The time you enter the LA Area, that would be Sylmar coming south on the 5, will determine how bad it is for you traffic wise. Obviously the earlier the better. Anytime late afternoon on and you will run into your basic LA freeway gridlock. It won't really matter what freeway you're on or what direction you're are going. If you really want to go to the Santa Monica Pier, you can bite the bullet (you never know maybe no traffic!) and head straight there on the 405 (to the 10 west) and then plan to stay in Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey or the Airport area for the night. Lot's of hotels and restaurants. In the morning get up early and head down the 405 to the 710, traffic should be fairly light, just don't wait too late in the morning. If you can live without Santa Monica, I would stay on the 5 south and stay in the Glendale area, lots of hotels and eating options, not much sight seeing however. Then in the morning you'd have a 45 minute or so drive down to Long Beach (you'll hit some traffic going through downtown LA but that should be it). Sounds like a great car trip you have planned! Hope that helps