I’m in LA on business this week and next with the weekend free. My girlfriend is flying in on Saturday so we will have all day Sunday to do whatever, and then she’s staying till later in the week but I’ll be busy until 4 pm every day. I’d like to hear your ideas about how to best spend that one free day. Renting a car is not a problem. Disneyland? I’ve done Universal Studios and the Hollywood/star homes tour things before, and they were fine, just looking for other ideas.
Also, she is a big fan of live theatre. Are there any productions that are worth checking out? I know nothing at all about theatre - I’ve never actually been to a professional production beyond the community theatre plays I’d go to on class trips in elementary school!
I saw movies in this theatre before the Sydney Olympics. (My family went just before on our journey from TX, we saw a show there. Buster Keaton, some old b&w cartoons, with an actual organist playing music for it.
I had a day to kill in LA a couple of months ago, and spent the afternoon at the Getty Museum. It was very cool, although it’s probably at its best spring through fall, when the gardens are nicest. It’s built around a large landscape art installation, which was great for me, since I get museum fatigue (after ninety minutes or so, it gets to be, ‘oh yes. another amazing work of art. next.’ in something of a mental monotone). When I got fatigue, I took the landscape tour for an hour, which let me go back to the art refreshed.
I’m a huge Disneyland fan, so I’d go with that! I’d recommend that you arrive there early in the morning - 7 or 8, depending on when the park opens that day (you can check out Disneyland.com for calendar info). The park is usually pretty empty until about 10, so you can get on all the good rides first thing!
Also, definitely use the Fast Pass system for the more popular rides - you get a sort of claim check to return to the ride at a later time and get into the faster line. Let’s say you head over to Space Mountain and get a Fast Pass ticket, which will read “Return bewteen 1 and 2 pm.” Surprise! You can return any time after 1 pm (not just between 1 and 2) to use the fast pass line. It’ll save you tons of time.
I’d also second the Getty Museum. If the weather’s nice, you could rent bicycles down on Venice Beach.
Do you prefer museums or outdoors activities?
Los Angeles has the Los Angeles County Museum of Art which is right next (meaning you only park the car once and walk between them) to La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum (a Natural History museum).
If you like outdoors gardens, the Huntington Library ( http://huntington.org/ ) in San Marino has the nicest gardens that I know of in Los Angeles. It also has a collection of European art.
For theater, I would find out what’s playing ( here’s one site that lists current shows http://www.los-angeles-theatre.com/ ), and then go to the Los Angeles Times website ( latimes.com ) to see reviews of the shows if you’re not sure which one to pick.
If you don’t live near the ocean, you should probably take the time to go to the beach while you are in California. Depending on where you are, the pier in Santa Monica or Venice Beach boardwalk (very lively in the summer, see examples here: Street Performers , fewer performers in the winter) are the most iconic spots. Next to the Santa Monica pier is 3rd street promenade, nice for an evening or afternoon stroll: 3rd street promenade is mostly shops and restaurants.