Must see in L.A area?

I did the exact same trip last October. Spent 3 days in LA, drove to
SF along coast(hwy 1 & 101), stayed in Cambria, which is halfway b/t
LA & SF. In Cambria, we stayed in the Moonstone Inn
(moonstoneinn.com) It was very nice. After which its about a 20
minute drive to the Hearst Castle. We took that tour also.

In LA, we are unashameded TV lovers, so we did the WB studio tour,
attended a TV Taping (King of Queens) and finally a game show at CBS
studios. We did a roundabout tour of Bev Hills(self drive), hiked in
their enormous city park. Still left off tons of other things to do.

My advice is that location is everything in LA. We stayed in
Hollywood Hills which is fairly centrally located. You'll need a car.
We were able to get to most everything via surface roads so we didn't
experience the hellatious traffic jams that are legendary in LA.

You'll have a good time. Drawbacks are that going to SF along the
coast is great, Big Sur, etc but its a LONG and twisty route. At some
point along the way we began to wish we could take a more direct
route. There a few options along the way to do so. Finally, at
Monterey we did finally take the faster, more direct rout. DON'T get
me wrong, I would take the same route again, the scenery is fantastic,
just be aware its tiresome.

If you want further specifics about LA hotel, rest., etc just e-mail
me.


"Xavier" wrote in message ...
Hi all!

I've been searching the Internet for must-see things in L.A area but all the
websites I've visited give no specific information (is Hollywood the only
thing to visit in L.A???? I'm sure it's not!)


We'll be in L.A for 1 or 2 days and we'll drive to San Francisco along the
coast.
Since we're not in a hurry, we'll take about 2 days from L.A to San
Francisco, so we have time enough to see the magnificent Californian coast.

Could you give some advice about things we shoud do and see (or not do and
not see) in L.A. area ?

About the coast, we'll need somewhere to sleep....(believe it or not!! :-))
I already know that we'll find tons of motels but could you recommend any
one in particular because of its location, service, nearby sightseeing....



Thanks!
Xavier

Xavier wrote:

Hi all!

I've been searching the Internet for must-see things in L.A area but all the
websites I've visited give no specific information (is Hollywood the only
thing to visit in L.A???? I'm sure it's not!)

We'll be in L.A for 1 or 2 days and we'll drive to San Francisco along the
coast.
Since we're not in a hurry, we'll take about 2 days from L.A to San
Francisco, so we have time enough to see the magnificent Californian coast.

Two days is OK, but you could take more without being too
awfully bored.


Could you give some advice about things we shoud do and see (or not do and
not see) in L.A. area ?

About the coast, we'll need somewhere to sleep....(believe it or not!! :-))
I already know that we'll find tons of motels but could you recommend any
one in particular because of its location, service, nearby sightseeing....

Well, in the most scenic parts you actually won't find tons
of motels. I would try to get at least to Cambria on the
first day and stay there or in a nice place in San Simeon.
Don't stay in the motel strip there, this is one of the
tackiest places on the whole trip (Hearst Drive and Castillo
Drive in San Simeon).

North of there is the Big Sur area, where lodgings are few
and far between and expensive. If you can get and a afford
a room at Ragged Point Inn, I would definitely do that over
anwhere else. Ragged Point is just at the southern end of
the Big Sur greater scenic area, anywhere further north is
too far for your first day, but Ragged Point will put you
high above the ocean with great views and so on. Nothing
else around though, but they do have a supposedly good
restaurant. (And a burger joint out front, but the fries
are terrible).

http://www.raggedpointinn.com/lodging.htm



Thanks!
Xavier

Xavier wrote:

Hi all!

I've been searching the Internet for must-see things in L.A area but all the
websites I've visited give no specific information (is Hollywood the only
thing to visit in L.A???? I'm sure it's not!)

We'll be in L.A for 1 or 2 days and we'll drive to San Francisco along the
coast.
Since we're not in a hurry, we'll take about 2 days from L.A to San
Francisco, so we have time enough to see the magnificent Californian coast.

Two days is OK, but you could take more without being too
awfully bored.


Could you give some advice about things we shoud do and see (or not do and
not see) in L.A. area ?

About the coast, we'll need somewhere to sleep....(believe it or not!! :-))
I already know that we'll find tons of motels but could you recommend any
one in particular because of its location, service, nearby sightseeing....

Well, in the most scenic parts you actually won't find tons
of motels. I would try to get at least to Cambria on the
first day and stay there or in a nice place in San Simeon.
Don't stay in the motel strip there, this is one of the
tackiest places on the whole trip (Hearst Drive and Castillo
Drive in San Simeon).

North of there is the Big Sur area, where lodgings are few
and far between and expensive. If you can get and a afford
a room at Ragged Point Inn, I would definitely do that over
anwhere else. Ragged Point is just at the southern end of
the Big Sur greater scenic area, anywhere further north is
too far for your first day, but Ragged Point will put you
high above the ocean with great views and so on. Nothing
else around though, but they do have a supposedly good
restaurant. (And a burger joint out front, but the fries
are terrible).

http://www.raggedpointinn.com/lodging.htm



Thanks!
Xavier

In article ,
Carmen L. Abruzzi wrote:

North of there is the Big Sur area, where lodgings are few
and far between and expensive. If you can get and a afford
a room at Ragged Point Inn, I would definitely do that over
anwhere else.

