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-   -   What do Los Angeles locals do for fun? (http://www.travelbanter.com/showthread.php?t=42648)

Hatunen September 16th, 2004 10:39 PM

On 16 Sep 2004 14:59:37 -0700, (PDawg77)
wrote:

My husband and I will be visiting LA in December. We don't know anyone
in the area, and would rather make like a local than do all that
touristy stuff.

We want to see the mountains and the beach, maybe go for a hike and a
drive along the coast. We'll be staying at a hotel in Beverly Hills,
which I understand is near many nice neighbourhoods and attractions.
We're just not sure where to go or what to do while we're there.


Well, among other things the locals go to the mountains and
beaches, go for hikes and drive along the coast. In addition they
go to malls and movies.

By the way, does anyone have any tips for navigating our way around
town by car? I hear Los Angeles is all highway...


Study a freeway map so you kind of understand where the diferent
freeways are and listen to KNX 1070 AM while you drive around.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

PeterL September 16th, 2004 11:22 PM

What do Los Angeles locals do for fun?
 

"PDawg77" wrote in message
om...
My husband and I will be visiting LA in December. We don't know anyone
in the area, and would rather make like a local than do all that
touristy stuff.


Well, when you are staying at a hotel in BH, it's kind of tough to make like
a local. Locals by and large do what locals do: buy grocery, go to the
mall, stay home and watch TV

We want to see the mountains and the beach,


Mountains are to the north, beaches are to the west (and south). Spend a
day at Malibu beach. There is a hiking trail that takes you from Arcadia up
the San Gabriel mountains (2,000 ft elevation gain).

maybe go for a hike and a
drive along the coast. We'll be staying at a hotel in Beverly Hills,
which I understand is near many nice neighbourhoods and attractions.
We're just not sure where to go or what to do while we're there.

By the way, does anyone have any tips for navigating our way around
town by car? I hear Los Angeles is all highway...


Lots of them. Are you a member of AAA? They have a map pack for LA (3 or 4
maps cover the area). They also have a freeway map. After 3 or 4 years
driving the freeways you should have no problems.



[email protected] September 16th, 2004 11:53 PM



PDawg77 wrote:
My husband and I will be visiting LA in December. We don't know anyone
in the area, and would rather make like a local than do all that
touristy stuff.


When I was an Angeleno, my idea of fun was to get out of town. Santa
Barbara, Santa Ynez Valley and Solvang, San Diego are all good
destinations.



R H Draney September 17th, 2004 03:00 AM

filted:



PDawg77 wrote:
My husband and I will be visiting LA in December. We don't know anyone
in the area, and would rather make like a local than do all that
touristy stuff.


When I was an Angeleno, my idea of fun was to get out of town. Santa
Barbara, Santa Ynez Valley and Solvang, San Diego are all good
destinations.


Shorter trips: Lake Arrowhead/Big Bear, Angeles Crest Highway, or out towards
Newhall/Valencia/Santa Clarita where I used to live (there's a place just past
there called Vasquez Rocks where it seems like every movie ever made was
shot)....r


John Ramsay September 17th, 2004 04:53 PM



PDawg77 wrote:

My husband and I will be visiting LA in December. We don't know anyone
in the area, and would rather make like a local than do all that
touristy stuff.

We want to see the mountains and the beach, maybe go for a hike and a
drive along the coast. We'll be staying at a hotel in Beverly Hills,
which I understand is near many nice neighbourhoods and attractions.
We're just not sure where to go or what to do while we're there.

By the way, does anyone have any tips for navigating our way around
town by car? I hear Los Angeles is all highway...


Avoid rush hour and the drivings not that bad.
We've been there twice.

From Beverley Hills the most enjoyable day and
evening is Santa Monica.

You can drive the Ocean Rd up to Malibu in
the daytime.
Walk the SM beach day or evening. Catch the
sun setting behind the mountains if you
time it right.

Mall shopping at Santa Monica Place. Street shopping
along 3rd, 4th, 5th.

Walk the pier, a lively place with far more
locals than tourists.

