Los Angeles Quick Guide
It is difficult to describe Los Angeles as it is not exactly a
city, it is a state on its own, it is a multitude of cities and
cultures and countries all in one go. Much has been said about
LA but still there is some sort of 'bad attitude' towards Los
angeles: some will describe LA as a humid boiling hot dangerous
place and some will describe it as a rich but plastic looking
sort of huge town, but in fact Los Angeles is a huge megalopolis
full of contrats as well as beauty, rich in flavours with more
to discover then any other city in the USA. We love Los Angeles
and always enjoy it when we're there for meetings, new contracts
and whatsoever, so why shouldn't you give it a try. Again LA is
not exactly A city, but it is more likely to be correctly
defined as multiple cities all in one, in fact as most of you
already know Downtown LA is LA, but Beverly Hills is LA and
again Santa Monica is LA, Hollywood is LA, etc... One thing we
always enjoyed in Los Angeles is exactly the fact that it can't
be described in a single word, nor with thousand words, but
every single square mile has its character and the visitor
generally tends to enjoy it very much and appreciate it very
much and hate it again every single minute driven through its
limitless streets. We are in the travel and activities business
since quite some time and you can be sure that Los Angeles it is
exploding in terms of tourism and as well in terms of
renovations, investments, new projects, arts, culture as well as
enterteinment and much much more and it will be soon be
recognized as the New York City of the west. Well.. difficult to
suggest something in particular now since people are driven to
LA for very different reasons, may it be theme parks,
sightseeing, 'star chasing', business, seaside, nice weather or
whatever else, but yet we'll try; if you're a first time visitor
in LA then we suggest you start by booking a nice hotel in one
of the following areas: Beverly Hills (if you do avoid areas
just next to Rodeo Drive you'll be able to find quite some good
deals around, to mention one, try the Avalon Hotel, nice
'trendy-friendly' boutique hotel in Beverly Hills), Downtow LA
(but at first avoid venturing in dark shady areas outside the
main well.. highrise area, check out the historical grand
Biltmore Hotel, home of many stars and us presidents as well, or
try the Westin), Santa Monica (ahh the beach it is great over
there and walking down the easygoing streets is as easy as it is
enterteining (The Viceroy Hotel is really good - somewhat
similar to The National hotel in Miami if you ever been there
before) and West Hollywood (but be somewhat careful when you
walk the streets by night heading east - try the Sunset Tower
Hotel, we liked it). On the other side we really suggest you to
stay away from around Disneyland in Anaheim if you're not yet
exactly familiar with the area and for sure you should avoid
South Central by night. Another choice in terms of accomodation
if you want to experience something slightly different from the
'main stream' of tourists is 'Little Tokyo' near Downtown
(expecially if you like sushi and japanese food in general), we
tried and reviewed more than once the New Otani Hotel and we
have to say that we would like to stay there again because of
the following reasons: nice clean confortable modern rooms,
wonderful japanese garden (a tourist attraction itself) and
great food (not only japanese, but yes the japanese restaurant
is indeed extremely nice). If you're on a budget do not worry
too much since yes LA is an expensive city if you want to stay
in 'hotspots', but syill you'll be able to find very good deals
in cheap accomodation options in nice areas expecially if you
book in advance, better if on the net (in fact as you surely
know it is full of websites out there that offer great
discounted rates. Now... talking about things to see in Los
Angeles, first of all we would like to suggest you to see
Universal Studios (I know it sounds quite obvious, but still
many people think they are far too mature to visit such
attractions, but they are very wrong... we thought the same and
we're not too much into theme parks and similar, but Universal
Studios are really really cool and fun places to see and besides
the traditional 'adventures' the backlot tour is defenetly not
to be missed, differently from Orlando the studios in LA are
very lively and it is interesting to ride through the sets where
they are actually filming and see sets where major blockbusters
have been filmed (for example the greatest scene of 'War Of The
Worlds' among many others). Apart Universal Studios, regarding
the same subject, of course, there is Disneyland to see (but
again we wouldn't suggest to sleep in an hotel in the area).
Second suggestion now: defenetly buy a ticket for a show in LA
and do not miss the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los
angeles if you're into classical music, since the music and the
sound is great and the new building itself is incredible (you
shouldn't miss it even if you're not going there for a concert -
it is a good spot for photography enthusiasts too). No need to
say that if you' into stars on the floor you know exactly where
you're going to find such stars... in Hollywood, Sunset Strip
and Hollywood Blvd. but make sure you do not get fall into
tourist traps, unless you want to of course. And yes there is
art too in LA besides the more conventional museums if you just
have a deeper look into local newspapers you surely will find
many options in terms of original artwork and experimental arts.
One place to go if you wish to see how and where the 'stars'
live is Malibu for sure and guess what it does really look good
and even if there is no way you're going to get passed the
guards of where the 'neighborhoods of the stars' are, you are
allowed for law to walk along the beach if you do stay near the
water (that is where 'paparazzis' can sometimes be found as
well). Most of all LA is a city that has to be explored
neighborhood by neighborhood too really taste the metropolis in
full and exploring LA's many different areas it is a true
cultural experience. To know more about Los Angeles you might
want to surf our free destination guides, signed Rough Guides
Ltd. that we provide for free on our website in our 'guides'
section on http://www.travelton.com