Los Angeles: Where to stay?

There really is no city center, is there? I'd just stay by the beach I guess, Santa Monica or Venice - plenty of places you can just walk to down there & plenty of buses you can catch out of there to go elsewhere if need be.

Nooo . . . **slow motion jumping to stop Ste from self-destruct**

There is a city center and it is called Downtown aka Historic Core.

Jeff, where you live? With all disrespect, why you trying to strand him out in sunny Santa Monica for 9 days? It isn't even LA! Dude said he doesn't drive (I think it's a dude). It will take hours to get to any museums or other good stuff.

He can easily go to the beach for a day or two, but surely he wants to see the city?

Santa Monica/Venice/Malibu are perfectly nice but . . . I mean, I like vanilla ice cream but I don't like 10 gallons of it.

Downtown is not the center of the city!

my house is the center of the city

google maps for "los angeles, ca" puts the green arrow at 1st between broadway and spring

http://www.geomidpoint.com/ has the midpoint a block over at 1st and main

max's house is on the hellmouth

yeah I'd kind of want to see more of the main city and the things it beholds rather than a week of beaches but i do want to see them at some point, it's all good info cheers guys.

(keep it coming)

Also check out Hotel Figueroa at Figueroa and 9th in downtown. It's close to the 7th Metro station which gets you onto the Red, Purple and Blue Lines which will take you to Hollywood, Wilshire, Long Beach, and Union Station (where you can grab the Gold Line to Pasadena). Once you're on Wilshire, you can take the 720 express bus west to the museums, Beverly Hills, Westwood, and Santa Monica.

Since you're going to be here for a week, I strongly suggest taking a day out to go to Santa Barbara on Amtrak.

Most cities are centered on their 1st and Main or whatever, but LA is of course very different. Downtown is mostly deserted after M-F 9-5. I hang out there, but usually going to specific places. There's no real hanging out. For that I would recommend someplace more central, like Hollywood. It's more fun.

ive stayed at the beverly laurel. its romantic <3 <3

<3

and yes saying downtown is the "city center" is just silly.

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend staying downtown unless you are going to a convention or playing against the Lakers!

ste is gonna get sonned by pau gasol

I would say Hollywood close to the metro > Downtown > the beach, but definitely find a way to the beach communities while you're there.

Maybe this is why LA peoples need to find their center so often.

Ste, you should totally play against the Lakers while you're here.

ste should move to the two, ste could give kobe fits on defense.

wear kobe down, save it for defense and let your bigs take over.

sry. i agree hollywood is a good jumping point. try not to get knifed.

j/k! :) ;)

this instructional tour video is a good primer if you're guna stay in hollywood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJrSyFpK3iQ

i live in a town where i try not to get knifed every night, it would be nice to spend a week somewhere that I can relax to some degree.

The center of L.A. for tonight, anyway, is Cobras & Matadors in Los Feliz. We will be there saying bye to remy. You should come.

Nobody tells me anything anymore.

Well, you never come out.

downtown has bad vibes at night, right? I never went.

I stayed with friends in Silver Lake (which was nice) and at a sleepy beach motel in Santa Monica which was totally A++ would stay again.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/150/381771570_e2b7d130c2.jpg

we did that not too long ago. class place.

i love seven grand. their hours are ass though. l.a. needs more bars where you can drink before 5pm on a weekend.

^you can do this at hotel fig, which is usually where we end up when we're downtown and thirsty

yeah that patio is wonderful.

drinks are spendy and small and they close early though.

2 downtown bars i like a lot that aren't too douchey: redwood and weiland brewery (despite sharing a name with a stone temple pilot)

Given how long you're in town, you might consider staying overnight in more than one area, ferrying stuff in between by cab. There are also hotels - not cheap ones, but not only the most expensive either - that offer limited complimentary car/cab service within their immediate area. Two I know of offhand are Le P@rc Suites in WeHo near the strip (3 mile radius, which gets you as far East as La Brea) and the Ambros3 in the interior part of Santa Monica (1 mile radius, which gets you to the beach). How useful they would be in practice I don't know.

