Los Angeles - Seeing LA via public transportation - possible?

I am planing to go LA during the holidays for 5-7 days. I don't want to rent a car, but I like to see everything in the city. I know public transportain is not the popular choice in LA, but is it impossible to see the city via public transportation? How about the subway system? And, how is the frequency in the evenings, late nights, and on holidays/sundays?

Plus, what is the best location to stay (Hollywood, Downtown,...?)? I would much prefer to stay in a Hilton Family hotel (have gold status :D) within quick walking distance to subways/transportation hub. Any recommendation? Not planing to stay in the Beverly Hill Hilton, of course.

Also, I will be traveling by myself. So, where are the good fast food places (food court, chinese buffet, etc are good) for quick meal?

Also, where are the movie theaters (like Chinese Mann Thetaer) where most top movies are released a week or two before?

Any shopping recommendation? Any comment on Sunset blvd?

Thanks everyone.

Tintin

TinTin

First off, regardless of what you have read, there is no real "public transportation" in LA, in sense of Chi Town, NY or Tokyo. There are a few Metro Lines going to-from Downtown (each in a diff place) E/W/NE/S etc. But none from Westside to anywhere else in city. The rest is an assortment of Buses.

LA metro area is very large appr 100 SQM and lots of traffic. Getting around here is discussed in Time, not miles. Very hard w/o a car. Rent One w a NAV.
With one, you can explore all you want and w/o freeways.

As for location, recall a Hilton in Universal City have not stayed there is yrs but was OK. Depending on when your coming suggest you consider hotel on the Westside (Santa Monica, Marina, West LA) even if not in the H Fam., as close to the beach, shops, etc and SM Mall just reopened with grt places to eat, wine bar etc. lots of shops etc on Ocean Ave a few blks away.

Universal City in Valley and sort of isolated (very touristy) but 10 min from Hollywood (over the pass into city). Can take a metro from there to downtown, but not a lot going on there. Understand do to its size very hard to see all of it. Really not much on east side of DwnTwn either.

You could always hire a towncar (very expensive and have had a driver lost at times). Hard to explain LA...lots of pockets in each area of city and its not flat, mountains, canyons etc divide the entire area. Driving 20 mi on fwy can take you over an hr, or 15 min, depending on time, direction and w or opposite traffic, understand there is always traffic even at 3am. BTW..unlike NY, most places close at 2am.

Fast Food? in LA? :) Only 2 I'd recommend are Baja Fresh (baja tacos) & IN-N-Out (Burgers/Fries). Shopping....try an upscale mall (all over) or small shops. what due you want? Movies all over...and most are not released ahead.

you can plan a trip to see places that are easily accessible by metro, but planning "to see everything in the city" is like planning to see everything in massachusetts. there certainly are many places you can get to directly via light rail, including downtown, olvera street, the chinese theater, universal studios, pasadena, and long beach. the museaum of art and the tar pits, santa monica, and parts of the valley like sherman oaks are readily accessible by rapid bus.

i have stayed at the hilton downtown (checkers) and in pasadena, both of which are close to train stations (actually, the reason i picked them).

in'n'out has its adherents, and its own thread in this forum. but there's also tito's tacos in culver city, the santa monica farmers market, didi reese in westwood, and so many other places that you might want to plan where you're going first and then choose the food.

There's one cultural site that's BEST reached by public transportation.....the Getty Villa Art Museum......it's in a residential area with very little parking, so the jmuseum encourages the bus.....however, free timed tickets are required........see: http://www.getty.edu/visit/hours/public_transport.html

(This is the Getty "house" of antiquities, not the mega-museum-on-the-hill....although both are reachable on buses.)

With no car, I'd stay in Santa Monica......some hotel that's walk-able to beach and the shopping-restaurant area nearby.

In a word?
NO.

As has already been correctly pointed out, the city of Los Angeles is enormous, and the antithesis of centralized. Add in the greater LA Metro area and you're looking at an area larger than some US states.

There is no transportation hub. Rail and subway are extremely limited, basically don't interact well with each other and get significantly less available at times/days other than standard working hours. They are also quite expensive compared to those in other large international cities.

Even if there is a rail option to your destination, you have to get to the boarding point, which will almost always entail a taxi (or a very long walk). Taxis are very expensive here, and become moreso due to time and distances required to get from point A to point B. Furthermore, they don't troll the streets as they do in "normal" cities, so must be ordered by telephone. It's virtually impossible to flag one down except by the sheer chance of you and the taxi both being in the right place at the right time.

The public bus services are arguably the worst in the world in terms of routes, frequency and reliability.

