I’m looking for advice on where NOT to stay in the LA Area. I would like to stay in a hotel that is clean and somewhat quite (subjective I know) H
I saw one hotel in Culver City, and Rancho Cucamonga that looked promising but I know nothing about the areas or distance from all the “fun things”
Culver City and RC are 20 minutes apart by telephone. They are a 3 day ride on a GOOD horse from each other.
How about throwing us a bone here and telling us what you plan to see and we can make recommendations based on that.
Rick, I don’t know what I want to see. I know at night I want to go to a good karaoke place. I know two nights isn’t enough time to see much. I’ll be driving in from Phoenix late on a Monday and flying back on a Thursday.
I’m NOT going to do any theme parks but everything else is open.
Los Angeles is over 500 square miles. Rancho Cucamonga isn’t even in Los Angeles county, which is almost 5000 square miles. When you say flying out, which airport are you talking about? That would help with a general area to be in. IE, LAX, Burbank, Ontario, Long Beach, etc. If you can narrow it down a bit, it would be a great help in giving suggestions.
My flight back is out of LAX.
My preference is a hotel in the Starwood family but I know based on my budget I may not be able to find that. I’d like to stay for under 150 a night
I haven’t looked to see how expensive it is nor do I know how much you want to spend, but the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culver_Hotel in downtown CC might be worth a look. I also don’t know what you want to see or how much time you have to see it in, but the Culver Hotel is reasonably central to the usual tourist attractions. It’s far enough west to be in easy striking distance of the beach (not that we’re in the beach season right now) but it’s also close enough to DTLA that there’s a Metro station a couple of blocks away. If I ever move away from here and come back to visit, I would totally stay at the Culver Hotel.
Downtown Culver City, when I first saw it around 1995 was a sad neighborhood of boarded up shops and empty streets; the Hotel had been shuttered for years. Now, though, it’s come a long way.
Avoid any and all “Brooks” or “West End” hotels, which are NOT intended for tourists.
Gotcha. Then yes, Culver City will be convenient to Hollywood/West Hollywood/Beverly Hills etc. It’s near Santa Monica (the pier and related attractions) Not far from the Getty right up the 405 etc. It’s also is convenient to LAX so making your flight should be easy.
The Ramada Inn on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood is a decent place, and fits into your budget.
It is in the middle of gay Boy’s Town, but there are plenty of hetero yuppies roaming around so you can mingle with them all in various clubs, bars, cafes (within walking distance). Plus, it is only a few blocks away from Sunset Strip - a big area with a lot of music clubs and bars.
Parking at the Ramada is about $30 per day - but considering parking is a bitch in many parts of LA, and especially in West Hollywood, consider it worth the price.
You are a short drive down Santa Monica to Beverly Hills, Century City and on down to Santa Monica.
Have fun, and report back.
Where are you dropping the car off? Near LAX or somewhere else?
Rick I assume the car rental agency will have a drop off at LAX. I am flying from Newark to Phoenix earlier in the week, spending a few days there then driving to LA
That Ramada has some cool loft suites with a living room, then a loft bedroom. So the ceiling goes all the way up two levels. It’s pretty fun.
Stay out of Compton, South Central, the skid row districts. There are parts of the city where you can cross the street and its like going into a refugee camp. The police will enforce loitering up to a certain point but they will be hands off beyond their perimeter.
I was born and raised in LA and know it well. I grew up in the Westchester neighborhood which is home to LAX and next to the beach (Playa del Rey, Marina del lRey, Venice Beach) which is also next to Culver City. Culver City is actually the home of what people think Hollywood is. Major Tv and Movie Studios are located in Culver City, MGM /Sony, the historic Max Sennett Studios, The DesiLu Studios (Lucille Ball / Desi Arnaz) which was the Hal Roach Studios (Little Rascals, Three Stooges, etc…) which is now the Culver Studios, and was all part of old film sets like Tara, from Gone With The Wind and others.
There is nothing in Rancho Cucamonga but tract homes and crappy shopping centers. And it is about an hour drive without traffic from anything fun and touristy.