Hatunen September 17th, 2004 08:48 PM

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 13:29:38 -0700, "PeterL"
wrote:


"Todd Kunioka" wrote in message
om...
"PeterL" wrote in message

...
"PDawg77" wrote in message
om...
My husband and I will be visiting LA in December. We don't know anyone
in the area, and would rather make like a local than do all that
touristy stuff.


Well, when you are staying at a hotel in BH, it's kind of tough to make

like
a local. Locals by and large do what locals do: buy grocery, go to the
mall, stay home and watch TV


If you want to make your grocery shopping more interesting, buy them
at a farmer's market. There are a number in the Los Angeles area.
Two "permanent" farmer's market-like experiences would be 1) The
Farmer's Market, at the corner of Fairfax and Third, and 2) Grand
Central Market, near the corner of Third and Broadway.


Strongly agree.


Grand Central Market is in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. It's
across the street from the Bradbury Building, which is an architectual
structure of some renown. You can walk into the lobby during normal
business hours, and I would recommend that.


The Bradbury Bldg must be the most recognizable movie building in the world.
I have seen it in more movies and TV shows than I can count.

But it's the inside that is so recognizable. I was just
re-watching Blade Runner a week or so ago and wondering about the
huge mess the filmmakers made

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Todd Kunioka September 17th, 2004 09:08 PM

"PeterL" wrote in message ...
"PDawg77" wrote in message
om...
My husband and I will be visiting LA in December. We don't know anyone
in the area, and would rather make like a local than do all that
touristy stuff.


Well, when you are staying at a hotel in BH, it's kind of tough to make like
a local. Locals by and large do what locals do: buy grocery, go to the
mall, stay home and watch TV


If you want to make your grocery shopping more interesting, buy them
at a farmer's market. There are a number in the Los Angeles area.
Two "permanent" farmer's market-like experiences would be 1) The
Farmer's Market, at the corner of Fairfax and Third, and 2) Grand
Central Market, near the corner of Third and Broadway.

Grand Central Market is in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. It's
across the street from the Bradbury Building, which is an architectual
structure of some renown. You can walk into the lobby during normal
business hours, and I would recommend that. There are other
interesting bits of architecture in downtown. If you exit Grand
Central Market to the west and head up the Angel's Flight hill, you
arrive in the Watercourt. [There used to be "the world's shortest
railway" that ran up the hill, but it's been inoperative for I think a
couple of years, now, and there does not seem to be any progress in
bringing back. So, instead of a somewhat-amusing funicular ride, it's
a pretty good set of stairs that will give you a view of a whole lot
of homeless folks sleeping on the grass]. A bit further, and you'll
be up at the top of Bunker Hill. There's a nice water course that
runs down south towards the main library [also an interesting
architectual sight, particularly from inside]. If you do NOT follow
the watercourse down, but instead go a bit further west, then you're
at the Westin Bonaventure. That's another sight to behold. For free
amusement, ride up and down the elevators. They have glass walls that
let you look out across downtown, which is nice because there really
aren't any good observation decks to see downtown, anymore. Even the
one at city hall has been closed to the public.

Other things to see downtown include the Museum of Contemporary Art
[spread across several different buildings], the Disney Music
building, the Catheral of our Lady of the Angels [Catholic Cathedral],
City Hall, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, and Olvera Street. You can
actually walk to all of these sites, but if you try to do all of them
in one day, you'll probably be pretty pooped. If you ride the
downtown DASH buses, you can reduce some of your walking for
twenty-five cents a pop. You can also ride the DASH F-bus south to
Exposition Park. The California Science Center, the Los Angeles
County Natural History Museum, and the African American museum are all
located there [adjacent to the Memorial Coliseum and the Sports Arena,
and across the street from the University of Southern California].
Currently at the Science Center is "Body Worlds," which is an
interesting [or creepy] look at the human body. Actual bodies,
preserved through some sort of plastique method, produces very
detailed looks at the inside of the human body.

If you go instead to the Los Angeles Farmer's Market, then you're
adjacent to The Grove shopping center, which is an outdoor mall. Lots
of younger and wealthier locals hang out there. You're also about
three blocks north of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the La
Brea Tar Pits, and the Petersen Automotive museum.

Many locals will have fond memories of their school field trips to the
tar pits and to the natural history museum.

