Los Angeles, California

[sandd]

Hello ladies, my husband and I will be on our US trip in a month and I still haven't booked LA and NYC. I'd love to stay in the heart of it all however husband is suggesting Santa Monica. Although it will not be very beach weather when we go, he reckons it's a good spot to stay as there will be plenty of local cafes etc. We want to be live like the locals when we travel. I also found out we'd be looking at $200/night for a 2 star hotel. Is Venice Beach really that dodgy as I bumped into very reasonable rates there. Can someone please suggest areas that are safe and good at Venice Beach? Thanks in advance!

[sandd]

Is Commonwealth Ave off Venice an OK area?

[muahmuahmuah]

@sandd I think Loew's hotel offers the same price a night or probably $250-400 sila if you plan to spend that much check the hotels right at the promenade there's also a hostel at the promenade itself I don't know lang if it's only for students. Madami pa bago hotels around the area din and maybe you can get good deals on Priceline.   

Venice can be scary lang with the range of people (quite a few homeless folks, once in a while you'll smell pot and the party peeps drink booze)  that visit the place  and when it gets packed, but not as bad if you are worried about snatchers or hold-ups like in Manila, and as travellers practice caution lang lagi, be aware of your surroundings, never be too confident that you are safe as much as I would like to say you are.  Kasi just around a month ago some homeless person drove mad crazy along the Venice Boardwalk, there were a couple of injuries and one tourist killed by the mishap.  Probably now they're heavily monitoring the area. Best to see Venice in the Morning and walk off to Santa Monica or hang out Venice and check out Abbot Kinney to Main street.  You can also sublet places or check airbnb.  Marina del Rey is also good it's close to Venice. Depends din if you're renting a car.

Do you know someone who lives in Commonwealth Ave.? I see it's close to Lincoln blvd. where Wholefoods is and the 99cent store. Honestly I find the mid part strip of Lincoln Ave. as scary come night but not  South Central scary naman there's one street that has crack houses and gangs (but you won't really see them hanging out in the street) it's probably just that the shops in the area are too dispersed and not as localized as what you'd see in town centers or the mall, there's nothing to see there really parang napag iwanan lang sya,  but end to end of it  - Washingtond Blvd. to Marina del Rey (Costco and by the Marina, Barnes and Noble) and then Santa Monica - are quite safe to hang out at.

--

I feel that LA isn't a city that is there to impress anyone, it's there to be appreciated, just like any place that holds a lot of history. It's beauty and charms can't be summed up by situating yourself a few days in an area  or take just  a couple of day's visiting,  it'll take more time than that-even perhaps a year or so- for it's richness to grow on you and to really discover what it has to offer.

[sandd]

hello muahmuahmuah, thank you for your reply. I decided we'd stay around the sta monica promenade area as you suggested. i had a good look at the area through google maps street views and now i understand why my husband like that area better. so no more hesitations now, sta monica it is!

[mooncake and leaves]

hehe this might be of help: http://matadornetwork.com/life/how-to-piss-off-an-angeleno/?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=promo

^ if you're renting a car, you can pretty  much stay anywhere. what i like about santa monica is it hardly gets deserted. also, you can pretty much just walk around. but i believe there's really no place in LA where you can drop your guard. venice gets crazy, i hear. i think last month there was a couple on their honeymoon there and the bride was kidnapped during a commotion. i was in santa monica last month and some of the streets had a lot of bums. in hollywood and highland naman someone threatened to kill me lol and a friend's friend was accosted there.

this isn't to scare you. la is usually fun and safe. talaga lang always be alert. also, if you guys like cafes, i think silver lake is the place for that

[morbiedoll]

Los Angeles sigh been livin here for 3 years now. And there's really no safe-safe place in it except if you live in Bev Hills, Bel-Air or Westwood but even then they're close to neighboring areas na ghetto. Homeless people in LA are like homeless in pinas, kahit saan, kahit kailan meron. Minsan theyre high off of weed, rugby, alcohol or plain craycray.

Santa Monica, bring a sweater specially if you plan to visit the pier. The wind's cold kahit sunny. try not to wear a dress or a skirt kasi hassle malakas hangin i'm not kidding.
must visit: Urth cafe for spanish latte and iced green tea, umami burger for gourmet burgers,  3rd street promenade, the pier.

DTLA (downtown LA) is the heart of LA. It's the most culturally diverse part of LA which can be good and bad. andito yung mga aspiring artists, fashion designers, models, etc etc andito rin yung mga drug addict, homeless people and criminals lol if you're staying in LA for a week or so, it's wise to invest in a pepper spray, just sayin. If you're into macarons there's Botegga Louie and Lette in little tokyo. Hyped as the best ramen in LA (daikokuya ramen) if you wanna spend a bit naman there's Animal - a michelin rated resto by hollywood na to. Staples center, or LA Live in general is maganda din pasyalan pag nights.