My suggestion is this, stay in the Westside of LA. . If you look at a map, the borders I would sugget for you to stay within would be, Santa Monica Mountains to the North, the 405 freeway to the East and the 105 freeway to the South. Do not go beyond those borders to get a hotel and do not take that suggestion lightly. I didn’t give a border to the West because it is the Pacific Ocean. Within that square -ish boundary there is really only one neighborhood that is beyond normal city sketchy neighborhood and that is a small pocket of Venice.
But, remember this. In LA, even when you are in neighborhoods that are well to do, homes worth $500,000 to $10 or more Million, you are still within a mile or just a block or two from a really bad, neighborhood.
Staying within the border I laid out will also have you within a 20 minute drive, without traffic, from anything that you will want to be doing on a visit to LA., pretty much.
I’ll check back here in case you have any questions.
I have been told as a member of SPG I can get free parking at the Four Points in Culvier I will compare the prices of the hoteks
The best part about staying at the Ramada just off the 405 freeway?
You are just off the 405 freeway.
The worst part about staying at the Ramada just off the 405 freeway?
You are just off the 405 freeway.
The best part about staying at the Ramada in West Hollywood?
You are in West Hollywood.
The worst part about staying at the Ramada in West Hollywood?
You are in West Hollywood.
It is about trade offs. Stay right next to the freeway and you are closer to getting to where you probably want to go, but it might be louder
Stay in WH and you are in a cool funky neighborhood, but if you need to go somewhere by freeway, it is 20-30 minutes away.
Based on what you have posted here, I would consider the Ramada just off the freeway, The Getty is just up the freeway a bit, and the airport is just down the freeway a little bit further.
For a day’s outing (assuming a clear day), you could drive to the Getty, tour it then get back on the 405 North to Mullholland Drive and go east. drive along Mullholland and catch views of both the city and the San Fernando Valley. Take Laurel Canyon blvd down into Hollywood and visit the Chinese Theater and other Hollywood stuff. If you are so inclined at this point you aren’t too far from Griffith Park and can visit the Planetarium.
on your second day you can visit the Santa Monica Pier, or Venice beach or there are lots of other museums in town.
Hope this helps
The Sheraton Four Points is an airport hotel, very near LAX. It’s pretty nice, my parents tend to stay there when they visit me in LA, and they’re in the Starwood program too.
It’s probably the best compromise if you want a SPG hotel that’s central to lots of good things in LA (Santa Monica, Culver City, West LA, Westwood, Hollywood, Beverly Hills). It’s not really walking distance to anything, but driving distance it’s fine.
You won’t be too far from the South Bay areas either if you stay there - Manhattan Beach, Redondo, San Pedro, etc. Also pretty fun.
I and the other LA people are always happy to provide tips on places to see, restaurants, etc.
Oh, and everyone is right about Rancho Cucamonga. Nothing to see or do there unless you have in-laws who live nearby.
Tim
“toy geek”
How long has it been since you have lived here? Because you sound like a time traveler from about 1980. Most of Culver City and Palms, on the wrongl side of the 405 is about as safe as most neighborhoods west of the it. OTOH Palms and Culver City aren’t big on hotels, really, so there’s not a lot to choose from. Unfortunately the Culver Hotel seems to be much more expensive than the OP wants, which is too bad because otherwise it looks like a fun place to stay.
Except there always is traffic at the times when people are normally out and about. With regard to the 405 specifically, also be aware that traffic tends to jam up at the on ramps, along east-west boulevards like Wilshire, Santa Monica, Pico, and Olympic. the east at rush hour, often in both directions, and in some areas that means all afternoon into the evening. In places where this combines with other traffic factors you can be looking at several miles of gridlocked traffic, and this spills over into parallel streets which also become gridlocked.
If you decide you want to spend a lot of time in the bars and clubs of Sunset Boulevard and West Hollywood, or see any of the museums other than the Getty, I strongly advise against staying west of the 405. You don’t want to cross that paths with that beast if you value your limited sightseeing time.
While it’s always wise to be careful in areas like South Central, there still are things worth seeing there, mainly in and around Exposition Park which is next door to USC. If natural history museums are your thing, you shouldn’t let the local paranoiacs and media hysteria keep you away from the County Museum of Natural History, one of the best in the country. It’s safe in the daytime, and if you’re staying near DTCC you can take the train there.