole.

Hurrache

Nikki Sixx wrote: »

Thanks for everybody’s input. It is amazing with all the celebs that live in L.A. that it’s a boring city. Just the centre of film making I suppose and not much else.

It's not at all boring, not quite sure why that seems to be taken as gospel. There's so much to do and worth a visit IMO. Venice or Santa Monica are nice places to stay, even Hollywood Boulevard, massively cleaned up there days, and around Sunset are good places to base yourself in.

CelticRambler

snotboogie wrote: »

You need to do your homework, if you rock up without a plan you'll be lost.

Or not! I rocked up there last October without a plan or accommodation. Arrived by train, used public transport exclusively (and extensively) for three full days, then left by train. I would rate LA's public transport as one of the better networks out of the dozen-or-so major US cities I visited. Certainly more than enough, with a TAP card, to take me around the suburbs, out to Santa Monica and back, over to Hollywood and back, and up to the Griffith Observatory. The "city centre" - which is a bit of a vague concept - is easy to explore on foot.

Is is worth a visit? Well, it's a filthy, disgusting, decrepit hole of a place, with junkies passed out on almost every street (including the Walk of Fame, the state of which was a real surprise to me) and it felt like the people there were just putting in the hours doing whatever they were doing. The Griffith Observatory was the only place I really wanted to see, and it was everything I expected, and - naturally enough - open after dark! I had to cut short a trip to the Science Museum because they kicked everyone out at 5pm :eek: ... which is how I ended up going to Santa Monica for the evening.

As for the movies: I went as far as the Universal City shopping mall, had a look over the wall and turned back. It just didn't seem to make sense to pay to walk around a movie lot when I could get up-close-and-personal with the crews shooting on location outside (got to visit the sets/sites of about ten different productions over the course of my trip across the country)

So "been there, done that!" Would I go back again? Nope.

endacl

Nikki Sixx wrote: »

I’ve never been to Los Angeles, are there good things to see there? Is it worth spending a week there?

User name does not even remotely check out!

Nikki Sixx

endacl wrote: »

User name does not even remotely check out!

Shhhhh....

ncmc

It’s a good many years since we were in LA, a lot of people had said in advance what a kip it was, how spread out and dirty etc. But we really enjoyed it and were pleasantly surprised. Though we only stayed 3 nights as part of a larger trip around California.

We stayed near Hollywood Boulevard and day 1 explored that area and took a hop on hop off bus tour. I know they’re not to everyone’s taste, but we got to see the highlights without dealing with the horrific traffic. Day 2, we drove out to Santa Monica which is fab, I would definitely recommend that.

I would think a week is way too long for just LA, maybe 4 nights if you wanted to do Universal Studios or Disneyland, would be plenty. That said, there are nicer areas in CA to visit, I would probably only go to LA if I had a good long time in California. I think we had 16/17 days overall.