Have a full day in LA tomorrow. Suggestions on how to spend it?
February 4, 2018 8:52 AM Subscribe
We'll be in LA all Monday, but we're a little overwhelmed with what we could do and what would be reasonable to do in one day. We're hoping for a little help planning our day.
My girlfriend and I will have a full day in LA tomorrow (monday). We are staying at the Marina del Rey hotel, so we’ll be near the airport for our next day departure (tuesday). We do have a car, and we have reservations at Barrique Venice at 6 monday night.
Our original plans were to visit the Griffith Observatory in the morning, but as luck has it, it’s closed on monday. So now our day is pretty open. Normally we avoid touristy things, but since this is our first time spending the day in LA, we’d like to do a few cliched things (hollywood sign, famous streets, etc). Previously, we visited Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier during a short visit.
Also, a suggestion for fish tacos for lunch would be great.
We would rather take our time and do a few cool things rather than run ourselves crazy. So was hoping I might get a few ideas of things to do on monday, knowing we’re staying at the Marina del Ray and have reservations at Barrique Venice at 6pm that night.
Thanks for any ideas!
My girlfriend and I will have a full day in LA tomorrow (monday). We are staying at the Marina del Rey hotel, so we’ll be near the airport for our next day departure (tuesday). We do have a car, and we have reservations at Barrique Venice at 6 monday night.
Our original plans were to visit the Griffith Observatory in the morning, but as luck has it, it’s closed on monday. So now our day is pretty open. Normally we avoid touristy things, but since this is our first time spending the day in LA, we’d like to do a few cliched things (hollywood sign, famous streets, etc). Previously, we visited Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier during a short visit.
Also, a suggestion for fish tacos for lunch would be great.
We would rather take our time and do a few cool things rather than run ourselves crazy. So was hoping I might get a few ideas of things to do on monday, knowing we’re staying at the Marina del Ray and have reservations at Barrique Venice at 6pm that night.
Thanks for any ideas!
On my last trip to LA, I enjoyed the central market quite a bit. G&B coffee was great, and we basically rolled out of there for eating too much.
posted by furnace.heart at 9:04 AM on February 4, 2018
posted by furnace.heart at 9:04 AM on February 4, 2018
If you're at all interested in space exploration, the space shuttle Endeavour is incredibly cool. Could fairly easily be combined with the ideas above (though leave plenty of time to get back to Venice in time for 6pm).
posted by Jellybean_Slybun at 9:10 AM on February 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Jellybean_Slybun at 9:10 AM on February 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
My favorite fish tacos are in Los Feliz, Best Fish Taco in Ensenada. Interesting name, but it really is. Ricky's is another favorite but closed on Mondays. Close to Hollywood if you are doing the touristy things there.
posted by xtine at 10:06 AM on February 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by xtine at 10:06 AM on February 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you want touristy, how about one of those double decker busses that you hop on hop off? I've seen a bunch of them around Westchester lately. And the weather should be beautiful.
Or, maybe the Getty? I would hesitate to go too far east knowing you have to be back in Venice at 6 - traffic is baaaad this time of year.
How about exploring north on the Pacific Coast Highway, toward Malibu/etc? If you didn't have to be back for your reservation, I'd say drive to Santa Barbara.
posted by bluesky78987 at 10:19 AM on February 4, 2018
Or, maybe the Getty? I would hesitate to go too far east knowing you have to be back in Venice at 6 - traffic is baaaad this time of year.
How about exploring north on the Pacific Coast Highway, toward Malibu/etc? If you didn't have to be back for your reservation, I'd say drive to Santa Barbara.
posted by bluesky78987 at 10:19 AM on February 4, 2018
My suggestion for lunch fish tacos would be Loteria at the Farmer's Market if you happened to already be in the vicinity (LACMA/Tar Pits, for example), as much because the FM is a fun bit of a wander as because the food is generally reliably good.
You might otherwise decide on one of the activity suggestions here and pick the nearest Trejo's Tacos (yeah, it's a bit of a gimmick, but for now it's an Only In LA one), which will have a perfectly solid fish taco. (It's not hard to make a great fish taco, you could get one nearly anywhere. Yelp is generally a good guide for searching based on the location you're currently in.) There's one also near LACMA, one near the California Science Center where the Endeavour is, and one right smack in the middle of Hollywood near Hollywood and Vine - which, on its own, isn't much worth paying parking to get out and see, but you can and likely will have to drive bits of Hollywood, Vine, and Sunset to get over there for lunch and will have to pay to park anyway.
If you went to see the Endeavor, you could kick around the CSC/Exposition Park area for a while (and the weather's going to be perfect tomorrow - you may want to carry a little umbrella if you are sun-averse). So maybe go do the Hollywood sign thing as soon as you're prepared to escape MdR (rush hour calms down around 10, the surface streets get somewhat less awful starting around 9) - look, just go to Lake Hollywood Park, it's as good as hiking/trespassing - and then you can do a drive around Hollywood and then head over to CSC for the rest of the day. You're going to want to get back to MdR by 4 if you need to change for dinner, by 5 if you don't want to miss your reservation.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:20 AM on February 4, 2018
You might otherwise decide on one of the activity suggestions here and pick the nearest Trejo's Tacos (yeah, it's a bit of a gimmick, but for now it's an Only In LA one), which will have a perfectly solid fish taco. (It's not hard to make a great fish taco, you could get one nearly anywhere. Yelp is generally a good guide for searching based on the location you're currently in.) There's one also near LACMA, one near the California Science Center where the Endeavour is, and one right smack in the middle of Hollywood near Hollywood and Vine - which, on its own, isn't much worth paying parking to get out and see, but you can and likely will have to drive bits of Hollywood, Vine, and Sunset to get over there for lunch and will have to pay to park anyway.
If you went to see the Endeavor, you could kick around the CSC/Exposition Park area for a while (and the weather's going to be perfect tomorrow - you may want to carry a little umbrella if you are sun-averse). So maybe go do the Hollywood sign thing as soon as you're prepared to escape MdR (rush hour calms down around 10, the surface streets get somewhat less awful starting around 9) - look, just go to Lake Hollywood Park, it's as good as hiking/trespassing - and then you can do a drive around Hollywood and then head over to CSC for the rest of the day. You're going to want to get back to MdR by 4 if you need to change for dinner, by 5 if you don't want to miss your reservation.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:20 AM on February 4, 2018
I went to see Watts Towers because I love weird homemade art/ architecture.
posted by theora55 at 10:31 AM on February 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 10:31 AM on February 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Depending on your reasons for having wanted to go to the Observatory, the grounds are still open and quite lovely on a Monday and the view of the city and Hollywood Sign can't be beat. The building and its' exhibits/telescopes are closed but you can still walk around and enjoy the architecture and iconic location on the hill.
posted by le_salvo at 10:37 AM on February 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by le_salvo at 10:37 AM on February 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
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posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:59 AM on February 4, 2018