Christmas time theres always a free concert in Nokia theatre with relatively popular singers singin carols.

oh and if you're catholic you might want to visit the cathedral of angels.. wala lang, it's nice hehe

Venice is more liberal than any other neighborhoods na talagang people are handing out calling cards for weed for (therapeutic) purpose daw. I've only been here a couple of times & I won't go back [textspeak!] of the environment and parking fees.

Speaking of parking, if you'll be driving, consider yourself warned that LA in general, walang free parking, it's either street parking or garage parking. So expenses does add up. Make sure that your hotel doesnt have a parking fee (although i highly doubt it most hotels charge $17 for parking fee) garage parkings can go $3-5 on a weekday sometimes umaabot ng $7 pag weekends. parking around the beach is another story usually $15 on weekends. sooo yea

enjoy! =)

[whatswithjuly]

what's the weather like in this area? hindi ko alam what to pack.. we'll be traveling to Ontario next week.  pwede pa ba open toe?

[morbiedoll]

la's always so wishy washy with weather so just be prepared. but right now it's sunny with cool breeze. the closer you go to the beach the colder it gets. santa monica can be colder than dtla. pwede pa naman open toe. maybe not at night tho hehe.

If you're going to Ontario, California, mas malapit yun sa riverside area, its a bit warmer there . 

[oreo08]

how is the driving in LA? my husband is used to right hand drive (we're from Australia) but kung kelangan namin ng car when we visit, esp kasama namin ang daughter namin, edi fine... but natatakot lang ako kasi nga hindi naman sanay si hubby sa left hand drive

[morbiedoll]

LA as in right smack of LA. Drivers are rude and ruthless so caution. lots of side streets are either one way, left turns are unprotected. 405 freeway is always traffic. 

[k_heart]

According to my husband, at napansin ko rin sa driving nya, easier to drive sa LA or any US states compared sa manila. LA is a breeze. ha!ha!

[mama squeak!]

Definitely if you're sanay to drive in Manila walang sinabi ang LA or any other US cities for that matter. Well except for Miami, dun dami namin na-encounter barumbado mag-drive. 

[k_heart]

he!he! agree with sis mama squeak, ang tame ng us cities.
pero dito susme, stressful.

[oreo08]

but hubby is used to driving in Adelaide... super tame drivers dito kesa Melb and mas lalo na sa Sydney! theyre super aggressive there! So siguro magkasing level ang Sydney and LA.

dont even get me started with drivers in Phils lol hubby is never ever allowed to drive there!

anyway, how far is the driving from LA to Las Vegas? we would like to visit rin sana... pero kung masyado long drive, baka wag na lang... we have a 15 month old daughter na kasama kasi... baka mabored sa byahe

[mama squeak!]

^We did Vegas to LA in less than 5 hours since we made a short stop for lunch. But if tuloy tuloy you can get it in less than 4 hours or so.

[sandd]

how is the driving in LA? my husband is used to right hand drive (we're from Australia) but kung kelangan namin ng car when we visit, esp kasama namin ang daughter namin, edi fine... but natatakot lang ako kasi nga hindi naman sanay si hubby sa left hand drive

Sis, we drove from LA to Vegas in Nov, it was a little less than 4 hours easy breezy with quick stops for loo and gas. We are living in Sydney and we did get a bit disoriented when driving the other side but you get used to it. You can compare the small suburbs to Sydney, however the freeway is second to non. It was a fantastic drive nonetheless. I noticed though that majority of the cars have red signal lights which was a bit of an adjustment kasi di mo napapansin agad unlike when it's yellow/orange, also, majority doesn't signal when switching lanes. bit lame, but charge it to experience!

What we found very useful though was the GPS, big help. bring/rent one if you can. Makes the navigating easy, one less thing to worry besides keeping to the right side of the road.

[oreo08]

thanks mama squeak and sandd! Malakas loob ni hubby, he's up to the challenge daw. And yes definitely we'll rent a GPS too...

^thanks for the heads up about the indicator lights hubby's pet peeve yan dito so ulk!!

[snowhannah]

^ Drove from Thousand Oaks (this is near Malibu) to Vegas last  Dec 26th.. took all of 8 hours.  Traffic  was really bad.

[mooncake and leaves]

^ that happens half the time, methinks. usually during weekends and holidays.

[morbiedoll]

^true.