Going to L.A. in 2007...any tips on what I need to visit/where to go/etc...?

[We Fly High]

yeah, santa barbara and isla vista aint evenpart of LA. its like 1.5 hours north. its still kinda considered southern california, but definitely not LA. theres not much to do in santa barbara, mostly just for like relaxing and shit, cos its by the ocean. isla vista is more for students, and their friends.. dont make a point to visit it, its only cool just for partying and shit, im sure u'll have much more worth while shit to do since its ur first time in california. but yeah you should hit up san francisco too, if yioure flying all the way here. i'll list off a few

San francisco


LA
disneyland - i dunno, if u have a little bro/sis or anything. self explanatory.
six flags magic mountain - crazy ass amusement park
hollywood - the theater and all that shit
melrose - dope shopping i guess, Rodeo for high class .
venice beach - this is what people think of when they think of LA. nice weather, by the ocean, fly breezies.
3rd street promenade - cool place to walk down
sunset strip - lotta clubs, key club, sunset house of blues, the Hustler store, whole lot of nice bars and clubs. i dont do either, so i aint really up on that shit. i just know the music scene.

Frisco ( more like new york city like, LA is more spread out)
chinatown is dope - good food
fishermans wharf - clam chowder fasho.
golden gate bridge
haight street (for your hip hop and dope gear)
union square (hella shopping)
alcatraz island - crazy out of commision prison housed infamous criminals
Frisco's dope too, just watch The Rock and you'll see why.

[CRAFTY]

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions...there's a few that I hadn't heard of until now, so I'll check them out (except Skid Row & stuff like that...lol, just because I'm from Belgium doesn't mean that I got my head up my ass. I know about Skid Row...).

Justin: I might hit up Frisco, but I'm not sure yet...depends on how long I'll be staying in Cali (I'm thinking 1 month).

2 More questions:

1) Where's Lakewood shopping mall located?
2) How long does it take to get to the following destinations by car when you're in downtown LA:
 - Venice Beach
 - Santa Monica
 - Santa Barbara
 - Beverly Hills
 - Sunset Blvd.
 - Hollywood Blvd.
 - Crenshaw Blvd.
 - Ventura Blvd.
 - Citywalk

----> I'm just curious to know whether these cities/avenues are far away from each other...

[Doggystylin]

Downtown is far inland and there isn't much to do there, Avoid getting a hotel there if you can, try getting a place closer to the beach....anyways, here are the times with no traffic, but keep in mind theres almost always traffic in LA and it depends on the ammount of traffic on how much of a delay you get.


2) How long does it take to get to the following destinations by car when you're in downtown LA:
- Venice Beach - 30-35 mins
- Santa Monica - 30 mins
- Santa Barbara 1 hour and 30 mins
- Beverly Hills - 25 mins
- Sunset Blvd. - 20 mins
- Hollywood Blvd. 15 mins
- Crenshaw Blvd.
- Ventura Blvd. 20 mins
- Citywalk - 15-20 mins

[Fuck You, Pay Me]

Downtown is far inland and there isn't much to do there, Avoid getting a hotel there if you can, try getting a place closer to the beach....anyways, here are the times with no traffic, but keep in mind theres almost always traffic in LA and it depends on the ammount of traffic on how much of a delay you get.


2) How long does it take to get to the following destinations by car when you're in downtown LA:
- Venice Beach - 30-35 mins
- Santa Monica - 30 mins
- Santa Barbara 1 hour and 30 mins
- Beverly Hills - 25 mins
- Sunset Blvd. - 20 mins
- Hollywood Blvd. 15 mins
- Crenshaw Blvd.
- Ventura Blvd. 20 mins
- Citywalk - 15-20 mins

You drive slow

[ecrazy]

Downtown is far inland and there isn't much to do there, Avoid getting a hotel there if you can, try getting a place closer to the beach....anyways, here are the times with no traffic, but keep in mind theres almost always traffic in LA and it depends on the ammount of traffic on how much of a delay you get.


2) How long does it take to get to the following destinations by car when you're in downtown LA:
- Venice Beach - 30-35 mins
- Santa Monica - 30 mins
- Santa Barbara 1 hour and 30 mins
- Beverly Hills - 25 mins
- Sunset Blvd. - 20 mins
- Hollywood Blvd. 15 mins
- Crenshaw Blvd.
- Ventura Blvd. 20 mins
- Citywalk - 15-20 mins

You drive slow

HELL YEAH! It takes me 30 minutes to drive to Citywalk  FROM SAN DIMAS!!!!!! Your A Turtle

[CRAFTY]

Thanks a lot Sunset! That's all I needed to know *props*

Downtown is far inland and there isn't much to do there, Avoid getting a hotel there if you can, try getting a place closer to the beach....

