Originally Posted by tonywestsider

Please do not dissappoint the OP. Unless the OP knows people or has any desire to go to places like Altadena to Cameo Woods to Torrance to Cypress and then to Stanton within 3 days, then I would say sure, you need a car. But the OP has not expressed that nor has any desire to do so.

1trainer1: Please focus on where you would like to stay in LA and what you would like to see in 3 days. If you would like to stay in LA without car, then of course that is possible in areas where tourists are. Downtown LA and Santa Monica are good places to stay with good hotels and public transportation. If you want to stay close to the beach, then stay in Santa Monica. If you want to see museums, the Disney Concert Hall and have access to Hollywood and Universal Studios, and a glimpse of everything in LA, then stay in Downtown LA.

If you stay in Santa Monica, for example, you can get there from LAX on Santa Monica Big Blue Bus. If you want to see the museums in Downtown LA, Disney Concert Hall and El Pueblo de Los Angeles, then take Big Blue Bus Line 10 express from Santa Monica to Downtown LA. From there, you can take Metro Red Line to Hollywood and Universal Studios. You can also use Metro Rapid Line 720, which will connect you from Santa Monica to Westwood to Beverly Hills to the Los Angeles County Art Museum to Downtown LA on Wilshire Blvd. On rush hour, those buses run every 90 seconds.

You obviously have been getting replies from car drivers here, but for the LA residents who are without car by choice (I for one - others will seem that an anomaly but it is not) really focus on where we are going and stick to the plan using transit, biking and walking. My suggestion is unless if you want to drive on the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Malibu, then get a car but keep your rental to one day. The rest of your stay can be done on public transportation if you are going to major destinations. Otherwise, you may be dissappointed trying to drive here and get stuck in the number one city for traffic congestion in the US, which may ironically get you stuck in traffic for 2/3s of your stay.

Happy travel planning!