Also as has already been asked, what do you mean by seeing "everything" in LA? I'm born and raised in SoCal, and in approximate a half century, still have not seen "everything" here. Not to be rude, but have you considered buying yourself a travel guide (e.g., Lonely Planet, Frommer's, Rough Guide, etc.)? The ones for LA are generally thicker than those for many entire nations. Seriously. You really need to narrow down exactly what you want to do and see. Amusement parks? Hollywood stuff? Beverly Hills and shopping stuff? Museums? Beaches? Mountains? Sports?

Chinese Theater is a tourist attraction. Newly released movies can easily be seen anywhere in the region. If you want to be able to say you saw a movie at the Chinese Theater, fine. But there's no need to go there for the express purpose of seeing a new release.

In a nutshell, do your homework, decide what you want to see, plot it all out on a map, double the Google drive-time estimates and RENT A CAR with navigation.

As with any trip, choose your hotel based on the activities you're focusing on and the area where they are most concentrated.

Thanks everyone for very useful informations. Greart response.

I have not yet bought a tourist guide of LA. Which one do you recommend, (how about Rough Guide)?

I am a bit down now. I don't like the hassel of driving in an unknown town, plus the hassel of parking. Let me think. May be I will go to San Diego instead. May be! :(

Tintin

It's all about what you're looking for, tintin. Of course you can come to L.A., not rent a car, and have a wonderful time riding from place to place on the Metro and buses. But you would need to be an adventurous soul and willing to sacrifice lots of time in transit. If that's your idea of a vacation, basically seeing lots of things from a window but not necessarily experiencing lots of things, you'll be fine!

Five to seven days in San Diego would be hard without a car, too. You could certainly spend a day at the zoo and another day at the Wild Animal Park. You could strecth it to a third day visiting the other museums, and a fourth day at Sea World. If you're okay spending a day or two just wandeing around a downtown, visiting shopping malls, seeing movies, going to a spa, etc. then you'd be okay. But you can do all of those things in Chicago, so I wouldn't really see the point...

It's all about what you're looking for, tintin. Of course you can come to L.A., not rent a car, and have a wonderful time riding from place to place on the Metro and buses. But you would need to be an adventurous soul and willing to sacrifice lots of time in transit. If that's your idea of a vacation, basically seeing lots of things from a window but not necessarily experiencing lots of things, you'll be fine!

Five to seven days in San Diego would be hard without a car, too. You could certainly spend a day at the zoo and another day at the Wild Animal Park. You could strecth it to a third day visiting the other museums, and a fourth day at Sea World. If you're okay spending a day or two just wandeing around a downtown, visiting shopping malls, seeing movies, going to a spa, etc. then you'd be okay. But you can do all of those things in Chicago, so I wouldn't really see the point...

Hi DJ_Iceman! I had this impression that San Diego public transportation is pretty good. There are 2 transit hubs: downtown and old town, and I thought I can go pretty much anywhere with trolly and buses (and a bit walking). I have been to San Diego a few times and always used the public transit to move around the city. But I stayed in downtown and went to LaJolla and Sunset Clieff and few other places. I very much like the town.

What are the places you would recommend in San Diego?

Tintin

PS: San Francisco have such a good transit. Why LA doesn't have a similar transit system?

I suggest to stay at the DoubleTree in Santa Monica and take the Big Blue Bus to see things on the west side and downtown. www.bigbluebus.com gives you an idea of the routes and where they go. It's probably the best municipal bus system in all of LA. There is an express bus that goes straight downtown. You can take the #3 bus from LAX to SM. The beach is nice even in the winter and it is not so crowded if you come in winter rather than summer. Also there is a red bus (LA city metro rapid) from downtown SM that goes up wilshire towards Hollywood etc. There is a bus from the west side that goes to the Getty Museum as well - one of the LA buses. If you are based on the west side there is decent bus service to many points of interest.

I suggest to stay at the DoubleTree in Santa Monica and take the Big Blue Bus to see things on the west side and downtown. www.bigbluebus.com gives you an idea of the routes and where they go. It's probably the best municipal bus system in all of LA. There is an express bus that goes straight downtown. You can take the #3 bus from LAX to SM. The beach is nice even in the winter and it is not so crowded if you come in winter rather than summer. Also there is a red bus (LA city metro rapid) from downtown SM that goes up wilshire towards Hollywood etc. There is a bus from the west side that goes to the Getty Museum as well - one of the LA buses. If you are based on the west side there is decent bus service to many points of interest.

Hi Businesstraveller2! Thank you. This sounds like a great plan. I just looked at the Big Blue Bus routes and the hotel location. Looks fantastic. Double Tree seems too expansive though. hilton.com askes for about 188 per night. But I have to do more research on this.

Any good tips on San Diego? I may take the train to SAN, stay there for 2/3/4 nights as well.

