things to do in la?

[Brandon]

have two buddies in town, one has never been to ca before. any ideas of what to do or where to go?

they are looking for more fun than things like art museums or landmarks. more sunset/hollywood blvd for things like rainbow room, bars around the whiskey, etc. they haven't seen the beach, so we are doing venice and santa monica.

outside of santa monica, venice, and hollywood i don't really have much outside of some food spots. they are into cars, so wasn't sure if any of those car museums/car collections like peterson was worth it.

looking for more fun spots opposed to things like the tar pits or lacma.

[Blarg]

Drive LA Cienega north off the 10 Fwy and there are dozens of exotic car dealerships selling anything they have ever heard of. After that roll to Rodeo Drive and have lunch at Spago or Urasawa but remember to bring the Saab to impress the valet. 

[JAHV76]

I have read about this place but have never been there. They recently had a Shelby Cobra collection. https://petersen.org/

 

[ten ocho recon scout]

What kind of stuff are they into? 

If outdoorsy, do a snowboard day and a surf (learn to surf) day.

I think locals forget how good we have it here....there seriously is a ton to do, try out, but we all get stuck in routines.

 

[Tank]

take them to the food court at the glendale galleria.

[gotbeer]

Peterson Museum if they are car guys.  Across the street is Museum of Contemporary Art and La Brea Tar Pits.  From what I understand at Peterson (I live a sniper shot away and have never been), they has a special tour of the not in display cars.  I don't remember the cost but all three museums have an admission fee.

Other museums to go to is Getty Museum in Brentwood area.  They usually have some impressive displays.  Getty also has the Malibu villa's if you want to take a trip out there.  But I think the villa's need a reservation. 

Science museum at USC might also be fun if they want to take a look at the shuttle. 

If they are outdoorsy types, and bringing wives.  Hiking around Griffith Observatory, and evening overlooking the city always scores points. 

Don't really do the bars, so not sure what would work in that area.  In Koreatown area, just tried a weird one.  Korean German food.  Called Biergarten.  Mainly German food with a korean twist, and German beers. 

[NJHalo]

I always panic when people come to visit and ask advice on what to see, and where to go in NYC. Living in th NJ suburbs, less than 30 minutes outside the city, and working there one day a week has definitely made me lose the appreciation I should have for such a great city. 

[notherhalo]

There's a lot of unclassified missle launch pads called Nike Missle Towers, I think they built 12 of them during the Cold War. The one at the top of Reseda, Hayvenhurst and Malibu have spectacular day views.  "I have friends" who are knuckleheads and go up there to have a beer at the end of a wild night, though it's supposed to be closed at dusk. 

Main Street on Santa Monica is a really good place for 30's bros in the 100k range looking for chicks, with about 7 bars to choose from and other local areas within a $15 uber (Abbot Kinney for hipsters and pier for tourist chicks, maybe 7 more bars each)

Koreatown is the true 24 hour city in Los Angeles.  Karaoke places don't have any respect for the 2am drinking curfew and many places with strong Korean roots have no respect for the 1994 smoking ban.

Long beach has a nice strip that's a little closer, but it's really just a 2nd tier of Main Street in Santa Monica.

You will find tons of talent and all sorts of snobby beers in the downtown LA arts district.  There are a ton of breweries within walking distance that boast fire capacity of 200+ and you can probably hop between 5 of those if you are feeling ambitious.  In adjacent little Tokyo, there's a cool bar with 90s/2000's video games, which sounds like a nerds lair, but is only party so.   Aforementioned Korea town is not far and Road to Seoul is a good all you can eat Korean BBQ, or M Grill is a modest but decent Brazilian option.  

Old town Pasadena is cool, shouldn't be your first choice (like LB) but not bad place after a day with degenerates at the track .

Main St on Ventura is cool as hell, but it's small and 1hr past LA.... if you're passing through to Santa Barbara or something. 

Borderline in Calabassas is full of in-shape trophy wife daughters, because it's a country dancing place first, but beware they allow 18 year olds and you can probably find that sort of talent all over OC. 

Please hit me up if you want more detail on something or want places in other areas

[mrwicked]

we love doing brunch/lunch at polo lounge at beverly hills hotel whenever we are in socal.

very old school cool beverly hills vibe, usually handful of celebrities. 

the food is great, decent cocktail menu. its mellow but fun.

 

[Ray McKigney]

The Seventh Veil is always good, wholesome fun.

