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July 30, 2005 1:02 AM

How does a visitor get around LA at late hours?

I'll be flying in pretty late (maybe 11ish on Tuesday night, details are still sketch) and flying out at 11pm on Thursday night. I want to stay at a hostel in Venice Beach. I also want to see a show 15 miles away at Largo in West Hollywood. How do I get around with paying an arm and leg for cab fairs? How late do buses run? I'm only making $200 on this flight and am trying to keep expenses down but still have a good time.

Renting a car seems out of the option because no car rental place is open 24 hours and it would cost $50+ to rent for just one day.

posted by trinarian to travel & transportation (20 comments total)

If you haven't already, try mta.net for bus routes and schedules, and the trip planner. Some rental agencies serving the airport (are you flying into LAX? if so, there is a free shuttle to a rental car terminal, where agencies offer courtesy shuttles to pick up your car) provide service at all hours. Though I can't recommend it based on personal experience, here is one.
posted by PY at 1:47 AM on July 30, 2005

LAX, indeed.

1a) rental cars seem a little on the pricey side on weekdays and 1b) aren't open 24 hours a day

2) MTA doesn't seem to run past 11pm, though I would love to be able to take public transit (and would be willing to walk upwards of a mile or so).
posted by trinarian at 1:54 AM on July 30, 2005

A rental may be expensive, but all of the major car rental places at LAX are open 24 hours.


Also, if you can get there by midnight, the Santa Monica 3 will take you to Venice Beach.
posted by madajb at 2:16 AM on July 30, 2005

MTA is a possibility, but, thanks to GM's long-sightedness in protecting us from terrorism, LA's public transit system bites.

my personal advice, since you want to go to a show, is to put a posting up on craigslist saying that you are in town for the night and looking for a cheap ride to the show.

of course it's risky, but it's the only option i can think of for under $45.

also, i've never been to this "largo" but it says it's on fairfax, so you HAVE to stumble down to canter's for bad deli nosh afterward. i think there might actually be a law that says that.
posted by bryak at 2:26 AM on July 30, 2005

Largo is super amazing, you must not miss it! Make sure to catch Jon Brion.

In my cumulative months of vacation time in LA I've had the same problem. The real solution is definitely renting a car. LA is a car town and it totally bites without one. Largo is totally not central Hollywood, but you can get the bus there easily enough during the day.

Cabs are definitely your best bet to fill in the 'gaps'. A cab from, say, Largo to LAX is going to run $50 max I'm guessing (I did NoHo to LAX for $50 and that's further). Venice Beach to LAX is going to be a lot cheaper.

During the day, the subway is a good solution. It goes to (near) LAX and you get to the station via a free shuttle. One slightly annoying change and you can be in downtown LA, two changes and you can be standing on Hollywood and Vine and grab buses all around Hollywood.
posted by wackybrit at 5:19 AM on July 30, 2005

During the day, the subway is a good solution. It goes to (near) LAX and you get to the station via a free shuttle. One slightly annoying change and you can be in downtown LA, two changes and you can be standing on Hollywood and Vine and grab buses all around Hollywood.

I've taken the subway from Hollywood to LAX and all I have to say is that it took a while. Make sure you allow plenty of time.
posted by grouse at 6:14 AM on July 30, 2005

The following comes from a die-hard bus and train riding straphanger and urban cyclist and recently ex-LA native:

ETA from LAX to Hollywood: Green line to blue line to red line:

3 transfers mated perfectly - approximately 60-80 minutes.

In ideal conditions. Which hardly ever happens. This doesn't include any walking or further busing, just the train segment.

The Santa Monica 3 direct to Venice is a valid option, but cutting it close. Another valid option is just catching some Zs in LAX until the early morning and then busing out on the 3.

Be aware that the Red Line is a dual line. One train terminates at Wilshire and Western, the other goes north-to-northwest to Hollywood and beyond. Both depart downtown from the same station.

Note that this takes a totally round-about route, geographically, but is about 4-5 hours faster than local street buses. The train headers and platform announcements identify the westbound train destinations.