Both the Farmer's Market and Grand Central Market are open seven days
a week. In addition, many communities have their own farmer's market.
Three I can name right off the top of my head: 1) Santa Monica has
theirs on Saturday and Wednesday mornings; 2)Monrovia has theirs on
Friday evenings (I'm planning to go there after work to buy some kim
chee); 3) Pasadena has theirs on Saturday morning. There are a score
other local farmer's markets, but I can not give their day and time
off the top of my head. But if you do a google search, you'll come
across a site that lists all the community farmer's markets in the
area.

Of these community farmer's markets, the Santa Monica one is probably
the largest. And it has the advantage of being located within a
pretty bustling downtown setting. The Third Street Promenade is right
nearby, for example, And you're not far from the Santa Monica Pier
and the amusement rides down there. Of course, the beach is also
here. Venice Beach is a bit further south.

If you come out to the San Gabriel Valley for one of their farmer's
markets, you should probably stop in the Pasadena area. Old Town
Pasadena, which is effectively the area west of Fair Oaks and north of
Colorado [but probably can be considered to cover both sides of
Colorado and a bit east of Fair Oaks, as well] is another "locals"
destination. Lots of shopping and restaurants out here. It's not as
dense as Santa Monica, but it's cleaner. The Norton Simon Museum is
located a bit east of "Old Town." I'd consider it worth a visit.

If you want to go to a supermarket that is [depending on where you've
been to]probably quite different from any other you've seen, you
should locate a 99 Ranch Market while you are in town. My favorite is
near the corner of Del Mar and Valley in San Gabriel, but there are
other stores scattered all over southern California [and also at least
one in Las Vegas]. The nice thing about the one at Del Mar and Valley
is that it is part of "The Great Chinese Mall." [That's not an
official name, that's just what I call it]. When the mall opened back
in the mid-1980s, it was probably the biggest suburban ethnic
development in the nation. Now, it's just really crowded on weekends
and nights, there's not enough parking, and the mall is starting to
show its age. But it's still something worth seeing [both the
shopping center in general and the 99 Ranch Market, in particular].

We want to see the mountains and the beach,


Mountains are to the north, beaches are to the west (and south). Spend a
day at Malibu beach. There is a hiking trail that takes you from Arcadia up
the San Gabriel mountains (2,000 ft elevation gain).


There were three or four books I saw last time I was at AAA, all
filled with day hikes in southern California. I think John McKinley
alone has written about that many. A number of them have appeared at
various times in The Los Angeles Times. My favorite local hike starts
at the northern terminus of Lake Ave in Alta Dena [above Pasadena,
which probably makes sense to Spanish speakers]. It's about 2 miles
and 800 feet to the old "White City," which are the remains of an
early 20th century resort in the mountains above Pasadena. There used
to be [way back when] a train that ran up there. If you're really
ambitious, you can walk all the way up to either San Gabriel Peak or
Mt. Wilson. But either is probably beyond the scope of a typical day
hiker. But the short trip up to the "resort" is pretty easy,
well-traveled, and well-defined. It's also short enough that you can
hike up, watch the sunset, then get back down to the trailhead before
it gets too dark.

maybe go for a hike and a
drive along the coast. We'll be staying at a hotel in Beverly Hills,
which I understand is near many nice neighbourhoods and attractions.
We're just not sure where to go or what to do while we're there.

By the way, does anyone have any tips for navigating our way around
town by car? I hear Los Angeles is all highway...


Lots of them. Are you a member of AAA? They have a map pack for LA (3 or 4
maps cover the area). They also have a freeway map. After 3 or 4 years
driving the freeways you should have no problems.


In the shorter-term, you might consider writing down your route before
you start, so that your navigator can tell you which freeway you're
looking and which direction you want to be heading BEFORE you reach
the interchange. You definitely want to use the freeways, because the
alternative is a really long drag on surface streets. Try to avoid
driving during peak hours. Someone else mentioned listening to KNX
1070 for traffic reports. There's also KFWB, 970. However, to some
extent this is moot, because you probably won't know the alternative
routes suggested by the traffic reporters, anyway.

