If you listen in to Ch. 9 when flying into LAX, you will often hear the pilot trying to talk their way into landing on 25L/R. This can happen even if the approach is over Santa Monica and turning 180 above downtown, as Ocn Vw 1K detailed. Unscientifically, based on my own recollections of SFO/SMF-LAX runs, I would say they were successful only 20 percent of the time. And when we did land on 24L/R, on more than one occasion the pilot expressed his frustration over the PA and asked us to expect delays before arriving at the gate, because the difference in the time it takes to get there is 3 minutes from 25L/R versus more than 15 minutes from 24L/R.