Need Travel/Lodging/visit advise for Los Angeles college tour/Spring vacation

Parents Forum
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<p>Help! We are trying to combine a college tour and family vacation. Those of you familiar with So. California, I NEED your help! We will be combining some college visits for younger son with a family vacation with the whole family (it happens to be older s's spring break from college as well, so he will be joining us). I guess in part it is payback, as younger s. was dragged around during older s's college tours. However,we want to have some FUN in addition to doing the campus tours.</p>

<p>We are flying into LAX on Sat. Mar 3 and heading out to the slopes (Big Bear) to get a little skiing in. That part is set. Then we are going to visit Pomona-CMC on Tues Mar 6. We visit USC on Weds Mar 7. We will be playing tourist for the next few days, wanting perhaps to ck. out the beaches on Thurs-Fri (maybe Venice, Santa Monica, or whatever all of you out there might suggest). Question-- where should we stay for the last 4 nites (Tues nite thru Fri nite) that (1) isn't in a crummy part of town, (2) isn't outrageously expensive (3) will have parking that also won't break the bank and (4) is generally conveniently located to be able to get to USC, touristy stuff, the beaches nd back to LAX on Sat. (we don't mind driving around, but within reason. LA traffic can be a challenge - we'd rather avoid having lodging 30 miles away, requiring a lengthy drive). We will probably want to drive up to Hollywood at some point. What other tourist-y things can you suggest? Don't think we need Disney or Knotts Berry farm, unless there is some really compelling reason to do so. Last trip (for older son) included a visit to the jet propulsion lab in Pasadena, science museum near USC, etc. Younger son isn't interested in that (bummer). </p>

<p>Any and all suggestions are appreciated! Thanks ot all you locals, experienced travellers and travel agents out there!</p>

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<p>For your USC visit, a convenient hotel is the Holiday Inn at 1020 South Figueroa (it's just down the street from the campus). There is also the Radisson Hotel at 3540 South Figueroa which is literally across the street from campus - but there aren't always rooms available. If you can stay at the Radisson, you can leave your car at the hotel which is really convenient. Then, for the rest of your stay in LA, you may want to move closer to LAX and use that as your base so that you will be close to LAX for your departure. There are lots of hotels near the airport.</p>

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<p>When we were visiting the Claremont schools, we noticed the Inn & Out Burger on the way down from LAX. We stopped and it was their training place so we had to get a pin to mark our visit to this U. I recommend a visit.</p>

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<p>When we did (multiple) SoCal college trips, we usually stayed at the Holiday Inn in Santa Monica. The ultimate selling point at the time was that I was looking at Pepperdine (on top of USC and Claremonts), which is just one town over, but even in later visits, we chose this place. It's pricier b/c it's in a great location, but it's not obscene. Same goes for the commute to various schools, as long as you're decently thoughtful about hours. The hotel is about a block from the 3rd street promenade, the beach, and the pier...lots of food as well as a movie theatre within walking distance. Though this wasn't the obvious choice for lodging, it was always nice b/c the trip never felt like a gross college trip (when I toured, my sister was dragged around, and when she toured, I was...same situation as your own). After a long day of tours, we could come back and be tourists for the evening.</p>

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<p>Any particular area we should NOT say in? I am looking intopossibly using some Hilton points, but the available locations are all over the place, and will probably only get us one night free. I have no idea if the available locations are worth it or not.</p>

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<p>As a former Angeleno, I agree with Student615 that the Santa Monica or Westwood areas (near UCLA) would be nicer than the LAX area as a base for tourist type activities. There's not too much interesting to do around LAX. As long as you don't have to make the trip in the middle of rush hour, the driving time from West LA (including both Santa Monica & Westwood) shouldn't be too terrible.</p>

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<p>A couple of years ago we stayed at a Holiday Inn in Manhatten Beach and would definitely recommend it for the room and the price. We got a junior suite that had two adjoining rooms and 2 full baths for $118 a night ( internet rate). The room was nice , free breakfast, free garage parking and good location to get around. The hotel itself sits right on a main street so that isn't sooo great, ( no view or anything, but room was quiet), but it was a quick hop to the freeways or the beach ( just blocks down).You could not beat the price.
Another interesting place we stayed in was the Inn at Venice Beach - really cute and you walk to Venice Beach so the teens loved it.
I'll second In and Out Burger - amazing.</p>

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<p>FYI- I used to live in Redondo Beach so I was familiar with the area when I booked the room. I knew that it wasn't scenic but a good location. Oh, yeah, try El Pollo Loco down the street for a quick bite too, mu husbands favorite.</p>

