Los angeles questions, hotel? resturants? ect

[lssg]

Sept. 23rd our cruise ends in Los angeles and we will be staying for three days...we will need to rent a car, yes? What are some things we must see? Good places to eat? We will have a nine year old with us, our son. What would he enjoy seeing and doing in los angeles. We would like to stay at a nice 4 or 5 star hotel. thanks for any and all suggestions

[Splinter]

Yes, you will need a car, and will have to plan your travel around rush hour(s).

 

With a 9 year old, I would look at the following:

 

Disneyland (a full day)

 

Knott's Berry Farm (usually a full day)

 

La Brea Tar Pits and Page museum

 

Maybe some time at the beach. Santa Monica or Malibu would be great. You could stay at a hotel here, but it would be a long drive in traffic to both Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. You might want to spend one night in Anaheim if you are doing either of these theme parks.

 

If the surf is up, watching the body surfers at the Wedge in Huntington Beach can be a thrill (and this is close to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm). September is the best time of the year for the beach in Southern CA. I have lived here my entire life, and always like this month the best...all the tourists have left and there is parking available, plus the weather is dependably clear and warm.

 

Kids don't do too well with the Getty Center or Huntington Museum, but might enjoy Farmer's Market, which can easily be combined with the La Brea Tar Pits.

 

Olvera Street might be an option if you want to expose him to a little of the Hispanic history of LA.

 

Close to the cruise ship terminal, I can recommend the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It is very kid friendly.

[wraithe]

How about without kids? The wife and I are flying in Oct 13 for a 15th departure. Thinking about staying at Ft. MacArthur AF Lodge (I'm retired military) for one night if I can get a room, and the night before boarding on the QM, http://www.queenmary.com/hotel.php. I was thinking about a winery tour, I'm probably showing my ignorance of CA here, a Google search only shows one operating winery in LA, do any of you locals know of more. I also came across a really cool helicopter tour company that might be a treat for the wife. Especially if I can combine the "introductory fly the chopper yourself" with a dinner tour, http://www.celebheli.com/. I'm a fixed wing private pilot, but always wanted to fly a chopper just to see what it's like. There's the Evergreen Aviation Museum and the Spruce Goose, too. A little help here folks, I don't know anything about LA traffic besides what you see on the news, and it looks like driving in h*ll to me, hopefully it's better than it looks. Thanks for any advice.

[starshine]

You have many options for two days in L.A. area for sightseeing or exploring options. As far as wineries go, I'm not aware of any in L.A. but there may be an urban winery there. There is an urban winery in Laguna Canyon that I've heard of but have never been there; that's about 25-30 miles south of San Pedro. Otherwise, the closest wineries that I can recall would be in Santa Barbara/Solvang area (about 1 1/2-2 hour drive north), or Temecula area

(1 1/2 hour drive south of San Pedro/Long Beach).

 

If you want to stay local, you could visit Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach in the South Bay area. These beach towns are within 20 minutes of San Pedro. Each has a pier, nice beaches, shops and restaurants.

 

In Long Beach, there is the Pike area which has many restaurants, Shoreline Village which is a tourist area of shops/restaurants, and the place many of the locals go is 2nd Street/Belmont Shore area which is a nice area to dine, shop and walk around.

 

Just south of Long Beach, is Seal Beach, which still retains the flavor of a small town. It has a Main Street with shops, restaurants, a pier, and an old movie theatre (the Bay Theatre). Adjacent to Seal Beach is the Naval Weapons Station which has a WWII Submarine Memorial that the public can visit.

 

You can continue south down Pacific Coast Highway to Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, and Laguna Beach. Each of them have something to offer depending upon what you want to do and see.

 

I'm mentioning the beach towns because you can see them without having to get on a freeway. :)

 

You also could go north of San Pedro into L.A. and the choices are endless: one or both Getty Museums, Hollywood, L.A. Museum of Art, Griffith Park and Zoo, Universal Studios, Farmers Market, Olvera Street, the list goes on and on.

 

Hope you enjoy your stay in southern California, whatever you choose to do.

[Splinter]

The Spruce Goose has not been in Southern California for many years. It is now in Oregon, which is where the Evergreen museum is. About a 15 hour drive from LA!!! The former hanger in Long Beach is now a privately owned movie sound stage.

 

My parents live in Torrance. The Robinson Helicopter company is at Torrance airport, and I know they offer introductory 1 hour flights for those interested in helicopter flying (we gave a flight to my dad as a birthday gift a couple of years ago). They flew all along the coast including the Palos Verdes area and over the San Pedro cruise ship port. You might want to call them to see if they still offer this. My dad had a chance to take the controls several times. It was quite reasonable. It is a little closer than Compton.