Double plan any transit trips, IE, always have at least one more bus on the route between you and the end of service. For each transfer, it's wise to add another bus/train buffer. (In case you miss transfers.) You really don't want to be stuck in Hawthorne, Hollywood, South Central, Norwalk, or basically anywhere in LA with no place to go.

For a number of pretty severe reasons, I strongly recommend that casual visitors don't take public transport. The transport here sucks. The geographic area and terrain is bewilderingly large and complex - even with a working knowledge of it. While the rail system is quite simple, the bus system is ginormous and convoluted like a fine Morel mushroom. You won't find bus schedules on board, and the drivers aren't likely to be of much help. They know their routes, usually, and if they know otherwise they generally keep quiet about it. The system is so large you really can't ask driver X "how do I get there from here?" and expect a decipherable answer.

Discreet web access and PDF reading is your friend. Download and print maps and tables you even think you might need. Without a working knowledge of the overlapping and convoluted street grids, most bus maps are useless. Print out the overview maps for your areas, then go print out yahoo or google maps for detail. If you have a handheld mapping GPS, use it.

Add to this the complications and risk of carrying luggage, valuables, and possibly looking like a tourist (even if you think you don't - see also luggage), you're a prime target. I've taken the trains and buses to Burbank, LAX and other regional airports with luggage and it can be hairy. I've seen some really insane stuff. And I've usually avoided most of MTA at night.

(Again, keep in mind I've bused all over LA from the valley to Pasadena and Claremont, down to East LA, All of Orange County, Long Beach, Palos Verdes, Venice, Santa Monica and almost all points in between, including Compton, Inglewood, Crenshaw, Downtown, Korea Town, China Town, Glendale, Burbank and much, much more. I've done thousands and tens of thousands of miles on MTA and MTA-transeferable subsystems and Orange County's OCTA.)

If you can afford it, for the love of Bob Dobbs get yourself an econo rental with a GPS navigator. Native Angelenos buy Thomas Guides for a reason. Hell, I used a mapping GPS on my bike.

I do mean to scare you at least a little. But I'm not overstating to do so.

If you only took cabs, it'd be cheaper to rent a car. But a cheaper option would be to take a shuttle to the hostel, stash your stuff, and then bus to Hollywood. From Venice, the trains are going to be useless for Hollywood. Busing limited local area routes for short to medium isn't so bad. Also look into express routes.

If you do take the transport, be careful. Some cities chew people up and spit them out, LA just eats people.
posted by loquacious at 6:28 AM on July 30, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oh, and bring a nice thick book. Like God Emporer of Dune or The Silmarillian or a meaty Thomas Pynchon or something. The Diamond Age? Cryptonomicon? You can read it and beat off crackheads with it.
posted by loquacious at 6:34 AM on July 30, 2005

The car rental will probably be worth it in the end. Try Priceline, I have had really good luck with cheap rentals there, although mostly on weekends. I'm suprised that there isn't a 24hour rental place, but I'll take your word on it.

You could bus it to Largo, and then cab it back, but I think the cab ride will be in the neighborhood of $30. There isn't any rail line into Venice, Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus is one of the better bus lines around, so if you're staying on the Westside you would be ok. You could try catching the Seven Bus which runs until just after Midnight and then hop over to Largo on a cab, but you're talking a lot of coordinating.
posted by jonah at 8:37 AM on July 30, 2005

If you can get to Santa Monica, the Metro Rapid 720 goes down Wilshire Blvd. pretty regularly (though not sure how late it runs). Take the 720 down Wilshire to Fairfax, then at Fairfax transfer on a northbound bus (towards the hill) and take the ride up Fairfax till you see Largo (or Canters, which is nearly across the street).

Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus system should be able to get you to/from the airport to the Venice or Santa Monica areas (again, not sure how late it runs).
posted by herc at 9:26 AM on July 30, 2005

As you can see, going 10 miles across town without a car requires an operation of military standards.

If you have a flight arriving and leaving from a major international airport at a late hour, believe me, there will be rental agencies open to cater to your needs - just check around.