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<p>For our visits to USC we stay at the downtown Marriott on South Fig, <a href="http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/LAXDT%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/LAXDT&lt;/a>. A very nice hotel and a short drive to campus.</p>

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<p>Might consider San Diego day trip. Beach, museums, zoo.</p>

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<p>I would stay in Santa Monica as your base rather than downtown L.A. It will give you more of a feeling of being on a vacation instead of just visiting colleges. Santa Monica is a fun, charming, ocean-front city not far from Venice beach, which will appeal to the teens, while the area near USC is well, lacking in charm, with no glimpses of the Pacific as you're driving or walking around. </p>

<p>Student's suggestion is good or go on Expedia and look for any similar hotels that put you near the 3rd Street promenade. Great for walks, wide choice of restaurants, movies. From 3rd street, you could walk to the beach, though it's probably a long walk and you won't want to go into the ocean without a wetsuit because the water is freezing (IMO). Venice Beach is an easy drive from SM and if you only have a short time, I think that's a must see, particularly because your teens will get a kick out of the people watching and shops. There's the Santa Monica Pier amusement area, but I doubt there's much there to appeal to older teens. It's pretty at night, though. </p>

<p>For sight seeing, you could drive up the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu (Pepperdine is up that way if you're interested) and check out the newly opened Getty Museum in Malibu. I haven't been there yet but it's supposed to be spectacular; the other Getty Museum off the 405 Freeway in West L.A. also is not too shabby, if you're interested in architecture and art. It's free, but you have to make a reservation for parking. Then a people-mover tram takes you up the hill to the museum, which on a nonsmog day, has expansive views of L.A. see <a href="http://www.getty.edu/visit%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.getty.edu/visit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>With limited time, I would probably try to do a tour of one of the movie studios and the kitschy Hollywood sightseeing stuff or maybe the Universal Studios-Hollywood amusement park. Since you're kids are older, in fact, you could drop them there for a day and take yourself to a museum or other shopping in the area --- Melrose street or some of the ethnic areas --- Chinatown, Little Tokyo -- in the downtown area. On the westside, near UCLA, there's a lot of nice shopping and smaller-than-Getty museums. Museum of Contemporary Art, L.A.County Museum (LACMA) and there's quirky other museums scattered around like the Museum of Neon Art (around the Little Tokyo area, and a museum of television in Beverly Hills (I believe that's where it is.)
There's a lot of choices for a fun vacation as well as visiting the colleges, but plan carefully and don't try to do too much in one day because you will spend a lot of time in traffic just getting from A to B in that area. Travel to LAX from Santa Monica is easy but try to avoid rush hour or you will sit on the freeway. Allow lots of time for the unpredictable.</p>

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<p>Oooh , all great ideas. I just discovered we have Marriott points, so will look into these suggestions for Marriot hotels- fF we base out of Santa Monica, how long will it take to get down to USC?
Thanks!</p>

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<p>I just found I can probably get something with points in Marina Del Ray. Would this be a good idea?</p>

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<p>Marina Del Ray is beautiful and a short drive to Venice or Santa Monica. I would stay there!</p>

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<p>Great!! It is also showing Manhattan Beach, but that looks like hte airport area, yes??</p>

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<p>I think Marina Del Rey might be more convenient for your USC trip and sightseeing. I lived in Redondo so I am familiar with the beach towns below the airport and enjoy going back there. For Venice and Santa Monica you will be a little closer in Marina Del Rey. If you go to Google maps and type in the address, then go to hybrid view, you can see the area. ( a very cool tool). It gives you a better idea of the location of your hotel . Good luck - I love LA</p>

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<p>I would agree w/ the Santa Monica option. But there is a nice Marriot in Pasadena near old towne which would be fun. Could drop down to USC, it's close to Pomona, easy access to UCLA and you might even take in Universal Studios. Will you head up to Santa Barbara at all?</p>

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<p>I'd stop stressing about distance. Except at rush hour, it's easier to drive from one spot to another in SoCal than just about anyplace else in the country. SoCalians drive everywhere in part because they can. Where I live now, freeways don't ever seem to go where I want. In SoCal I used to take two different freeways for a 5-mile commute to work. Since you are playing tourist, you don't have to drive at rush hour and can get the most out of the time you have.</p>

