I’m meeting up with my daughter next week in LA. She’s coming out from Bawlmer and I’m headed south from Sillycan Valley. What do we do for 10 days? She’s 17. I’m…older but I’m really only interested in stuff that she’d like to do with a geezer tagging along. She wants to see celebrities so we’ll probably try a Tonight Show type deal. Do we have to stand in line at 5 AM to get tickets? Are there bus tours? What else would a 17 year old want to do?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Is she a girly girl? If so- shopping is the way to go. Take her to Rodeo drive so she can see all the fancy boutiques, then take her over to the Galleria in Glendale (or the Beverly Center) for some shopping. If she’s into Art, the Getty Center can’t be missed. If the weather stays clear, maybe spend some time on the beach? Head down to Disneyland? Up to 6 flags? If you give us some ideas of what she’s into, I can narrow it down for ya.
She’s not too girly but she’ll definitely want to go to Rodeo Drive. The Galleria or Beverly Center would be a good idea. I took her to Disneyland 3 years ago and she wasn’t too into it - thought it was more for littlies than kids her age. I did mention the Universal Studios tour and she said she wanted to do that.
Tanning attempts will definitely be on the agenda so beach suggestions would be good.
Art is harder to pin down but might be worth a shot. What’s at the Getty Center.
She likes a lot of different types of music, from Eminem to techno so anything musical would work. Anything Britany Spears related would be a hit.
She’d probably be up for danger stuff. A sailplane ride or a tandem hang glider ride. I know they used to do that down towards San Diego. Do they do in in LA?
If you need more specifics I can try but she’s mostly a normal 17 yr. old.
Thanks for the response.
Beach suggestions:
Venice beach is a great place to go and gawk. There are weirdos, guys working out, and a bunch of tourists taking it all in. There’s a bike path that runs along the beaches in LA, so you could rent bikes and tour up and down. You might also want to go to Marina del Rey. They have lots of boats, you could probably take a boat tour or something.
Catalina is an island a hop, skip & jump away. You can get a boat from Redondo Beach. That would be a good day trip. You can walk around the island, have lunch there.
If she’s into celebrities you might consider going to Hollywood Blvd and checking out the walk of fame. It’s in a so-so part of town, but walking down the street and seeing all the stars (the ones in the sidewalk, not stars as in celebrities) is kind of fun.
Six Flags Magic Mountain is a great park that is chock full of the latest thrill rides. Some of the rides have killed people in the past so there’s your element of danger. I highly recommend it.
If you just want to lie on the beach and soak up some UV, try Zuma. It’s off the beaten path a ways, but it’s very spacious and not likely to be crowded if you just want to relax. Sometimes you get to see dolphins playing in the surf there.
Next to Universal Studios is Universal Citywalk which has some huge restaurants.
If you like movies, go to the Arclight Cinemas. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it: ushers, assigned seats which are very comfortable, and no commercials!
There’s a cool museum: the Peterson Automotive Museum, which has a huge collection of cars from various eras.
I think a stop at Amoeba records on Sunset is a must if she’s into music. And right next door is the Arclight theater and Cineramadome - a pretty great movie theater.
Some of the movie studios have tours of their lots. Warner Brothers and Universal Studios are a couple.
And I’m a big fan of The Huntington Library. If the weather’s nice and you’re not much into art, it’s a good way to get some culture.
If you take her shopping, you’d probably should take her down to Melrose. Maybe dropping her off would be better for you :p. And I second going down to Venice beach. It’s great for shopping and just hanging out.
Ditto Venice Beach; Catalina; Melrose; Rodeo; the Huntington (make reservations in the tea room if you’re there at meal time). Consider also the Grove for shopping.
If you’re willing to cough up the bucks, make lunch or dinner reservations at a “celebrity” restaurant like The Ivy. Can’t guarantee you’ll actually see a celebrity but she’ll have bragging rights to her friends every time the restaurant is mentioned in a gossip column.
Does she like theater? Get tickets to whatever is playing at the Pantages, and then she can see Hollywood Blvd.
Well, I’m 20, but I just got back from a week in LA-ish with my dad and stepmom (they live in Huntington Beach).
Sunday: Hollywood. We ate at a diner that was in a bright yellow train car (awesome food, but if you’re like me and not accustumed to fast food, you’ll need the restroom soon afterward). Then we went to the indoor/outdoor mall thing by the theater (where I accidentally flushed a pair of sunglasses down the toilet), and walked around the shops on the street. Afterward, we drove up Mulholland Drive and gawked. We were gonna go to LaBrea, but there was a bike race, so it was all blocked off.
Monday: The Living Desert, up by Palm Whatchamacallit, kind of a drive from LA. It’s pretty much an outdoor museum, with desert habitats from around the world. Don’t recognize the name of where your daughter’s from, so I’ll mention it: take a bottle of water and refill it at the fountains, 'cause you don’t notice when you sweat. I didn’t notice I’d been losing water 'til I got woozy. O.O;;;;;
Tuesday: tried to drive up to a racetrack thing that had dragsters and a slick track, but it was a massive crime scene when we got there, so we went to the mall across the street, then home and rented movies. Wish I remembered where it was, or I’d tell you. x.x
Wednesday: Universal Studios. There aren’t really any rides there, except for the little Mummy Returns coaster (small, but it’s in the dark except for some blinky lights) and the Jurassic Park “raft goes up, raft goes around, raft goes down and splashes and you get kinda wet.” As an amusement park, it’s not too impressive, but it’s great for movie fans (didn’t see any celebs, though). When we were there, they had a Shrek 4-d, a Backdraft thingie with lotsa fire, a Back to the Future 4-d where you actually get in the car, and a special effects show (I was the volunteer actress type thing, got to do some green-screen stuff).
Thursday: The Queen Mary (she’s in Long Beach). That was /awesome/. We started off in the engine room where my dad (senior chief in the Coast Guard, engineer) did the tour-guide thing. So well, in fact, that we picked up another tourist who followed along (yay, RFDad!). 
It’s awesome. It took us forever to walk through, and my dad said you only see about 20% of it. Right next door to the Queen Mary is a real, functional Russian sub, which I only agreed to go through when they told me it doesn’t go underwater. 
It’s tiny, so if either of you is really claustrophobic, you might not want to go.
Friday: Went down to the nearby beach, walked around down there, and then up to the farmers’ market.
Saturday: flew back here, seated in front of three small children. :eek:
Well, I hope that helped some… I /tried/ to be helpful, instead of just “squee I had a cool Spring Break!” :>
RFBlues, my daughter is from Bawlmer = Baltimore, so she’s sort of a neighbor of yours. Thanks for the itinerary.
Thank you everyone for your inputs. I never would have come up with a lot of this stuff on my own.