Thanks very much. Great advice. ^

Tintin

Hi Tinin there are some less expensive hotels near UCLA on the big blue busline. The Claremont hotel is cheap it is in Westwood walking distance to all sorts of restaurants in a good neighborhood. Students and postdocs visiting UCLA sometimes stay there but it's not fancy at all. Santa Monica is expensive for hotels it is a tourist town. There is a youth hostel if you want really cheap. Also there are many good deals on hotels at LAX. I suggest to look online for deals on hotels or maybe use one of internet sites for hotel deals if you want to stay in santa monica. The drawback with LAX is that the area is not so nice you just go to the hotel to sleep but otherwise you want to be elsewhere during the day but they have many nice hotels that often have cheap rates, some fancy ones sometimes under $100/night. It would be a bit more complicated to get to/from LAX hotel on public transport because you have to take bus to transport center, then another bus to terminals then get the hotel shuttle to the hotel. Might be better to stay somewhere in town on the west side. Also check out Tiverton House in westwood they have breakfast, wifi, and they have bicycles you can use if you want to bike around. Moderate priced business hotel also serves the hospital. Both LA Rapid bus and Bigbluebus can take you easily between westwood and santa monica. Several younger folks I know live on the westside without a car and take the bus everywhere. Not that many hilton properties in this area that I know - the doubletree is the only one I know. Westwood area hotels are used to people staying there without a car and will likely know the good public transport routes to Getty, Santa Monica, downtown etc.

Also if you are taking the bus on a holiday you need to check the holiday schedule for the bus it can be different from the regular weekday/weekend schedule.

As demonstrated by the excellent answers posted above, using public transportation to try to see a wide range of Greater Los Angeles's attractions is not the best of strategies. My personal finding is that pub.trans is good for point-to-point trips (i.e. for getting to, and then returning from, a single destination per day).

Movie releases are pretty much done on a nationwide basis for most mainstream films. Some theaters, such as the local Laemmle chain, specialize in art-house releases that open in a small number of theaters on initial release - the ArcLight in Hollywood is a theater that shows both mainstream amd limited-release fare. Around Christmas Day, you do get some films that open only in Los Angeles, the reason being that the rules for Oscar eligibility require a seven-day paid exhibition in Los Angeles County to be completed by December 31st.

Hello Everyone! Thanks again for all the posts (and please keep them coming). I think I will go to Santa Monica and San Diego this holiday :D. Haven't made any plan or bought tickets yet (very busy this week at work). Please recommend me a good travel guide. 4-5 years ago Lets Go used to publish a series of "Map Guides". It was the best. But, like all good stuffs, its long gone. I find Unofficial Guides are good for cities like Las Vegas. Is it good for LA, or shall I get a Rough Guide?

What else do I need to know. No car rental this time. I want to get a feel about the city first. Will rent car next time, perhaps in the Summer.

Tintin

I strongly recommend the Eyewitness Guides - an informative and fun-to-reaad combination of history, culture and perspective (I like their inclusion of architectural points of interest). Their California edition covers the entire state, so you'll have coverage of both L.A. and San Diego. Be sure to get the edition that was revised in mid-2010 - some places still sell older editions:

http://www.amazon.com/California-Eyewitness-Travel-Annelise-Sorensen/dp/0756661803/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288500017&sr=1-1


BTW. and FYI: Someone previously mentioned the Universal City Hilton. While looking online at area hotels for a friend, I noticed an advance-purchase, non-refundable, non-changeable rate for that hotel of $135 for dates in December.

Using public transportation to see LA is possible but you will end up spending more time waiting for buses than driving. That is a fact. However, if you are mainly interested in hitting a few tourist destinations and stay near the beach, it is entirely doable and very easy. The guy above that said LA has the worst bus system in the world has obviously never taken the bus in LA. We have a wide and extensive network of buses and they typically run in a straight line up and down the same corridor so it is VERY EASY to take the bus in LA... you won't get lost. And most of the major corridors have Rapid buses that run between 5 and 15 minutes headways. You never have to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus on Wilshire Blvd for example. LA also have 5 of the top 10 busiest bus corridors in the country. Wilshire, Santa Monica, Vermont, Western, and Venice Blvd bus lines are always busy and they run 24 hours.

Big Blue Bus is great for exploring Santa Monica and Westside. You can buy a day pass when you first board any Blue Bus and it will give you unlimited ride for the day. Big Blue Bus will take you to every major tourist spots west of Robertson Blvd.

For Mid City (e.g. La Brea Tar Pit, LACMA, Farmers Market, Koreatown etc), bus is also very easy to access. Metro 704, 714, and 720 are your best friends...

The 700 series bus are the Rapid buses and these are your best bet for getting around LA. Bookmark this page (http://www.metro.net/around/timetables/700-799/) and print out the bus schedule for some key routes. I suggest you always have 704, 720, and 733 in your pocket as they are the backbone of our east-west bus routes.

If you want to read more about how to take the bus and rail in LA, read my "LA transit guide for newbies" (http://irwinc.blogspot.com/2009/06/find-your-way-around-la-guide-for.html)