My daughter and I are doing a quick visit to UCLA soon and I was hoping to get advice on how to make the most of one afternoon and evening there. We are signed up for the tour and will Uber there so we won’t have a car. Can anyone advise me on walkable places to go, grab a bite, see the area/vibe after the tour? Anything not in the tour that we should be sure to see? I don’t know that we’d go back after returning to our hotel. Thanks for any tips.
Personally, I would leave Westwood by taking Uber to the 3rd Street Promanade (Santa Monica) check out the shops/restaurants, walk along the bluffs and head to the pier. If you want an unforgettable dinner, go to Nobu (Malibu).
Or you can visit this site:
Be sure to go inside the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame right next to the Bruin Bear statue by Ackerman! The tour is pretty comprehensive in itself. Maybe spend more time by the sculpture gardens. If you wanna venture to nearby Beverly Hills for dinner Lawrys the prime rib is pretty good. The Getty and the Grove are good spots to hang out as well if you wanna leave campus.
The botanical gardens on campus is nice, there’s also a building with meteors on display. Hammer museum is a short walk off campus, it’s let’s say, interesting depending on what’s on exhibit. Highly recommend the Getty museum, that can be an all day trip in itself, it’s free other than paid parking.
Thank you all! I have been to LA quite a few times but don’t know the area by the campus, although my daughter and I have both been to Santa Monica before. So she has seen the Pier and shops and that stuff in Santa Monica. I was more trying to get a sense of what to walk to right around the campus. Maybe where students hang out or things like that? I don’t know if students will be on campus for a summer session next week? I know they haven’t started fall semester classes yet, which might make it hard to get a feel since it won’t be bustling with students.
Go to Diddy Riese https://www.diddyriese.com/ for an ice cream sandwich. You can also get a bag of (yesterday’s) cookies for about three dollars. If you want to see students on campus, try one of the food court type areas. However, the summer campus tends to have a lot of graduate students, along with young kids who are there for various summer camps. http://legacy.asucla.ucla.edu/restaurants/hours.asp
C session is going on right now. It’s considered the fun summer session where a lot of students take an easy ge and just hang out all summer with their friends. On the weekend the campus itself will be kind of dead. Everyone will be hanging out in the apartments and other buildings surrounding campus. You’ll see a lot of people walking in Westwood grabbing lunch and stuff. If you go on a weekday then you’ll see people going to and from class. The In n out is always packed in Westwood if you wanna see lots of students.
If you want a decent meal but still in the vicinity of where students hang out, I recommend the Wolfgang Puck at the Student Union.
I second Diddy Riese for their cookies and ice cream sandwiches! I used to go there regularly when I was a grad student at UCLA in the 80s when the cookies only cost 25 cents. There are many casual places to eat in Westwood, including Barney’s Beanery and BJ’s Restaurant. Falafel King is a mainstay that’s been there since I was a student. A favorite of ours now when we go visit and take our daughter out for dinner is Onkei Ramen and Sushi on Weyburn Ave, if you like Japanese food. Fast food places in Westwood where you may see lots of students are both In n Out (as @10s4life mentioned) and Chick-Fil-A.
Barney’s is good for some cheap drinks but the food doesn’t taste that great. California pizza kitchen is a decent staple. Fat sals is great late at night.
I love me some pork belly nachos at TLT in Westwood, and coffee with a pastry over at Profeta. Westwood is just about the perfect size for walking around after a tour - not too big that you’d get tired, and just big enough to have plenty of restaurants and shops to check out.
Alternatively, if you prefer to hang on campus, I’d just grab something to go from Ackerman and eat outside. Otherwise, just head South after the tour and you’ll be in Westwood in 5 minutes.
@Mom2jl thanks for the tips! We enjoyed Falafel King and also made it to Onkei Ramen and Sushi. Had a great tour and enjoyed time is Westwood. I really appreciated everyone’s tips and I’m so glad there is a site like this to be able to ask advice.