Planning L.A. trip, need Walking tours?

Question

So my wife and I are planning a trip to L.A. sometime this summer. We will be arriving via the Sunset Limited at Union Station. Planning 4 nights in the area.

I have read the recent questions and answers on what to do, see, etc THANKS for some great info to you regulars!

We love architecture, film noir and classic Hollywood, museums, ethnic eats, flea markets and antique/junk shops, etc. Rose bowl flea market?

We plan on a day at Disney and Universal studios. We are daily walkers, 5 miles/day and could easily do 10-12 miles. I plan on getting a car, but would like suggestions on walking tours that don't take us through the ghetto...can we get a car at the train station?

Also, are there any interesting, historic or unique hotels, like restored boutique hotels, located in a good central area? I can budget $150-200 per night

We are not star watchers....I know this is sacriledge in L.A., but I have no interest whatsoever in seeing any famous people who are alive, LOL.

Great ideas so far, if you think of anything else you can email at my profile!

Roosevelt hotel or something like it is exactly what I'm looking for. Ultra hip or historically decayed is our style.

Walking and shopping ideas are good. Where are the really big flea markets?

Art films, yes. Museums, thanks, that's right on.

By "ethnic" food I mean whatever you can't get in other places in the US, particularly Asian, so Thai sounds yummy! I travel for business a lot but usually to places like Omaha....great steak but not much exotic.

Answer 1

Four nights? All these places people are suggesting are great, but also they are located all over town. So, I suggest that you pick four areas to focus on.:

Hollywood: the Roosevelt Hotel sounds like what you are looking for in accomodation. It will also allow you to walk up and down Hollywood Blvd, visit the Kodak Theater (where the Oscars take place), and get on the subway to downtown.

Downtown: Little Toyko, Koreatown, Olivera Street (Mexican), the Jewelry Exchange, Staples Center, LA Convention Center, the romantic revolving restaurant on top of ... (yikes, I forgot the name). Nearby is Dodger Stadium if you want to catch a professional baseball game.

Pasadena: Rose Bowl flea market is superhuge and the best in the LA area but doesn't happen every weekend. Old Towne Pasadena has great restaurants and shoppes.

Griffith Park: If you are looking for easy-to-moderate hiking on well groomed trails and great views of the city, go to Griffith Park. You can spend an hour or all day. There are hundreds of trails all intertwined. Also in Griffith Park are the Obervatory, really nice homes, picnic areas, the Greek Theater, the LA Zoo, the famous merrigo round, and golf course. The best hike is up to the famous Hollywood sign. That takes 2-5 hours roundtrip, depending on your conditioning. From that point, you can see 360 degrees over the city, the valley, and out to the ocean. Nearby are the Bronson caves, where the old Batman TV show was filmed. Some people rent horses instead of walking, but not all trails are open to horses. We just had a huge fire in the park the other day, so much of the foliage will be gone. But the views from atop are wonderful.

Los Feliz/Silverlake area: This area sounds exactly like what you are looking for in terms of eclectic shops. Go here instead of Melrose, which used to be eclectic but is now a bunch of national chain stores (like Gap, Urban Outfitters, etc.) and teenagers.

Disney/Universal: Ok, well there's two of your four days.

Sounds like you have to make choices.

Welcome to LA!!

Answer 2

If you're arriving downtown, Olvera Street is a really fun place to visit. It's right by the train station and has great food. Also downtown is the main LA city library which is a really beautiful building. I recall them having a self-guided walking tour there. And I don't know if they have tours, but the buildings at the Music Center are quite nice, particularly the Dorthy Chandler Pavillion.

Outside of downtown, the Getty museum is a great place to visit. Great art, great city views, and admission is free. The Getty Villa in Malibu is great as well, but you need to mke reservations well in advance. You don't need reservations for the Getty Center.

If you like classic Hollywood, you should deffinately see Hollywood Blvd., with the Grauman's Chinese theater and the El Capitan which is quite beautiful inside, though a bit pricey. I also saw this add in the paper the other day for something called the Raymond Chandler's LA Tour which sounds pretty cool. They have a website listed: www.esotouric.com, and a phone number [phone].

Melrose Blvd. is a fun place to shop and walk with all kinds of unique shops. And near by, at Melrose and La Brea is Pink's, an LA landmark. They're hotdogs are great. Also nearby, I believe on Fairfax Blvd. is Canter's, a great old deli resturant.

If you're renting a car, driving west down Sunset Blvd. to the Pacific Ocean is quite a nice drive. And there is always the Santa Monica Pier. It's a fun place during the summer. The Venice Boardwalk is a nice place to walk as well. As is the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. As for food places, I love Versailles which is located on Venice Blvd. They have Cuban food and it is very good.

Have fun in LA!

Answer 3

All right then this should not be difficult at all...Stay at the restored Roosevelt Hotel, walk to Roscoe's Chicken and waffles and other southern stuff ( although there are all sorts of restaurants in the area) walk to the farmer's market, and walk to MOCA. (You seem smart but just in case this means Museum of Contemporary Art) ....You really you have to see this building.. Oh and you will be within walking distance of Grauman's Chinese Theater where maybe some film noir thing with be playing (if not check out the little Kodak theater nearby and virtually unknown to tourists...that should be film noiree enough...Oh then on Saturday you can go to the "flea" market at the school at the Melrose Trading Post.


EDIT ADD ON_----Well gee you would not be far from Korea
Town, and China Town is just north of Union station...and Little Tokyo is by the Fashion District....but be warned in all these locations you are starting to get in rougher neighborhoods..Pasadena has a big flea market, you can get there on the gold subway line.....

Answer 4

Nope, no cars at the train station that I'm aware of. There are car rental places in the city but you're better off looking up locations ahead of time (Hertz, Budget, etc.).

The way you said you didn't want to see famous people who are alive was interesting. If you're interested in the dead ones you could always go to Hollywood Forever Cemetery. There are also hotels like the Roosevelt that are rumored to be haunted and rates start in the $200s but may go over your budget. You could also try the Millenium Biltmore, or the Knickerbocker.

You can walk down Melrose Ave. for eclectic & trendy shopping, Beverly Hills for window shopping :-), There's Hollywood and Highland and the Kodak Theatre which has exhibits sometimes. I don't know if it's there anymore, but they had an oscar exhibit where you could hold one :-) Hollywood Blvd. itself of course has the walk of fame. There's always the cheesy Wax Museum and of course you have to go to the Chinese theatre.

LACMA downtown is awesome, the Getty on the Westside is really neat but you have to make a parking reservation (do it as far in advance as possible), the Cal Science Center by USC is awesome too, but full of children so be forewarned. There are others of course, but I'm sure you can find them online.

For food, I highly recommend just walking into a small place off the street wherever you happen to be especialy Thai food. It's almost always cheap and good, just look for the letter grade in the window.

For more, check out: http://www.you-are-here.com/hollywood/index.html
and zagat.com or fodors.com for specific restaurant reviews.

Answer 5

I like to think I will have one of the better answers LOL and I am absing on what YOU said. This is the REAL L.A. Go see a film with the summer conservancy! They show FAB movies in fixed up Movie Palaces ..... new prints, hip crowd, architects, movie buffs, educators milling around. fun thing to do. It is so amazing. Here is the schedule and I hope maybe one date coincides!

http://laconservancy.org/remaining/2007.php4

But get the tix now.

p.s. Eat at Philippes ACROSS the stree from the train station!!

http://www.philippes.com/

Answer 6

This same question was asked a few days ago.
Here, try this site: http://lahotels.rediffblogs.com