Also, you can easily rent for less than $50. The key is to lock down a price, pay for it with your Mastercard, and then decline the CDW when you pick up the car. This is because regrettably rental agencies choose not to include insurance costs in their quote, and the CDW will take your sub-$50 quote to the $50+ rate you noted. Mastercard (and I'm sure Visa also) cover the CDW as a member benefit (although FWIW I don't believe this is the case for holders of European Mastercards/ Visas).
posted by forallmankind at 11:22 AM on July 30, 2005

Largo is almost directly across from Canter's, and yes I believe there is a law. Best people watching in the city. I recommend the reuben.
posted by cali at 11:52 AM on July 30, 2005

As someone who lives in Westside L.A. I feel I can say with some expertise: rent a car. Just do it.
posted by Justinian at 12:16 PM on July 30, 2005

Rent a bike ? Get more fit?
posted by crewshell at 12:51 PM on July 30, 2005

Largo is super amazing, you must not miss it! Make sure to catch Jon Brion.

Yes, and be sure to make your reservations at least two weeks in advance, or don't bother.

Rent a car. $200 or not, if you don't rent a car, you will wish that you had.
posted by bingo at 2:50 PM on July 30, 2005

Forget public transport. Read the previous statement again. Just forget it, ok? Go on Priceline and rent a car. You're likely to get one for $15 or under. I'm serious.
posted by redteam at 5:53 PM on July 30, 2005

crewshell: Except for day-use beach rentals that will quickly exceed the cost of a car rental after a few hours, there aren't any places that rent a bike. And biking in LA at night - and especially in Hollywood - is not at all for the faint of heart. I'm pretty hardcore - I've had to curb-launch over and on to the hoods of errant cars and other evasive gymnastics - and it practically made me pee my pants in fear and adrenalin excitement every time I went riding farther than the corner store.

I love bikes. I advocate their use for transportation strongly. But like any full-contact sport it's wise to train and equip adequetely. Riding in a strange, vast and oftentimes dangerous city at night on an unfamiliar bike without a proper helmet, lighting and the skills doesn't meet that requirement.

I also love and know LA and know what rumors are exaggerations, and what rumors aren't. That city is a battleground of amped up circus freaks coked to the gills on dangerous psychopharmaceuticals and psychoactives interspersed with pockets of ghostly angels, teetering forever in some etheral no man's land between sheer paradise and sheer Road Warrior-esque brutal anarchy.

Every time I travel or move somewhere else it drives home the vague idea of how insanely abnormal that city is. Though I've never been to NYC, my intuition and extrapolation tells me that LA differs from NYC in that similar dangers exist in both places, but in LA they always seem to be lying behind convincing veneers and facades and aren't always immediately recognizable as such.

True, LA is mostly or at least often peacable and peaceful, but things I've seen personally on the streets or transport:

Police shootings. Gang shootouts. With fully automatic rifles and submachine guns. Full blown riots, sporting event or politically related. People having psychotic episodes on buses that may or may not involve speaking in tongues or violent spasms, open and messy defecation, unsavory nudity and/or masturbation, bus driver or rider harrassment or assault, spontaneous explosive vomiting on and off buses, physicallly zealous and assualtive preaching, absolutely intolerably rancid urban outdoorsman choosing to sit next to me and sweat cheap malt liquor and urine, buses so crowded that when the driver makes a short stop everyone ends up in a painfully contorted pile of reeking humanity, and much more, to greater and lesser degrees of unpleasantness.
posted by loquacious at 6:50 PM on July 30, 2005

My 21 years of living-in-LA experience can be neatly summarized for you: rent a car.
posted by ikkyu2 at 9:44 PM on July 30, 2005

Oh please. I lived in LA for 7 years without a car and survived. I rode a bicycle, rook the bus, and walked.

The area between Venice and West Hollywood is probably one of the most pleasant bus riding/walking area in the city.

You'll be fine.
posted by 4easypayments at 7:07 AM on July 31, 2005

4easypayments - any specifics? How would you get from Hollywood to Venice at 2:00am?

On a side note Mao's Kitchen is one of my favorite places to eat in LA period. They have great, cheap Chinese food. You can bring in your own wine/beer/booze, they don't serve any themselves. They do have a good home made ginger ale. Mao's is literally across the street from the Venice Hostel.
posted by jonah at 8:49 AM on July 31, 2005