<p>Some random thoughts.</p>

<p>You aren't going to find a Marriott property in a dangerous neighborhood.</p>

<p>We found a great deal on a suite in Irvine last summer (Irvine is business mostly business travellers, and it's not full of "reasonably-priced" hotels) by taking a room for a week at a hotel designed for long-term stays. Normally, companies rent these rooms by the month for employees working out-of-town for extended periods, but I found they are perfectly happy renting for a week. The hotel did not have a lot of tourist amenities (not even a real lobby), and they only offer maid service once a week. It was about the same quality as a Marriott Courtyard, and had a stove, fridge, cabinets, mini-store, laundry, cable, high-speed Internet, etc. No tourist goodies, but the trade-offs bought us a one-bedroom suite for $125 a night. The other potential drawback to this sort of place is that you find them in industrial parks, not in tourist areas. We are former SoCalians, and just wanted a decent place to sleep. [pause] I just went and looked up the name. It was Candlewood Suites.</p>

<p>Manhattan Beach is not too far from the airport, but it's not "the airport area." Given the traffic patterns in and out of LAX, plane noise isn't a problem.</p>

<p>Figure out what you want to see and do. Are you going to Disneyland? Newport Beach? Sea World in San Diego? You could make a great case for driving down to Sea World for a day, stay overnight in Mission Bay, and then visit the San Diego Zoo before driving north for the rest of your trip.</p>

<p>Personally, of the three popular tourist destinations in SoCal, I find LA the least interesting. I'd rather visit Disneyland/Huntington/Newport/Laguna Beach and then San Diego than LA, but that's just me. </p>

<p>I would only fly in and out of LAX if someone forced me at gunpoint or I saved a fortune on the price of a ticket.</p>

<p>Consider flying into an LA-area airport, doing your LA visits, then change hotels south and fly home of of Orange County or even San Diego, as you visit southwards.</p>

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<p>I have lived in both the Redondo and Manhattan Beach area and Santa Monica. Redondo and Manhattan Beach are nice but the freeway access for where you want to go isn't as good. From Santa Monica you can get right on the Santa Monica freeway(10) and be at USC in 20 minutes depending on the time of day. If you end up in Marina Del Rey you should try Islands for great burgers and fries. I love walking through all the docks looking at all the boats.
Another area that we just discovered on our last trip down to Southern California is Huntington Beach. They have I think both a Hyatt and Hilton that are really nice if you want a true vacation feel. Beach volleyball courts on the sand, shopping, and lots of dining options. From the Huntington/Newport Beach area it is about 40 minutes to Claremont. We had to go out to Cal Poly Pomona from Newport and it was a easy drive. Granted it was Sunday morning so no traffic and it took 35 minutes.
If you have the option to fly into Long Beach I would look into that. Much less stress. We stayed at the Marriot near the Long Beach airport and the location had great freeway access. It would be a short drive to the Harbor Freeway from the 405 which would take you downtown to USC. We were visiting family but we found the prices in that area much less. We went to the Long Beach aquarium for the first time and enjoyed it. It is also a nice area to walk around.
I think it also depends on if you want to stay in one place the whole time. And if you come from a landlocked state is being near the ocean worth the price. And also how you feel about traffic.</p>

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<p>Lots of great ideas. Thanks-
Washdad-
The reason I am asking about the driving distance is that there is a possibility that we'll let older son sleep in on the USC tour day, have hubby drop me and younger s off at USC and then go back to get older son to do "whatever" til our tour is done-- then they have to come back and get us. If we do this, I want to minimize the highway hassle. I'd also rather not keep hotel-hopping if I can help it. That can also be a pain. We'll be in Big Bear for 2 nites and Claremont/Ontario for one. If we can find a conveniently located area (and you are all very helpful here) we'll camp out in the last hotel for 4 nights rather than move around again. It just seems like less of a hassle. That's what I am looking for at this point, and am soaking up all your suggestions.</p>

<p>Probably will do a studio tour (perhaps Universal and access the theme park too- are they attached?) one day and then the Venice/Santa Monica tourist stuff the second (and I'll ck Huntington Beach--thanks mom60). Probably go to Hollywood Blvd at night. Dont need to do Disney (boys are older, and older s just did Disneyworld in Orlando at New Years). They'd probably prefer Universal Studios tour/themepark, I think.</p>

<p>The flights are already booked- it was super cheap to fly into LAX, and we are also rendezvous-ing with our older s there, who is flying in from Houston, so this was the most convenient. We looked into flying into Ontario but the fares werent anywhere near as competitive, and there are 4 of us. (It was cheaper to fly round trip ATL-LAX than to fly our younger s to Houston to visit his bro in a few weeks! Thank heavens for Delta's cheap "lets stay alive and not get taken over by US Airways" fares ) </p>

<p>As for traffic-- I live in Atlanta. Traffic here stinks too, and I am used to having to take it into consideration in travel plans.</p>