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2 nights in LA in February. Venice or LAX?
I will be visiting LA for the first time in early Feb and have just 2 nights there. I've done lots of research and am currently swaying towards staying in Venice Beach (the other option is staying at a LAX hotel to save on transfers). I plan on doing an LA tour on my one full day as this seems to be the best way of getting a taster of all the different areas and walking/cycling along the coast on the afternoon of my arrival.
Not looking for trendy nightlife although would like to hit a couple of bars in the evening. I read here on FT in an old 2005 thread that Venice is quite dodgy at night. Is that still the case?
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I just stayed at the Hilton LAX and visited Venice Beach. Yes, Venice is still a bit dodgy particularly at night .... noticed a fair bit of broken glass on the street, from cars that have been broken into. More to the point, hotels near LAX will be half the price of a worse hotel at Venice; and parking is no cheaper at Venice, if you are renting a car. Santa Monica is even more expensive. Using Hotwire you can often get 4* hotel at LAX for USD 60 per night, sometimes less, while the cheapest nice hotel I could find in Santa Monica was USD 180 per night. And it is only 20 min drive away.
I'm not sure that I'd try to sample all of Los Angeles, California, in just one day. I'd recommend, britenbsas, that you just pick one area and explore that. Sounds like you want to hit the beach. I'd recommend staying in Santa Monica, California, or Venice (which I don't think is as dodgy as it used to be, but I could be wrong there). You might also want to consider heading south of LAX and staying in one of the Beach Cities (they all run together in my head, so I forget which is best for tourists and nightlife -- Manhattan Beach, California, I think). As number_6 points out, though, those aren't the cheapest places to stay. (I actually think that the area immediately around LAX is particularly lacking in character, which is probably why it's so cheap, but it would also kill the deal for me. YMMV.)
However, if you do stay in Venice, I'd recommend the Hotel Erwin. mrs. iapetus and I stayed there last month. It's a converted Best Western that's now a boutique hotel with some ocean views (not direct views, but you can see it ). The restaurant supposedly isn't that great, but the rooftop bar is really nice.
You didn't say what day of the week you'd be in L.A., but consider that the Venice Boardwalk scene is only on the weekends in good weather. Good beach weather is not likely in Feb. Rain much more likely--a wet winter is being predicted.
IMHO, unless you have some very special reason for staying near the beach, I would head over to Beverly Hills area, West Hollywood.
Santa Monica is also a good choice. Very interesting along the Third Street Promenade for a walk.
You cannot possibly see it all. L.A. area is really huge.
As others have mentioned LAX is cheap sleeps (LAX is not the area you want to sightsee in) and not all that far away--if you have a car.
Maybe stay at LAX to be frugal, go to the Getty Museum (worth a visit just for the train ride up to the site--you have to park below--and to see the amazing view of sea and mountains, good restaurant, too.) walk around Third Street in Santa Monica, visit the infamous Hollywood area (park under center at Hollywood and Highland--city run and quite reasonable). That is enough and more for one day.
Try Harvelle's in Santa Monica at night. A famous blues lovers hangout on 4th St.
Programs: AA EXP, BA Exec Club, LANPASS, Hilton HHonors
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Thanks to all for the advice and ideas. I will be there mid-week so Venice sounds like it's probably not the best idea. Will do some more research into Beverly Hills and work out which part of LA to focus my sightseeing on. Thanks again.
I live in Santa Monica, and let me say that Venice _is_ dodgy at night. I was walking along the beach area at night and saw lots of weird folks doing things and staring at us as we walked by. Some even looked like they were going to approach us, so we walked faster. As soon as we entered the Santa Monica side of things, everything was more well-lit and people looked like they were not homeless or doing other illicit activities. And there were four of us, so it's not like it was me walking along a dark alley by myself. I won't say I was fearful for my life, but I didn't want to have any confrontations or encounters.
LA is huge! You can't take a bus tour to see it all. Heck, from Santa Monica to the Hollywood sign can take you an hour or two just to get there. Do not underestimate traffic! As a matter of fact, I had to take my car to a mechanic on the other side of town and it took me 40 minutes. It was at 5pm, but he was closing and I needed his opinion on something. Never again will I venture out on the roads during rush hour.
). The restaurant supposedly isn't that great, but the rooftop bar is really nice. 