 

[yk9001]

10 hours ago, NJHalo said:

I always panic when people come to visit and ask advice on what to see, and where to go in NYC. Living in th NJ suburbs, less than 30 minutes outside the city, and working there one day a week has definitely made me lose the appreciation I should have for such a great city. 

This is such a great post in a thread asking about what to do in LA.

[mtangelsfan]

I can tell you one thing you can't do:

 

[JAHV76]

7 minutes ago, mtangelsfan said:

I can tell you one thing you can't do:

 

Dale Bozzio was hot in the early 80's

[red321]

http://la.smorgasburg.com/info/

Found out about this while discussing brisket in another thread...Sunday morning food and market.

[NJHalo]

1 hour ago, yk9001 said:

This is such a great post in a thread asking about what to do in LA.

Totally related. If I was trying to show friends around, I would be soliciting advice like Brandon is. I live on the other side of the country, so I can't offer much in advice on LA, but can relate to the need to ask for help.

What's hard to understand?

[gotbeer]

Looking at Peterson's website, they have some good exhibits right now.  70 years of Ferrari, Indian vs Harley, Movie cars, Jaguar.  Among others.  So if they are car guys, the thing missing is American Muscle.  But they do have an exhibit on American racers. 

And the Vault is the extra area you want to check out if you can. 

 

[gotbeer]

Do the heart attack run. 

Start in Chinatown at Phillipes.   Work your way to McArthur park to Langers.  Go up the street to Tommy's.  Go to Hollywood and stop by Roscoe's.  While not the original, got to stop by Hollywood/Highland and go to the In N Out.  Then go down La Brea and finish at Pink's. 

Finish the night off going to Koreatown and Karaoke'ing.  Or go degen and show them the card clubs.  Full degen being Hollywood Park. 

[Blarg]

Here is the fun of life in LA. Traffic. Yeah it is almost gridlock in the mornings and by 3pm it's back. So you have this small window of mobility from about 10am to 2pm to get around before you're back into freeway crawl.

So plan your day with the expectation that weekdays it is going to take two plus hours to get to most LA destinations from the OC in the am. Three or more if you want out by 6. An hour or more to get from Santa Monica to Hollywood 13 miles away from 4pm on, that is if you go surface and use Google traffic. 

I'd say start the day on the coast and work inland as the sun hits mid day and find your way to Hollywood by evening. Oh, and you could do the metro if you find decent parking in town. It drops you walking distance from everything which means a no drink limit while you explore and the ride from Hollywood back to the beach will give you plenty of sober up time.

[Angel Oracle]

14 hours ago, Blarg said:

Drive LA Cienega north off the 10 Fwy and there are dozens of exotic car dealerships selling anything they have ever heard of. After that roll to Rodeo Drive and have lunch at Spago or Urasawa but remember to bring the Saab to impress the valet. 

And if it's Saturday night, you can see hundreds of bicyclists riding down LaCienega (longtime tradition). 

[Angel Oracle]

5 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

Do the heart attack run. 

Start in Chinatown at Phillipes.   Work your way to McArthur park to Langers.  Go up the street to Tommy's.  Go to Hollywood and stop by Roscoe's.  While not the original, got to stop by Hollywood/Highland and go to the In N Out.  Then go down La Brea and finish at Pink's. 

Finish the night off going to Koreatown and Karaoke'ing.  Or go degen and show them the card clubs.  Full degen being Hollywood Park. 

Phillipe's is da bomb.   Never been to Langers, always liked Canters.    Original Tommy's is legendary (Sinatra and Lasorda having frequented it).     One day, I'll try Roscoe's and Pink's. 

[gotbeer]

4 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Here is the fun of life in LA. Traffic. Yeah it is almost gridlock in the mornings and by 3pm it's back. So you have this small window of mobility from about 10am to 2pm to get around before you're back into freeway crawl.

So plan your day with the expectation that weekdays it is going to take two plus hours to get to most LA destinations from the OC in the am. Three or more if you want out by 6. An hour or more to get from Santa Monica to Hollywood 13 miles away from 4pm on, that is if you go surface and use Google traffic. 

I'd say start the day on the coast and work inland as the sun hits mid day and find your way to Hollywood by evening. Oh, and you could do the metro if you find decent parking in town. It drops you walking distance from everything which means a no drink limit while you explore and the ride from Hollywood back to the beach will give you plenty of sober up time.

Yup.  LA traffic is a bitch.  If you hit it at the wrong time, it takes forever.  Took me 10 minutes to get past a 1 block stretch on Pico because the signals were so jacked. 

