I will be travelling to LA either later this year, or next year. Can anyone recommend any good hotels (nothing too expensive, but not tooooo cheap)? Also, can anyone recommend cool non-touristy things to do in LA or the surrounding areas? Thank you my lovely Nexian compadres.

Peace

Macre

imo LA kinda sucks
you could drive south and hit the beaches.
or go clubbing if you are into that scene.
as touristy as it is, you should hit up venice beach boardwalk. always entertaining.

agreed

Every place can be a nice place if you know where to look, even LA.

Once I was driving with my friend around LA and suddenly I saw a nice quiet road up into the hills, so we took that road and on that road we had a really nice view on Los Angeles, the Hollywood sign, the suburbs, downtown, etc.

Turns out it was the famous Mulholland Drive used in several movies.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

So you should go to Mulholland Drive Macre. After all, Traveler visited it, so it would be like your eyes meeting through time. And that would be neat.

Head down to Venice beach to see alot of amazing artists, performers and skateboarders. 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica also has some cool talent and gathers a large crowd on the weekends. Check out INSOMNIAC if you want to go to some of the cooler shows and clubs in the area.

If you have a lot of free time and wanna go somewhere REALLY cool i recommend that ya drive down to Joshua Tree National Park. It's a great freeking park out in the desert and it is easy to spend a whole day there and have loads of fun. Only about 3-4 hours from basically anywhere in LA.

Theres also a lot of really cool beaches that have caves and such and aren't very crowded down the coast of Malibu.

Sadly in my opinion the best thing about LA is the weed haha.

LA can be fun if you know where to look. If you like Rock and Roll visit the Rainbow Bar & Grill on the Sunset Strip, usually lots of rockers hang there and you have a good chance at meeting Lemmy from Motorhead if they are not on tour as that is his second home. He is a really nice guy btw. Griffith Observatory is a cool place to spend 1/2 a day or more, lots of cool sciency & astronomical things to look at an interact with (they have a Tesla Coil!) and the parking lot has a cool view of the Hollywood sign and some nice places to hike. The Hollywood Forever Cemetery is also a cool place to spend some time and search for and discover some of your favorite entertainment personalities who have passed into the great beyond. They have cool guided tours on the weekends and will show you around the grounds and the resting places of many names you will recognize. If you like dolphins and whales take a whale watch trip or hop over to Catalina island where there are lots of great places to hike or bike ride. The drive up the Malibu coast is also fun and scenic and you can stop at either Gladstones and/or Neptune's Net and grab a great seafood meal at a cool movie location (both have been featured in movies and TV.) There is also some nice hiking in the Topanga Canyon area and some really cool sandstone structures and caves in the Chatsworth area. Joshua Tree (mentioned above) is amazing and in the same general area is also Vasquez Rocks Park where they filmed Blazing Saddles, Star Trek, The Flintsones and tons of other movies and TV shows. Once you see a picture you will instantly recognize it if you watch movies and TV. Venice Beach is fun too and they recently opened a Freak Show on the boardwalk with lots of human oddity acts and sword swallowing, etc and seem to be really respectful of the "Freaks" they employ and of the history of the carnival shows and acts, they also have one of the largest displays of two headed animals in the world, so that is worth something I guess.

Also, some Nexians live in and around the LA area, so perhaps give a shout out and hook up with some cool like minded people while you are visiting. Have fun and report back on your adventures.

Definitely check out the Getty & LACMA. Sunset Beach and Malibu if you want some sun.

As far as things to do... dates are important. Lots of good dancing in these parts.

LA is a great place. Don't listen to the naysayers.

;-)

Thirded.
.well it's okay. Definatly go outside the city and see the mountains and stuff.
..If you can travel north. There is so much to see farther north in california..it would be a pitty to only see LA..

Thank you all for your input, it is greatly appreciated. I know which hotel I'm staying in now, and I got a few plans. I will now be going mid 2014, which gives me plenty of budgeting and planning time.



I already do this every day. I look through Trav's windows until I retreat back to my hideaway house-boat down the street. I watch him programme, in awe of his coding skills, and look through the glass as he tends to his cacti, dreaming of the day I'll say "Hello". Oh wait...did I say that out loud? I mean...errmm...yeah that would be cool

Joking aside, I will be renting a car so I'm up for that.

Peace

Macre

Booked it's cool because I asked my boss for two weeks off work, and he said no...take three weeks, and by the way I'm giving you a pay rise. I must be doing something right.

So me and my girlfriend will be hitting up LA for three weeks later this year. My choice of hotel has changed though, because I was pushing the boat out with the Andaz West Hollywood, but three weeks is too much of a push for this hotel.

I'm staying in a much cheaper hotel now, which is good in a way because we want to get out there and do things. I like the fact that some people love LA and some people...not so much.

London is very much the same (in that respect). That's the thing I like about big cities, whether it's London, LA, Paris, Beijing...you get the good and the bad. Some people say "Oh man great place" other people say "No way man, hate it." I've traded in a uber-cool high end hotel for a more budget hotel, but I'll enjoy myself just as much.

Peace

Macre

Joshua Tree National Park




…if you can rent a car (you kinda need a car in LA anyway) - about 1.5hrs outside if I remember correctly.

Inside the city - lots of complete Lynch-esque insanity pretty much everywhere. I spent 2 weeks backpacking through there and while it is by no means my favorite city, it is unique. Kinda sad too…. tons and tons of lost souls, especially young girls that went out there to 'make it in the industry' and to put it kindly, didn't make it in the industry.

Good side:

Koreatown food, drive through the hills, some beaches are ok.

I found ways to have a good time, despite the general ickiness

"L.A. is a nightmare place, man. You'll always meet this one guy out in L.A, you always – this real smarmy guy. He always says this: "Yeah, I love calling back east January 1. 'What are all you doin'? Snowed in, huh? Bummer. Me? I'm out by the pool! Ha ha ha haaa!'" What a dick this guy is. It's why I used to love to call L.A. when I lived in New York: "What are y'all doin'? Talking to TV producers, huh? Bummer. Me? I'm reading a book! Yeah, we're thinkin' back East. Yeah, we're evolving. Is that the Big One I hear in the background? Bye, you lizard scum! Bye!" [whoosh] Ha ha ha ha! It's gone, it's gone, it's gone. It's gone. All the shitty shows are gone, all the idiots screamin' in the fuckin' wind are dead, I love it. Leaving nothing but a cool, beautiful serenity called … Arizona Bay. Ha ha ha! That's right. When L.A. falls in the fuckin' ocean and is flushed away, all it will leave is Arizona Bay."

-----The Immortal Bill Hicks

Not a huge fan of Los Angeles but ventura is really nice it’s about 1 hr away next county over going north on the 101 irs a beach community . Downtown and the pier and the the view from the cross. A few cute marinas also . Downtown ventura has some pretty cool bars as well live music and stuff and nice restaurants . Then trip up to ojai it’s a cute little town .

Not a huge fan of Los Angeles but ventura is really nice it’s about 1 hr away next county over going north on the 101 irs a beach community . Downtown and the pier and the the view from the cross. A few cute marinas also . Downtown ventura has some pretty cool bars as well live music and stuff and nice restaurants . Then trip up to ojai it’s a cute little town .

Nice double post bump of a 10 year old thread inquiring about destination recommendations lol. LA is WAY different now than it was in 2013.

Yep. Much, much worse.

Same with my city of Baltimore, same with a lot of cities. 10 years ago I was visiting NYC 4-5 times a year. Haven't been back in a few years, not since COVID. No desire except to go get some tacos at the Chelsea Market. I wanna live in the woods...

Wise words Toshido