The other thing I would say is, if you find yourself in the wrong
lane, DON'T PANIC. There's nothing scarier than being next to a
driver that absolutely refuses to miss his/her exit. They'll weave
left and right then suddenly veer across four lanes of traffic.
Better to just go a mile or so the wrong way than to smash up your
car. It usually isn't all that hard to exit a freeway, then get back
on going the opposite direction.

Todd

Todd

PeterL September 17th, 2004 09:29 PM


"Todd Kunioka" wrote in message
m...
"PeterL" wrote in message

...
"PDawg77" wrote in message
om...
My husband and I will be visiting LA in December. We don't know anyone
in the area, and would rather make like a local than do all that
touristy stuff.


Well, when you are staying at a hotel in BH, it's kind of tough to make

like
a local. Locals by and large do what locals do: buy grocery, go to the
mall, stay home and watch TV


If you want to make your grocery shopping more interesting, buy them
at a farmer's market. There are a number in the Los Angeles area.
Two "permanent" farmer's market-like experiences would be 1) The
Farmer's Market, at the corner of Fairfax and Third, and 2) Grand
Central Market, near the corner of Third and Broadway.


Strongly agree.


Grand Central Market is in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. It's
across the street from the Bradbury Building, which is an architectual
structure of some renown. You can walk into the lobby during normal
business hours, and I would recommend that.


The Bradbury Bldg must be the most recognizable movie building in the world.
I have seen it in more movies and TV shows than I can count.


There are other
interesting bits of architecture in downtown. If you exit Grand
Central Market to the west and head up the Angel's Flight hill, you
arrive in the Watercourt. [There used to be "the world's shortest
railway" that ran up the hill, but it's been inoperative for I think a
couple of years, now, and there does not seem to be any progress in
bringing back. So, instead of a somewhat-amusing funicular ride, it's
a pretty good set of stairs that will give you a view of a whole lot
of homeless folks sleeping on the grass]. A bit further, and you'll
be up at the top of Bunker Hill. There's a nice water course that
runs down south towards the main library [also an interesting
architectual sight, particularly from inside]. If you do NOT follow
the watercourse down, but instead go a bit further west, then you're
at the Westin Bonaventure. That's another sight to behold. For free
amusement, ride up and down the elevators. They have glass walls that
let you look out across downtown, which is nice because there really
aren't any good observation decks to see downtown, anymore. Even the
one at city hall has been closed to the public.

Other things to see downtown include the Museum of Contemporary Art
[spread across several different buildings], the Disney Music
building, the Catheral of our Lady of the Angels [Catholic Cathedral],
City Hall, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, and Olvera Street. You can
actually walk to all of these sites, but if you try to do all of them
in one day, you'll probably be pretty pooped. If you ride the
downtown DASH buses, you can reduce some of your walking for
twenty-five cents a pop. You can also ride the DASH F-bus south to
Exposition Park. The California Science Center, the Los Angeles
County Natural History Museum, and the African American museum are all
located there [adjacent to the Memorial Coliseum and the Sports Arena,
and across the street from the University of Southern California].
Currently at the Science Center is "Body Worlds," which is an
interesting [or creepy] look at the human body. Actual bodies,
preserved through some sort of plastique method, produces very
detailed looks at the inside of the human body.

If you go instead to the Los Angeles Farmer's Market, then you're
adjacent to The Grove shopping center, which is an outdoor mall. Lots
of younger and wealthier locals hang out there. You're also about
three blocks north of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the La
Brea Tar Pits, and the Petersen Automotive museum.

Many locals will have fond memories of their school field trips to the
tar pits and to the natural history museum.

Both the Farmer's Market and Grand Central Market are open seven days
a week. In addition, many communities have their own farmer's market.
Three I can name right off the top of my head: 1) Santa Monica has
theirs on Saturday and Wednesday mornings; 2)Monrovia has theirs on
Friday evenings (I'm planning to go there after work to buy some kim
chee); 3) Pasadena has theirs on Saturday morning. There are a score
other local farmer's markets, but I can not give their day and time
off the top of my head. But if you do a google search, you'll come
across a site that lists all the community farmer's markets in the
area.

Of these community farmer's markets, the Santa Monica one is probably
the largest. And it has the advantage of being located within a
pretty bustling downtown setting. The Third Street Promenade is right
nearby, for example, And you're not far from the Santa Monica Pier
and the amusement rides down there. Of course, the beach is also
here. Venice Beach is a bit further south.

