Would also chime in that L.A. is not very user-friendly at all without a car. It's the original sprawler city, with a good number of attractions but many scattered at inconvenient distances from each other. San Francisco is much better as far as being do-able on public transportation.

I'd hate to have to do self-catering in a place like L.A., though. It's the original car-driven fast-food city, and some places like In n' Out Burger should be tried, as well as local institutions like the Apple Pan and Pink's.