Farther north and less expensive is the Big Sur Lodge in
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. They don't have ocean views,
but they're in a peaceful wooded area.


Patty

In article ,
Carmen L. Abruzzi wrote:

North of there is the Big Sur area, where lodgings are few
and far between and expensive. If you can get and a afford
a room at Ragged Point Inn, I would definitely do that over
anwhere else.

Farther north and less expensive is the Big Sur Lodge in
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. They don't have ocean views,
but they're in a peaceful wooded area.


Patty

Patty Winter wrote:

In article ,
Carmen L. Abruzzi wrote:

North of there is the Big Sur area, where lodgings are few
and far between and expensive. If you can get and a afford
a room at Ragged Point Inn, I would definitely do that over
anwhere else.


Farther north and less expensive is the Big Sur Lodge in
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. They don't have ocean views,
but they're in a peaceful wooded area.

Yes, I agree. I was thinking that it might be late by the
time he gets to Ragged Point, and any further would be in
the dark, and he'd miss half of Big Sur if he went all the
way to the Big Sur Lodge in one day from LA. But if he gets
an early enough start, he could have ten or twelve hours of
daylight, so maybe he could get all the way up to Big Sur
Lodge before dark. Depends how much he's interested in
hiking and siteseeing in Big Sur versus points farther
south, I guess.

Patty Winter wrote:

In article ,
Carmen L. Abruzzi wrote:

North of there is the Big Sur area, where lodgings are few
and far between and expensive. If you can get and a afford
a room at Ragged Point Inn, I would definitely do that over
anwhere else.


Farther north and less expensive is the Big Sur Lodge in
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. They don't have ocean views,
but they're in a peaceful wooded area.

Yes, I agree. I was thinking that it might be late by the
time he gets to Ragged Point, and any further would be in
the dark, and he'd miss half of Big Sur if he went all the
way to the Big Sur Lodge in one day from LA. But if he gets
an early enough start, he could have ten or twelve hours of
daylight, so maybe he could get all the way up to Big Sur
Lodge before dark. Depends how much he's interested in
hiking and siteseeing in Big Sur versus points farther
south, I guess.

Thank you to all of you who are helping us!!

Many of you ask which are our interests. We plan to go to Hollywood to see
the main attractions, but, for instance, I don't think we go to see the
star's houses... I think that it's not interesting...unless un plan to buy
one of them and want to get some ideas... :-).
I prefer to see the main beaches and surrounding nice cities. If there's any
spectacular museum, I don't want to loose it, neither.

I'm a little lost because at the L.A tourism webpage, they don't give many
ideas of things to do... so (maybe) there aren't really many things to do!!
In that case, we'll head to the coast slowly and visiting everything you can
kindly recomend.

As some of you already know, I would have liked to visit the JPL at Pasadena
(but you must book for a visit 4 months ahead!! and 4 months ago I didn't
even know if I could have some vacations!! I'm a freelance computer analyst
and developer and never know when I'll be able to leave the office.) I'll
have to leave Pasadena for another year :-((((((((((

Some of you already gave me, some days ago, some tips about astronomy sites
to visit. I'll go there instead of the JPL. Anyway, I don't want to focus
the visit on space-related sites, since I travel with other 3 persons that
are not much interested in that subject and I don't want them to be bored.

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:41:56 +0200, "Xavier"
wrote:

Hi all!

I've been searching the Internet for must-see things in L.A area but all the
websites I've visited give no specific information (is Hollywood the only
thing to visit in L.A???? I'm sure it's not!)

We'll be in L.A for 1 or 2 days and we'll drive to San Francisco along the
coast.
Since we're not in a hurry, we'll take about 2 days from L.A to San
Francisco, so we have time enough to see the magnificent Californian coast.

Could you give some advice about things we shoud do and see (or not do and
not see) in L.A. area ?

About the coast, we'll need somewhere to sleep....(believe it or not!! :-))
I already know that we'll find tons of motels but could you recommend any
one in particular because of its location, service, nearby sightseeing....



DISNEY!

(Not LA proper, but close enough)

Em
The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents,
and the second half by our children.
--- Clarence Darrow
(make that YOUR children).

In article ,
"Xavier" wrote:

Hi all!

I've been searching the Internet for must-see things in L.A area but all the
websites I've visited give no specific information (is Hollywood the only
thing to visit in L.A???? I'm sure it's not!)

We'll be in L.A for 1 or 2 days and we'll drive to San Francisco along the
coast.
Since we're not in a hurry, we'll take about 2 days from L.A to San
Francisco, so we have time enough to see the magnificent Californian coast.

Could you give some advice about things we shoud do and see (or not do and
not see) in L.A. area ?

About the coast, we'll need somewhere to sleep....(believe it or not!! :-))
I already know that we'll find tons of motels but could you recommend any
one in particular because of its location, service, nearby sightseeing....

What are your interests? There is a lot to see in the Los Angeles area,
but what to see depends on your interests. Check any tour guide book on
Los Angeles for ideas or do a google search.