The wife and I are stopping off in LA for a day before we head on our big trip to Australia. Our flight to LAX lands at 11 am, and our flight out is at 11 pm. Time in between is ours to play with, though we have dinner reservations at Yamashiro (West Hollywood I think) for 6:00.
So, what would you recommend for the afternoon? We’re pretty much relying on public transport and taxis to get around. Any particular place we should go gawk at, besides the obvious touristy “Mann’s Theater” type spots? Lunch suggestion?
The La Brea tar pits (and associated museum) is awesome.
Mann’s Chinese theater, in Hollywood, is where the footprints of the stars is located, if that’s your idea of a good time. Very touristy, but hell, it’s Hollywood!
IIRC, the Frederick’s of Hollywood museum is not far away, on Hollywood Boulevard.
The shopping is really good on Rodeo. If your wife is even slightly impressed with the famous stores, I’d recommend it. I loved the Guess Store. Bloomie’s, Nieman’s. Lots of goodies there!
If it was me, I would catch a cab from the airport up to Union Station (I think it’s something like $25 or $35 flat-rate from the airport to downtown?) Once you’re at Union Station, you’re in easy walking distance to chinatown (meh), or Olvera Street (good mexican food!). From there, you can go back to Union Station and take the red line to Hollywood. Get off at Hollywood and Highland to see the stars on the sidewalk, see the Mann’s theatre, and get some all-around people-watching in. Also, while you’re on the red line, you can take the Civic Center stop, and see Disney Hall (pictures don’t quite do it justice), and the cathedral (haven’t been there, but I’ve wanted to go).
One nice thing about Hollywood is that it’s served by the Metro, although I’m not sure I’d recommend Yamashiro’s. It’s really sort of out-of-the-way and you might have to wait awhile for the taxi to pick you up when you’re ready to head to LAX.
Jakeline’s plan sounds good. There’s also now an airport bus that goes from LAX to Union STation, or you could take the Metro. That might strike some people as scary because the trains go through some “bad” areas; but they are actually well policed and quite safe.
Once in downtown, you could go to Olvera Street for lunch (I recommend La Golondrina). The Museum of Contemporary Art is a couple of stations away on the Red Line, if that interests you. Later you could ride to Hollywood and have dinner at Musso and Frank’s Grill, a great, historic restaurant that’s a lot of fun. I haven’t been to Yamashiro’s, but I do know it’s rather remote; it’ll be a long taxi ride there and back; it’s not really in the thick of Hollywood.
Hollywood can be a bit tawdry (one local disc jockey used to call it ‘Hollyweird’), but it can be interesting. Beneath all the tourist trap sensationalism you do get a feeling of underlying history. The Roosevelt Hotel is another interesting place worth a visit
Roboto seems to have overlooked the fact that April isn’t really beach weather here, at least not for swimming and sunning, but it still could be fun to rent bicycles, or just walk the boardwalk. Venice is always fun.
Come to think of it, it might be worth it to you to rent a car for the day. The taxi ride to downtown L.A. or Hollywood, just one way, would almost be more than the cost of renting a small car. Public transit between Hollywood and downtown is excellent, but not so much on the West Side.
Flyaway service between downtown’s Union Station and LAX is only $6/person round-trip. I know people that have used it and have found it to be pretty convenient. And as has been pointed out, from Union Station you can walk to Olvera Street, hop on the subway to the central part of downtown or to Hollywood, hop on the Gold Line to Old Town Pasadena, or choose your own adventure.
It was a while ago, but when I flew into LAX for an audition for my daughter and Jeopardy for me, it only cost about $10 more to get a convertible. If that’s still true, that’s the way to see Hollywood. Just leave enough time for the traffic.