Really, coming from the OC, take metrolink to Union station.  Then you can take the red line to Hollywood, or the Purple line to Wilshire/Western.  Wilshire Western, take rideshare or the bus to Petersen.  The subway is awesome.  From Union Station to Wilshire/Western, it takes 10 minutes.  There is also a subway stop at McArthur park, so stop by Langers.  Expensive, and they are now only open in the daytime.  But the deli is so good.  I think the #19 is the legendary Pastrami sandwich. 

If you want to get to Santa Monica, you can backtrack and take the Purple to Expo.  It'll take about an hour.  Might be easier to take a rideshare.  Last time I took one to Santa Monica it was like $15.  But took a while since it was on the weekend.  Oh, and a hint, if you take a rideshare to Santa Monica on the weekend, don't expect to get picked up easily.  Especially in the Promenade and Pier area.  Rideshares avoid it like the plague because it's so busy and hard to navigate and drive around in, and you can expect in excess of an hour or 2 wait.  Walk a few blocks outside of that area and call a rideshare.  Heck, walk to Fathers Office, have a burger and brews.  It's a good 30 minute walk from the promenade.  Or take the expo line a few stops out, and call a rideshare there.

Also, another warning.  Metro (red, purple, gold, expo, blue) go late.  Till I think 2 am on the weekends.  Metrolink does not.  Their last train to the OC is like 10 pm if not earlier.  So if taking the train in, just remember that, or just do an all night bender and take Metrolink in the morning.

[yk9001]

46 minutes ago, NJHalo said:

Totally related. If I was trying to show friends around, I would be soliciting advice like Brandon is. I live on the other side of the country, so I can't offer much in advice on LA, but can relate to the need to ask for help.

What's hard to understand?

I'm just bustin' yer balls.

[NJHalo]

22 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

I'm just bustin' yer balls.

Sorry, I should've realized that. I forgot I wasn't in the Political Forum. 

[red321]

23 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

Yup.  LA traffic is a bitch.  If you hit it at the wrong time, it takes forever.  Took me 10 minutes to get past a 1 block stretch on Pico because the signals were so jacked. 

Really, coming from the OC, take metrolink to Union station.  Then you can take the red line to Hollywood, or the Purple line to Wilshire/Western.  Wilshire Western, take rideshare or the bus to Petersen.  The subway is awesome.  From Union Station to Wilshire/Western, it takes 10 minutes.  There is also a subway stop at McArthur park, so stop by Langers.  Expensive, and they are now only open in the daytime.  But the deli is so good.  I think the #19 is the legendary Pastrami sandwich. 

If you want to get to Santa Monica, you can backtrack and take the Purple to Expo.  It'll take about an hour.  Might be easier to take a rideshare.  Last time I took one to Santa Monica it was like $15.  But took a while since it was on the weekend.  Oh, and a hint, if you take a rideshare to Santa Monica on the weekend, don't expect to get picked up easily.  Especially in the Promenade and Pier area.  Rideshares avoid it like the plague because it's so busy and hard to navigate and drive around in, and you can expect in excess of an hour or 2 wait.  Walk a few blocks outside of that area and call a rideshare.  Heck, walk to Fathers Office, have a burger and brews.  It's a good 30 minute walk from the promenade.  Or take the expo line a few stops out, and call a rideshare there.

Also, another warning.  Metro (red, purple, gold, expo, blue) go late.  Till I think 2 am on the weekends.  Metrolink does not.  Their last train to the OC is like 10 pm if not earlier.  So if taking the train in, just remember that, or just do an all night bender and take Metrolink in the morning.

We run into this issue a lot....stupid that Metrolink doesn't run past something like 5pm on weekends...but if you are in the Orange County area you can always catch Amtrak back as they have trains that run until 11pm or so. You'll have to check the schedule to confirm. We'll take Metro into the city and then catch Amtrak back...little more expensive, I think it's something like $14 to Fullerton. Union Station is a pretty cool place, I like sitting at Trax bar and photographing the information booth. There's an older gentleman working the booth...just an awesome photo subject. The annex just behind the information booth is a fantastic photo late in the afternoon as well when the sun streams through the giant windows.

 

 

[gotbeer]

Fuck @red321 before reading your post, I thought that photo was a fake publicity 40's/50's/60's type photo.

Just goes to show, my Asian genes are no match for your photo skills.

Edited June 23, 2017 by gotbeer