 

The Maritime Museum in San Pedro is also very interesting and is less than a mile from the cruise ship terminal. You can also visit the Lane Victory right next to the cruise ship terminal. This is the last of the remaining WWII Victory Ships.

 

If you like art, the Getty Center is wonderful, but you would need a car to get here. It is close to UCLA.

[wraithe]

The Spruce Goose has not been in Southern California for many years. It is now in Oregon, which is where the Evergreen museum is. About a 15 hour drive from LA!!! The former hanger in Long Beach is now a privately owned movie sound stage.

 

Jeez, don't I feel like an idiot now??? LOL:o Didn't even look at the address when I looked at the museum web page!

 

My parents live in Torrance. The Robinson Helicopter company is at Torrance airport, and I know they offer introductory 1 hour flights for those interested in helicopter flying (we gave a flight to my dad as a birthday gift a couple of years ago). They flew all along the coast including the Palos Verdes area and over the San Pedro cruise ship port. You might want to call them to see if they still offer this. My dad had a chance to take the controls several times. It was quite reasonable. It is a little closer than Compton.

 

Excellent suggestion, thanks for that, I'd love the chance to get some hands on time, and on an hour long flight, that'd be plenty.

 

The Maritime Museum in San Pedro is also very interesting and is less than a mile from the cruise ship terminal. You can also visit the Lane Victory right next to the cruise ship terminal. This is the last of the remaining WWII Victory Ships.

 

If you like art, the Getty Center is wonderful, but you would need a car to get here. It is close to UCLA.

 

One of the other posts above also mentioned Seal Beach and the Naval Weapons Station out there, so I think there will be plenty to do right in the vicinity. Like I said, neither of us has ever been to LA, so it's going to be fun no matter what. Although I conspicuously notice that no one has disputed the "driving in h*ll" statement! LOL

 

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[spookwife]

Chief( making an assumption based on your avatar): If you are interested in Wineries, check out Paso Robles. It's right on the 101, with a couple of the wineries being literally on 101. One of our Favs is Martin & Weyrich.

 

http://www.sanluisobispocounty.com/citypages/PasoRoblesCA.cfm?contentid=36

 

There's also a few on 227 just past Vandenberg AFB.

 

of course if you REALLY wanted to kill some time, just keep coming North to Monterey! We have one or two wineries that are semi decent;) Think we expect it to be about a six hour drive to get to the pier for us(we're leaving from LB on Pride)

 

And umm, the reason nobody is disputing your traffic analagy is cuz you are pretty much spot on. :rolleyes:

[wraithe]

Chief( making an assumption based on your avatar): If you are interested in Wineries, check out Paso Robles. It's right on the 101, with a couple of the wineries being literally on 101. One of our Favs is Martin & Weyrich.

 

http://www.sanluisobispocounty.com/citypages/PasoRoblesCA.cfm?contentid=36

 

There's also a few on 227 just past Vandenberg AFB.

 

of course if you REALLY wanted to kill some time, just keep coming North to Monterey! We have one or two wineries that are semi decent;) Think we expect it to be about a six hour drive to get to the pier for us(we're leaving from LB on Pride)

 

And umm, the reason nobody is disputing your traffic analagy is cuz you are pretty much spot on. :rolleyes:

 

Very cool, Mrs. Spook, and yes, you guessed right. My wife about wigged out the other day in a restaurant, a very young 2nd LT was sitting in the restaurant with his wife, we started talking and he addressed me as Chief without ever knowing me before that moment. My wife obviously was surprised, and he explained that his stepfather was a Chief, and there's a "look". LOL. She's not sure she's happy about that! I've got some really good suggestions, so I'm looking forward to the trip even more. I know two days isn't nearly enough, but it'd be an opportunity to get some of the local flavor.

[ronrythm]

The Spruce Goose has not been in Southern California for many years. It is now in Oregon, which is where the Evergreen museum is. About a 15 hour drive from LA!!! The former hanger in Long Beach is now a privately owned movie sound stage.

Actually the hanger is now the Carnival cruise terminal and has been for a couple of years. It's quite nice getting on your ship and looking over and seeing the Queen Mary there (see the link below.)

Enjoy

Ron

Carnival Pride photos Jan 06

http://www.ronrythm.com/Carnival_Pride_06.html