If you come out to the San Gabriel Valley for one of their farmer's
markets, you should probably stop in the Pasadena area. Old Town
Pasadena, which is effectively the area west of Fair Oaks and north of
Colorado [but probably can be considered to cover both sides of
Colorado and a bit east of Fair Oaks, as well] is another "locals"
destination. Lots of shopping and restaurants out here. It's not as
dense as Santa Monica, but it's cleaner. The Norton Simon Museum is
located a bit east of "Old Town." I'd consider it worth a visit.

If you want to go to a supermarket that is [depending on where you've
been to]probably quite different from any other you've seen, you
should locate a 99 Ranch Market while you are in town. My favorite is
near the corner of Del Mar and Valley in San Gabriel, but there are
other stores scattered all over southern California [and also at least
one in Las Vegas]. The nice thing about the one at Del Mar and Valley
is that it is part of "The Great Chinese Mall." [That's not an
official name, that's just what I call it]. When the mall opened back
in the mid-1980s, it was probably the biggest suburban ethnic
development in the nation. Now, it's just really crowded on weekends
and nights, there's not enough parking, and the mall is starting to
show its age. But it's still something worth seeing [both the
shopping center in general and the 99 Ranch Market, in particular].

We want to see the mountains and the beach,


Mountains are to the north, beaches are to the west (and south). Spend

a
day at Malibu beach. There is a hiking trail that takes you from

Arcadia up
the San Gabriel mountains (2,000 ft elevation gain).


There were three or four books I saw last time I was at AAA, all
filled with day hikes in southern California. I think John McKinley
alone has written about that many. A number of them have appeared at
various times in The Los Angeles Times. My favorite local hike starts
at the northern terminus of Lake Ave in Alta Dena [above Pasadena,
which probably makes sense to Spanish speakers]. It's about 2 miles
and 800 feet to the old "White City," which are the remains of an
early 20th century resort in the mountains above Pasadena. There used
to be [way back when] a train that ran up there. If you're really
ambitious, you can walk all the way up to either San Gabriel Peak or
Mt. Wilson. But either is probably beyond the scope of a typical day
hiker. But the short trip up to the "resort" is pretty easy,
well-traveled, and well-defined. It's also short enough that you can
hike up, watch the sunset, then get back down to the trailhead before
it gets too dark.

maybe go for a hike and a
drive along the coast. We'll be staying at a hotel in Beverly Hills,
which I understand is near many nice neighbourhoods and attractions.
We're just not sure where to go or what to do while we're there.

By the way, does anyone have any tips for navigating our way around
town by car? I hear Los Angeles is all highway...


Lots of them. Are you a member of AAA? They have a map pack for LA (3

or 4
maps cover the area). They also have a freeway map. After 3 or 4 years
driving the freeways you should have no problems.


In the shorter-term, you might consider writing down your route before
you start, so that your navigator can tell you which freeway you're
looking and which direction you want to be heading BEFORE you reach
the interchange. You definitely want to use the freeways, because the
alternative is a really long drag on surface streets. Try to avoid
driving during peak hours. Someone else mentioned listening to KNX
1070 for traffic reports. There's also KFWB, 970. However, to some
extent this is moot, because you probably won't know the alternative
routes suggested by the traffic reporters, anyway.

The other thing I would say is, if you find yourself in the wrong
lane, DON'T PANIC. There's nothing scarier than being next to a
driver that absolutely refuses to miss his/her exit. They'll weave
left and right then suddenly veer across four lanes of traffic.
Better to just go a mile or so the wrong way than to smash up your
car. It usually isn't all that hard to exit a freeway, then get back
on going the opposite direction.

Todd

Todd




Tim923 September 17th, 2004 09:36 PM

listen to the radio while in a traffic jam

PeterL September 17th, 2004 09:59 PM


"Tim923" wrote in message
...
listen to the radio while in a traffic jam


That'll help you relax, unless you are listening to those hate radio
programs.

Otherwise it's kind of useless for traffic if you are already in a traffic
jam. There ain't nothing you can do but sit and wait.




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