What would you recommend for about 5-7 hours? Anywhere special to eat? I'll have my 10- and 14-yr old boys with me. We'll want to stay somewhere in the vicinity of LAX and Chavez Ravine/Dodger Stadium.
Oh crap... Just realised my Cav Jock cousin was one of your Zips. I would prefer if you don't mention his name but he's from Galveston County and lives in Bandera these days.
We are hoping not to stray much between the path between LAX and the stadium out of fear of traffic. We are coming in for game 1 of the WS so that's the primary focus. We'll get to the stadium 2-3 hours before first pitch but that leaves some time in between.
We have a rental car and a hotel by the airport for our return flight on Wednesday morning.
Is it worth getting an early lunch and then killing a few hours at the Santa Monica pier and then heading to the game?
Oh crap... Just realised my Cav Jock cousin was one of your Zips. I would prefer if you don't mention his name but he's from Galveston County and lives in Bandera these days.
I honestly don't know who lives where exactly but obviously I know him!
Oh crap... Just realised my Cav Jock cousin was one of your Zips. I would prefer if you don't mention his name but he's from Galveston County and lives in Bandera these days.
I honestly don't know who lives where exactly but obviously I know him!
I was just trying to pass along that message with as much security/encryption as I could. When I was a fish, during Hell Week, we had to memorize all of our Zips details - hometown, major, etc. The kind of stuff you never really forget. Anyway... Yeah, six degrees of separation.
We are hoping not to stray much between the path between LAX and the stadium out of fear of traffic. We are coming in for game 1 of the WS so that's the primary focus. We'll get to the stadium 2-3 hours before first pitch but that leaves some time in between.
We have a rental car and a hotel by the airport for our return flight on Wednesday morning.
Is it worth getting an early lunch and then killing a few hours at the Santa Monica pier and then heading to the game?
Looks like game time on Tuesday is about 5:00 pm Pacific. And if you want to be there 2-3 hours early, that means you want to be headed to Dodger Stadium by let's say - 1pm.
So... first thing. Driving in LA can be an absolute nightmare. For something like going to an event, it can be even worse. Here's the way I'd do it.
Arrive at LAX, get your rental car. Go to Santa Monica pier if you want. I'd probably either head down to Hermosa Beach, or head out to Malibu.
From your initial stop, you've got to decide if you want to do Beverly Hills/Hollywood or if you want to do Malibu/The Valley. Get out your Google Maps and follow along.
Option 1 - BH/Hollywood
Head east on Santa Monica Blvd.
I recommend driving through Beverly Hills. Drive down Rodeo Drive. Maybe for kicks, stop at the Starbucks across the street from The Ivy at Robertson and Beverly Dr.
Head North on Doheny and hang a right on Sunset. Here you can see all the clubs, Whisky A Go-Go, Viper Room, etc. The Rainbow.
When you get to Laurel Canyon, hang a left and head North to Mulholland Dr.
At Mulholland, make a left and go to the Laurel Canyon Dog Park. Get out, walk around. I can't tell you what you'll see because it changes every time but, I'm sure it will be something entertaining.
Get back in the car and head east on Mulholland until you get to Runyon Canyon scenic overlook. Stop there, get out of the car and take pictures. Great view of downtown LA from here. Also views of the Hollywood sign.
Now, get back in the car and drive east on Mulholland until you get to Cahuenga and turn right and head south to Hollywood Blvd and Highland.
At Hollywood and Highland, you can decide if you want to stop there and check out the street performers.
If you have any interest in Music, Records, etc., I recommend going to Amoeba at 6400 Sunset Blvd.
As far as if you want to look at Stars on the Walk, Hollywood Blvd has a lot but they're also on Vine too.
So, here's what I recommend.
After you go to Amoeba, continue east on Sunset until you get to Vine st. Make a left on Vine and head North towards Hollywood Blvd. If you don't want to go to Amoeba, you can just drive east down Hollywood Blvd.
So, at the corner of Hollywood and Vine is a good restaurant called 33 Taps where my daughter and I watched the 2014 World Cup beatdown of Brazil by Germany. Have lunch with your boys there.
Just north of that is the Capitol Records building. An absolute Hollywood landmark.
By now, it should about time to head to the Stadium for the game.
Option 2 - Malibu/The Valley
Head west on PCH - California Hwy 1 toward Malibu
For kicks, you can stop at any of the shopping centers near Marmalade Cafe and you might see some celebs. If nothing else, it's a nice drive along PCH.
When you get to Malibu, turn right and head north on Malibu Canyon Rd. past Pepperdine University. Do not stop there or your kids will want to go there. In all seriousness though, stop there and look back at the ocean. Great view from a college campus.
Continue North on Malibu Canyon Rd. until Las Virgenes reaches "The 101". This is a really scenic drive and I think your boys will really remember it well.
Head east on The 101 until you get to Laurel Canyon Rd. Head south on Laurel Canyon. It won't mean anything to your kids but in Studio City, you'll cross Ventura Blvd. Now a partial cut/paste from Option 1.
At Mulholland, make a right and go to the Laurel Canyon Dog Park. Get out, walk around. I can't tell you what you'll see because it changes every time but, I'm sure it will be something entertaining.
Get back in the car and head east on Mulholland until you get to Runyon Canyon scenic overlook. Stop there, get out of the car and take pictures. Great view of downtown LA from here. Also views of the Hollywood sign.
