Four hours in LA

September 8, 2015 3:45 AM

I am at a conference in Pasadena this week. It finishes at 3:30pm on Friday. My flight to San Francisco is at 7:20pm from LAX that evening. I have never been to LA (or the US) before. What should I do with this time?

Ideally I'd like to just walk around an area of the city and see some sights and grab something to eat. However, while 4 hours seems like a good amount of time, getting somewhere from Pasadena and then getting the airport for at the latest 6:30 is making me anxious whenever I try and plan something.

I do not drive but am happy to take taxis/ubers.

posted by litereally to Travel & Transportation around Los Angeles, CA (12 answers total)

I don't think you have much extra time, except to eat dinner in the airport. Between traffic, distance, and check-in.... You're just about on time.

You could take the 110 to the 101, drive into Hollywood, exit at Gower. Drop on to Hollywood Blvd to go through the main tourist drag, left on LaBrea, take that to LAX. Or cut over to La Cienega at some point.

Or you could drive through Downtown and then drive to LAX.
posted by jbenben at 3:53 AM on September 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

That's...not really enough time to do much of anything, except for a quick walk around Old Town Pasadena, perhaps. You're not that far from LAX, in theory, but in practice, you're going to be hitting rush hour traffic.
posted by thomas j wise at 4:32 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Thirding go to the airport, unfortunately. A 6:30 airport arrival time target is cutting it way close, especially considering rush hour traffic both on the roads and in the security lines.
posted by dondiego87 at 4:46 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Oh well! I will take my time then getting there and relax at the airport. Thanks everyone.
posted by litereally at 5:27 AM on September 8, 2015

On a Friday evening I wouldn't take too much time getting there :)

I'm not sure how you're getting to LAX but you could swing by the In-N-Out on Sepulveda and Lincoln for a little SoCal flavor. (I have no idea how to link to the new google maps, sorry.)
posted by Room 641-A at 5:39 AM on September 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Bwithh, that was my plan originally, but I'm not sure how to tell what the traffic will be like (as mentioned I won't be driving). Are there any websites or apps I can use to gauge this?
posted by litereally at 7:14 AM on September 8, 2015

I definitely second taking the gold line train from Pasadena to downtown LA (about 5 blocks from the convention center) and then taking the flyaway bus from there directly to LAX. I wouldn't risk the time to stop anywhere between the two.
posted by kbuxton at 7:53 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Google maps directions will give you expected travel times for a given time of day. For arriving at LAX at 6:20 PM on Friday, it says 35 min to 1 hr 50 min from Pasadena. There's no way in the world it's going to be 35 min. Expect the latter. Public transit is about 2 hours, but it's unclear whether that factors in traffic for the Flyaway bus. That might give you a little less than an hour to use. If I were you, I wouldn't spend more than 30 minutes doing anything if going by car, and I'd probably go immediately if going by transit.
posted by cnc at 9:34 AM on September 8, 2015

Pasadena to LAX is a hot mess of traffic in rush hour. If possible you could reroute to Burbank which is much closer than LAX and less of hassle. If you stay with LAX, then you'll hit the most traffic on the second half of the drive (after you pass through downtown LA and head west). Don't assume that things are running quickly and hop out of the cab in downtown LA.

If you like kitschy I would probably stop at Randy's Donuts on the way to the airport. it a place that's sort of iconic for LA and it's a few minutes from LAX - all on surface streets.
posted by 26.2 at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

If you are comfortable with trains, gold line to Union Station is a good option. I take that several times a month and it's reliable. When you get off in Union Station walk down the stairs and look for the signage to the flyaway bus (it's in the transit plaza). Union Station is beautiful but don't waste too much time there. The flyaway bus runs every 30 minutes and the route from Union Station to LAX is about an hour.
posted by 26.2 at 11:01 AM on September 8, 2015

Since traffic is the one variable I'd also check the Metro Rail timelines to see how long it would take to go:
Gold line to Union Station > Red/Purple to the 7th St Metro station > Expo line to Rosa Parks > Green Line > LAX. You might need/want to Uber to your terminal after that.

It looks convoluted but the trains are super easy and fast.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:35 PM on September 8, 2015

You could also go to one of the two In 'n' Out joints close to LAX, via Uber/car service — either Ubering all the way to LAX, or taking the train to LAX, then Uber to In 'n' Out, then back to LAX. Then it's easy enough to skip if you anger the traffic gods, but close enough to LAX that you won't miss your flight.
posted by culfinglin at 2:13 PM on September 8, 2015