Travel Journal – Los Angeles, CA Oct 2020
Wow, we flew into Los Angeles and over the weekend took a driving tour of all the famous roads in LA! Found this link by searching self-driving tours of LA. Check it out! So cool to drive the roads we have always heard about in movies and books about LA.
Share this with us as we tour LA!
LOS ANGELES – ONE DAY DRIVING TOUR
There is a LOT to do in Los Angeles for a variety of tastes and ages. Our goal for this day was to be able to drive and see the sights of Los Angeles without stopping a lot of places – but you could always make changes based upon your interests. However, we must have done something right in our planning as we found ourselves behind paid tour buses the entire way.
And we would love to hear your thoughts, comments or suggestions at the bottom if you think we missed some unique stops; would make some changes; or if you simply found this helpful.
We started early in the morning on our drive coming from Newport Beach to Hollywood. And if you have never experienced Los Angeles traffic, you can understand why they call their highways by proper name. THE 405. THE 110. They deserve proper names and distinctions as they leave you surrounded by honking horns and gridlocked traffic. So, in true California speak, we took the 5 over to the 101 to start our drive.
As you drive on the 101, you will pass the Capitol Records building on your left which is a famous landmark. And we did not choose to exit at this point and visit the Walk of Fame or the TCL Chinese Theater or the handprints outside – but if you wanted to stop here is where you might want to add that or at the end. If you do visit, parking is recommended at Hollywood and Highland in the center. Instead, we chose to drive up to the Hollywood sign to 3000 Canyon Lake Road. It is a winding and confusing path through the neighborhood, so be sure to use a good GPS map on your phone. You’ll see a park once you get close – and you can park along the road and walk up to get a great view and photo of the Hollywood sign.
You can then drive back across the 101 to Mulholland Drive and stop at the Hollywood Bowl overlook. It only takes a few minutes, and you can’t miss it with all of the buses and tourists coming and going. Next, head west on Mulholland over to the famous Laurel Canyon Road and back down to Sunset Boulevard where you’ll want to take a right. This will take you by the Chateau Marmont (where we thought about having lunch – but decided it was more geared towards older kids than ours); the Viper Room; the Whisky a Go Go; the Roxy; and more. I think after taking this drive, 90% of all movies and TV shows must be shot in this small area as you begin to see the sights over and over on TV once you get back home.
If you want a picture in front of the famous Beverly Hills sign, you can continue down to the corner of Sierra and Sunset to get a quick photo in the small park. And then make your way back east to drive down Rodeo drive and see the Beverly Wilshire in front of you at the end of the street. Of course, you can stop to shop on Rodeo. We simply drove the famous street and made our way back east again to Melrose and Pink’s Hot Dogs. There was almost no line once we arrived, but we hear it can get very busy right at noon, so we tried to be there just a little early. If you have not heard of it, Pink’s is somewhat famous with Hollywood actors and film studios for catering sets with hot dogs and fries.
You can then spend some time shopping on Melrose which is much less expensive than Rodeo drive. Travel Tip – the shops to the east of Fairfax are more eclectic and hip (think future rock stars). To the west, it is a bit more geared towards higher end clothing.
Again, there is a lot more to do in Los Angeles, but if you are looking to simply spend a day there (you probably have to fly home from LAX anyway) and want to check off as many items as you can without spending the night, this tour will hit most of the high points in a short four or five hours.
And for more details on surrounding areas see our full itineraries for Southern California and Ojai, Catalina or destination notes for San Diego, Joshua Tree/Palm Springs, Newport Beach, Ojai, Catalina Island and Disneyland.
MAP
CLICK ON THIS LINK AND IT WILL OPEN IN GOOGLE MAPS AND YOU CAN DRIVE THE SAME ROADS WE HAVE. TB
HTTPS://GOO.GL/MAPS/GYWXYW48UNNUXLLZ9
LINKS – LOS ANGELES DRIVING TOUR
· Sunset Strip (the Viper Room, the Whisky a Go Go, the Roxy)
· Melrose
Chateau Marmontdriving tour of los angeleshollywood bowl overlookHollywood SignLos Angeleslos angeles driving tourMelroseMulhollandPink'sRodeoSunset
Wow awesome tour! Click on each link to see more details of what there is to see.
The first weekend here was disappointing for the air quality was so poor that you could only see about 3 miles. Fortunately, after the next weekend the Santa Anna Winds blew the smog away and all was clear.
The second weekend here we drove by the home we lived in San Bernardino, CA and the old neighborhood, big difference from when we lived there but memories of pulling weeds in the yard are still fresh!
That afternoon we went and had lunch with Sister Mary and her husband Larry. They always make us laugh and have a good time. Tanya remembers the last visit and excellent Mexican restaurant so that’s where we all went out to eat.
The 3rd weekend we drove to the mountains to recreate my bicycle ride when I was 14. From Highland, CA up Hwy 18 to Big Bear Lake, across the “Rim of the World Highway then down Waterman Canyon Road back to town. What great views this highway has, scenic roads, memories. Saw this picture and could not remember it so texted family to see if they did:
Mom responded. That the natural formation arrowhead, near where the spring (Arrowhead Springs Water) originates. There was a Christian camp there.