Avoid getting a hotel downtown because of the price, or is there another reason? (and aren't the hotels near the beach quite expensive too? Since those are probably the hotels meant for tourists?)

Still got 1 question unanswered: where is Lakewood mall located (and is "Lakewood" a city itself)?

[ecrazy]

^^its near longbeach, thats all i know, never been there, Oh found a site...

http://www.shoplakewoodcenter.com

there u go!!!
and here are directions
http://www.shoplakewoodcenter.com/controller/site/directions

[CRAFTY]

^^^^Thanks a lot! (gets a prop)
1 more thing (and that it'll be it then I guess...):

How long does it take to get from LA to Long Beach?

[We Fly High]

long beach is like south LA, so about half an hour i suppose..  i dunno not that much to do in Long Beach for tourists, couple real nice downtown areas, and the harbor and shit, the big ass queen mary boat.. Lakewood mall used to be pretty close to where i used to live off Bellflower in LB. its on lakewood blvd thats all i know, haha. you can hit up Vault 350 for some shows too, or Club v2o.

i dunno you dont really want to live in downtown LA, its cool for residents, well i mean its not that nice, but i mean if youre getting a hotel, its better to be posted up in a tourist area. try getting somewhere in Santa Monica or Venice, itd be a lot better, and a lot closer to everything. or even off sunset strip, shit would be dope.

if youre spending one month in california, you should definitely hit up Frisco, one month is hella long, two weeks in LA will be plenty. one week in frisco will already be way enough.

are you guys going to be renting a car or something? youre going to have to get use to the crazy driving in LA, all the traffic and angry and fast drivers, haha.

[ecrazy]

^^^^Thanks a lot! (gets a prop)
1 more thing (and that it'll be it then I guess...):

How long does it take to get from LA to Long Beach?

15 minutes, but if you drive like a grandma, im guessing 30 minutes or so

[CRAFTY]

long beach is like south LA, so about half an hour i suppose..  i dunno not that much to do in Long Beach for tourists, couple real nice downtown areas, and the harbor and shit, the big ass queen mary boat.. Lakewood mall used to be pretty close to where i used to live off Bellflower in LB. its on lakewood blvd thats all i know, haha. you can hit up Vault 350 for some shows too, or Club v2o.

i dunno you dont really want to live in downtown LA, its cool for residents, well i mean its not that nice, but i mean if youre getting a hotel, its better to be posted up in a tourist area. try getting somewhere in Santa Monica or Venice, itd be a lot better, and a lot closer to everything. or even off sunset strip, shit would be dope.

if youre spending one month in california, you should definitely hit up Frisco, one month is hella long, two weeks in LA will be plenty. one week in frisco will already be way enough.

are you guys going to be renting a car or something? youre going to have to get use to the crazy driving in LA, all the traffic and angry and fast drivers, haha.

Yeah, I think we'll rent a car (but LA has got a bad reputation for bad traffic though, lol, so we'll see...).
So 2 weeks should be enough to visit LA? Even better then! How long is it from LA to Frisco and from LA to San Diego?

Is San Diego worth visiting?

Justin, from what I hear it apparently would be better to stay at a hotel in Venice or Santa Monica, but would you happen to know if it's cheaper than staying downtown?

(I'll get myself official info on hotels, car-renting & stuff like that in 2007 of course, but it's interesting to hear all of this already in advance...)

[ecrazy]

For San Diego Info, Hit Up KIDRENEGADE619, All i know of is the Zoo, Its Off Tha Chain!!! Oh, and Sea World

La To SD is about eh, 2 1/2 Hour Drive, Like 100 something miles away

[CRAFTY]

I see...it's not THAT far away. I think I'll pay a visit to Dago too then
Thanks a lot for the info man, I appreciate it.

@ KidRenegade619 (and anyone else from SD): holler back with some info on what to visit!

[Acgrundy]

Definately check out Catalina Island.  You can take a boat out of Long Beach and go over there for a day.  Its definately more of an experience then a Mall or some shit like that.  I'd definately reccomend it.

[We Fly High]

hrm to make the trip easier, u should either start off at Frisco or San Diego and start from there, cos if u start at frisco u can just work your way down to La and then down to San deigo, or if u start in diego, just work ur way up to La and then frisco finally. LA - Frisco is about 5-6 hours. LA to San Diego, 2-2.5 hours. San Diego is hella down south, i almost never make it down there.

yeah two weeks is definitely enough time in LA for sure. i'm not too sure what goes on in San Diego, all i know is that its got some real nice areas by the beach, so i think SD is also more like a relaxing place. SD and La are all apsread out. if you want to see real city life you prob want to hit up San Francisco, cos that resembles a lot more like New York.

i'm sure u can find some cheap spots in san ta monica or venice too. downtown la might be the cheapest. but i really dont think theres a dramatic price difference.