Now, get back in the car and drive east on Mulholland until you get to Cahuenga and turn left and head up to Barham Blvd. where you'll make a right and head north towards Burbank.
As Barham becomes Olive, you'll see Warner Brothers on your right.
It should be getting close to time for lunch. I recommend "The Dog Haus" on Olive across from Warner. If you're not quite ready to eat yet, keep driving north on Olive and we'll get to lunch in a few minutes.
Make a right on Alameda. At the corner of Olive and Alameda is where they used to film the Tonight Show. These days Ellen records her show there. I'll assume your boys aren't into that but... that knowledge might help them with the ladies.
Continue down Alameda and as you cross Buena Vista, the Walt Disney Studio is on your right. There's not really a way for tourists to get on the lot but what I do recommend is making consecutive right turns on - Keystone, Riverside and Buena Vista so that you get a tour of the outside of the lot. Take Buena Vista back north to Olive and make a right on Olive.
As you drive down Olive toward downtown Burbank, you'll see an F104 display. Lockheed used to manufacture in Burbank.
Once you cross "The 5", you'll be in the Media Center area and there are tons of good restaurants to eat at. I recommend Gordon Biersch but there are a ton of choices.
After lunch, get on "The 5" and head South to Stadium Way.
If you need to kill some time, I recommend checking out a clothing resale shop on Magnolia in Burbank called "It's a Wrap". They have clothes that were used in movies/TV. Sometimes at deep discounts. Some of the clothing might be iconic if you're a fan of a particular show. Hank's shirts from Breaking Bad or something like that. I've got a pair of Sorel snowboots from some TV show that Anthony Edwards was in (Zero Hour) that never made it. I always wanted a pair of Sorels and as it turns out "Goose" from Top Gun is my height so I think I've got his boots.
There's more than one way to do this trip. It sounds like fun and I hope you and your sons enjoy it. It will definitely be memorable no matter what.
Great tips. Thank you! We will likely choose one of these routes for some pre-game entertainment.
Yes, we were required to know all that information as well but I can't remember who is from where. Incidentally, I can't remember what I ate for dinner 2 nights ago, so there's that.
I am a life-long Astros fan. My 10-year old, however, is an insane Dodgers fan. Like obscure trivia-type fan. He started Little League t-ball at age 4 as a Dodger, played last season as a 10-year old Little League Majors Dodger, and will spend his final 2 LL seasons as a Dodger. So he'll be a youth Dodger wire-to-wire from t-ball to machine pitch to Minors kid pitch to Majors kid pitch. We thought about holding out to see if the Astros will make it, but I saw them play in the WS in 2005 so this is for the boys more than me. (Plus, we already had a Disneyland trip planned next week for just me and my 4-yr old. It's a tradition with the 2 older boys, and now it's his turn. We moved our trip back to Thursday and the 2 older boys and I will go round trip in about 30 hours. And then the little guy and I return Thursday but we'll be all about the Mouse.)
Going to the World Series against Los Dodgers... heck, if I wasn't broke from paying out of state tuition for my college student, I would join you. Have a great trip!
Eh I wouldn't bother with Santa Monica pier... We were in LA for the Ags/ Ucla game.. Went Santa Monica pier one day... Felt like a waste.
We really didn't do much Hollywood stuff either.. Don't really care that type thing.
We did USC/ Western Michigan at Colesium A&M/ Ucla at rose Bowl Dodgers/ Dbacks at Dodger Stadium Universal Studios and Santa Monica Pier and drove up to Malibu one day.
We are doing a similar trip - no WS though! Fri and Sat kids wanna see Disneyland - any tips there? Sun is beach day but wondered best beach to go hang out and play - with easy parking and place to rent chairs and umbrellas. Sun night and Mon would be Hollywood, Beverly Hills. Would teenagers like the cheap bus tour or celebrity Home tour stuff?
So my kids were teenagers/pre-teens when we moved to Australia in 2007. We've been back a couple of times and the things that they've enjoyed are:
Folks in costume on the Hollywood Walk of Fame around Hollywood and Highland. They weren't too interested in the stars on the walk except for the ones they knew. You can look up in advance where the stars are if there are any specific ones you want to see. http://www.walkoffame.com/starfinder/list
Amoeba Records is an absolute must stop for teenagers. Educate them about records - vinyl and music. Seriously, this is one of the last great record stores in existence.
If your kids are in to music at all, Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip has All Ages shows. I took my daughter to see Michael Schenker there in 2015 when she was 16 years old. Surprisingly she really enjoyed it. I say that because she likes rap music mostly. So, I was impressed that she actually had some appreciation for musicians who can play their instruments.
My daughter and I are just out of frame in the lower left hand corner of this video.
If you want to throw in a College visit, Pepperdine University in Malibu has one of the most amazing views of any college campus.
One thing the kids did that they got more exposure to reality than they probably should have is Santa Monica Pier and all the homeless dope smokers. Of course these days, it's everywhere in SoCal.
If you're really adventurous, you could try to hit Muscle Beach in Venice.
And of course, a drive through Beverly Hills is always eye opening. That there are some people who are just ridiculously wealthy.
I am just beside myself that it's going to be our two favorite teams Astros and Dodgers! Cannot wait!!!
As it turned out, I wound up spending my last dollar to go to Game 6 where we lost. But... the Astros won the World Series as I was sitting in the Qantas Business Class Lounge at LAX getting ready to head home to Australia.