What's wrong with douchey?

weiland brewery (little tokyo location) is also right next to the wonderful sushi restaurant oomasa.

One of my 2008 resolutions is to FAP more.

gabbneb's idea of maybe moving around a bit is a a good one. LA is just so spread out - it really takes a long time to get from one area to another - even with a car it can be exhausting. Staying in Hollywood is probably the most center-ish - maybe just not a very vacation-like place to wake up in nine days in a row.

I'm also supporting the gabbneb/Jeff recommendations. Ste, are you going on a tight budget?

sorry, the recommendation (singular) that you consider staying in a couple places.

I'll add that the Ambros3 has a "London cab," if you're of that extraction, but if you're gonna stay in Santa Monica it's probably worth it for the carless to pay a little more or go further downscale to be by the beach/more touristy areas.

i'd recommend staying around miracle mile -- safer than hollywood, less noisy/busy, good restaurants and shopping, still right in the heart of things and very accessible to other places.

Hmm, Miracle Mile is safe but also a little sleepy. Hollywood is really not dangerous at all anymore. Maybe some parts of east hollywood, but the rest of the formerly crappy parts are getting super gentrified (in a hollywood way of course).

if yer thinkin far westside, i love the culver hotel (what i've seen of it from the exterior and lobby) in beautiful downtown culver city.

Culver City is not far West Side!

it is for me! i never go west of fairfax! [ /reverse snobbery]

Ha, the only snobbery I encounter is of the "reverse" kind.

Most of my friends live in Silverlake or Downtown.

god help me, i'm thinking of moving to the valley (toluca lake maybe?) once my lease here is up.

craigslist rideshare

dunno where it leaves from but there's a bus from the bay that my cousin used to take that drops people off at usc or ucla I think, and according to her it took at long as a car ride or w/e

how much is "a lot"? depending on when you book, you can get cheap flights between SFO->LAX and OAK->BUR (i've seen them go as low as $65 one way)

megabus is even cheaper and takes about 7 hours each way but i've never done it

Is it possible to stay somewhere walkable to the beach, in redondo, Manhattan, or whatever beach, or elsewhere?

airbnb maybe? That's an expensive area.

yeah airbnb in venice maybe?

compare hotels vs airbnb. it's weird. sometimes hotels are cheaper depending on the area, how many people are staying, etc.

Coming to L.A. in the fall. May be able to crash with a friend, but am def. interested in hotel recommendations if anyone has some.

I was out there a few months ago and split my time between the Sunset Tower (West Hollywood) and and the Roosevelt Hotel (regular Hollywood).

The Sunset Tower is pricier, more staid, the rooms more immaculately old-fashioned. The Roosevelt is a bit rougher around the edges but has appealing mid-century modern-ish decor in the rooms, at least in the cabana rooms bordering the swimming pool where I was. The main building is very very spacious, mediterranean-styled, with tiled floors; IIRC there are three separate bars on the premises, each with a different vibe.

The Roosevelt has a very lively pool scene with DJ's in action almost all day and night. The music is not too loud, though, or at least it wasn't during the non-weekend days that I stayed there. The Sunset Tower has a very quiet pool situation where there's typically 3-5 people at a time hanging out.

Both hotels have a solid restaurant. I thought the Sunset Tower's breakfast was superior to the Roosevelt's breakfast, which sucked, although with the latter you're seated by the pool which allows for exceptional people watching. The Roosevelt also has a hamburger-oriented diner inside.

Both hotels are conveniently located - it's kind of a wash as far as that's concerned.

The Best Western on Franklin - near Hollywood and Los Feliz and Griffith Park
The Line in Ktown - central location good transit options
The Farmer's Daughter on Fairfax - near LACMA and Farmer's Market
The Charlie in WeHo - awesome old hollywood vibe

i have had fam stay in all those places except farmer's daughter, no complaints on any of them

Thank you!

To live and stay in LA

to stay & leave from LA