4th weekend sister Mary informed us that she had previous engagements so altering our plans we decided to explore Los Angeles. The app izi travel was the basis for this weekend tour and we got to visit several places, some we had heard of before and a few we have not. Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach for example.
Wow, so cool in the late fall to walk the boardwalk on Santa Monica Pier. Some of the display boards on the pier described the history of this place and kept bringing up memories of movies that showed this same place. We had a great time.
No muscle men working out on the beach and very few roller blading women to spice things up a little. But still fun to see and remember movies or shows at this place.
Marina Del Ray was difficult to find a place to stop and see the large number of boats, both power boats and sailboats. Really tough place to find parking so we decided on Trader Joes as the place to park and look around, a little shopping of course as well. Tanya commented that she had never seen so many sailboats in one place before, movies of course such as Columbo. I thought I had taken her to a marina before, but I guess not and will have to see that we do more of that. I of course in my Navy career have visited many marinas all over the world and had forgotten that this is new to my wonderful wife and will make sure that when we go to Key West Florida, she has more opportunity to see marine views.
Off to downtown to see the street Alvira, this had small shops reminiscent of Tijuana Mexico, souvenirs like tiny guitars, Mexican hats were predominant. Being on a business trip and having no place to store thing helped us keep in check any purchases we were tempted with.
The Grand Market place we sampled some local food that later seemed to make for an uncomfortable evening, ha so common in trying different foods.
Across the street was the trolly labeled as the shortest train in America, goes up a hill to the parking lot, see Tanya riding the trolly?
Chinatown tempted us strongly with shops offering foods we truly enjoy, no room left after sampling food at the Grand Market place, interesting place though for many towns have a Chinatown and some are much bigger than LA’s.
2 days of playing tourist, a lot of free time to wind down and relax made for a great weekend for the both of us.
Thanksgiving in Las Vegas
It's only a 4-hour drive to Las Vegas from Los Angeles and on a holiday weekend it's so close not to go! Tanya scored a great room in Vrada on the 40th floor providing a great view of the Bellagio Fountains. I looked many different ways to get streaming music from the Fountain show and could not find any. If I had it would have been absolutely stunning to be in a warm hotel room watching the Fountain show.
Taking it easy with so much time available was wonderful. Breakfast at local Roberto’s was affordable and enjoyable. The Covid changes for buffet had us concerned so we did not even try this.
We walked several of the casinos with themes – Paris, Venice, Fremont Street. Even stopped in to see the famous Golden Nugget at of course Golden Nugget! Walking the streets was a little crowded and there were a few homeless people about in certain areas that made it a little uncomfortable at times. All in all it was very enjoyable to visit Las Vegas.
During the return drive we stopped at Calico Ghost Town, Covid does not allow the street gunfights anymore, but it was still a good stop. There were quick draw demonstrations where 2 people in western garb would shoot at a balloon in a box, the time recorded who shot first to determine the winner. Pretty cool demonstration.
Another weekend took us to San Juan Capistrano, the site itself was still open with controlled attendance. Nice to see a way to play tourist during the pandemic. Mary and Larry could not join us, would have been a lot of fun if they had.
Of course, a little ice cream snack while playing tourist!
I am finishing the tour here on 31 Dec and the next assignment has changed several times – first Casper, WY which would be cool in summer but very cold right now – Tanya was excited saying we could snowmobile! Next was some confusion of Savannah, GA but turned out the VP was referring to better golf courses! Lastly it is implied northern Virginia would be the next stop. I am not concerned, just happy to be working right now.
We had forgotten to tell you that we have bought a new home! It still has wheels for it is a RV. The last 3 years of RV travel including the last 1 ½ years travel and work together full time made us decide to increase our capability of traveling with more storage and increased working/living space.
Tanya had come across Leisure Travel Vans, and we explored the models they make and decided on the model “Wonder Rear Twin Bed”. This model has the most storage of all the LTV models. The only way to get one of these is to order direct from the factory. There are never enough made to have on a lot in a dealership, so our expected delivery date is June 2021.
Another reason to choose this model is that it is NOT on a Mercedes chassis. It is on a Ford 350 chassis and I for one am much happier for that. Better smoother ride, more availability of parts and repair locations, great reviews of this engine. Rides like a SUV rather than a truck like Mercedes.
It is 3 feet longer that our current Rialta which gives a lot of flexibility in interior design yet still small enough to park in a single parking space (just barely). So stealth camping is still feasible with this RV. Dual tires in rear for additional stability, so we feel more comfortable on dirt roads while boondocking. Much better insulation that our 22-year-old Rialta will make a major difference in our comfort. Many other differences to mention but perhaps you could view it on this link. Wonder Class C RV - Leisure Travel Vans (leisurevans.com)
Our adventure in Los Angeles completed. I will start a new blog for our next adventure.
