Where to park for cheap in Downtown LA?

March 14, 2007 11:35 PM

I'm going to be staying at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown, Los Angeles in April. The hotel wants $35/night for parking. Any ideas on ways around this?

I'm not searching for ways to park at the hotel for free, but rather I'm looking for ideas on ways to park somewhere else within walking, bus or Metro distance. As you can see (from the link above), I'll be very close to the Metro, so I could park somewhere cheaper and Metro in each day to/from the hotel. Stuff along these lines.

posted by JPowers to travel & transportation around Los Angeles, CA (13 answers total)

The hotel website has a map with a pull down menu listing various attrations and things to see, one of which is parking lots. There are several very close by the hotel, but I have no idea if any of them allow overnight parking:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/area/map.html?propertyID=1004
(Too lazy to switch to FF to make the link clickable). Anyway, they all have phone numbers listed, so maybe you could call a few to see about rates and times etc.
posted by jvilter at 12:01 AM on March 15, 2007

Not sure if there are other manned parking garages in the area with cheaper rates, so can't quite help you there, but I'd advise against parking in open unmanned lots as most areas on the periphery are not well monitored and you may risk the safety of your vehicle. Not saying this as a scare tactic, just as someone who is quite familiar with the downtown area during the wee hours and observations of uninhibited gang activity in plain sight.
posted by Asherah at 12:34 AM on March 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

If you're only going to need to get to your car during the day, then you might consider parking north of china town and taking the dash E bus to the hotel. I'd be wary of parking on the street, especially overnight, in most areas of downtown Los Angeles. It's likely that the Bonaventure is hitting you up for $35 because they know that any alternative is going to be a huge hassle.
posted by rdr at 1:11 AM on March 15, 2007

$35 is outrageous.

There's free parking at the Cypress/Lincoln metro station, on the Gold Line just north of downtown, though a car left overnight would be noticeable and vulnerable. If it's a rental and insured, or a heap without a CD player, this could work. It's certainly a good spot during the day. You'd need to take the train south to Union Station, and then transfer to a Red Line train or catch a DASH or city bus. Note that if taking Gold and Red Line trains you need a day pass or two tickets (a disgrace).

Alternately, there are cheap manned lots over on Spring Street around 7th-9th Streets, which is a reasonable walk, bus or cab ride, though you might not have overnight access to your vehicle.
posted by Scram at 7:35 AM on March 15, 2007

at the bonaventure, you are about four blocks from the metro station, and it's not a particularly pedestrian-friendly four blocks. it is walkable, and used to be part of my route to the ymca every morning, it's just along a part of 4th street that has very little pedestrian activity.

there is a garage across the street from the bonaventure which is cheaper. sorry, i don't now the rate off the top of my head. it's where my dad parked their rental car last time they stayed there.
posted by jimw at 9:54 AM on March 15, 2007

There's a parking under the Standard hotel, on 6th, two or three blocks away. The entrance is in the little dead end street going to the library. It's not reserved to the hotel, and self-parking is $10 for a night, if you pick up the car before 10am.
posted by Spanner Nic at 10:21 AM on March 15, 2007

...a guarded parking, I should add.
posted by Spanner Nic at 10:34 AM on March 15, 2007

I'm not sure if you've spent much time in a big city like LA, but just in case you haven't... if you do end up walking the street alone late at night from another lot to the hotel, just please remember DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT with people on the street. Stay in well lit areas and if someone starts talking to you, do not stop and respond. Keep moving.

Not to sound paranoid, it's just a really good way to avoid any kind of regretable hassles with bad people. Just use some street smarts when you're Downtown (or anywhere, for that matter).
posted by miss lynnster at 12:04 PM on March 15, 2007

Parking at Union Station is $6.00/day, 2 stops away from you on the Red line. Inside and safe. Probably take about 20 minutes to get to your car from the hotel, depending on the train schedule.
posted by krudiger at 12:24 PM on March 15, 2007

Also, I just happened to walk by the Pershing Square parking garage, 5 min from your hotel, and it said $14 max/day, open 24hrs. More expensive, but muy conveniento.
posted by johngumbo at 2:07 PM on March 15, 2007

Ahem... Despite the favorited comment above, I'll add to the chorus that if you plan on walking to or from a Metro station at any time outside the hours of 8am - 8pm, you're running about a 35% chance of getting mugged. Seriously. Downtown just ain't that safe.

And, oh yeah, the Bonaventure is nowhere near a Metro Red Line stop. See those 3 blocks between you and the Pershing Square or 7th street stations on the map you linked to? That's close to a mile in either direction. You don't want to make that walk -- especially if you have somewhere to be that day.

Just pay the money to park at the hotel -- rooms at the Bonaventure are cheap, and Angelenos count it as part of the room cost. (And are you sure it's 35 bucks? My in-laws stayed there last month, and it was more like $17.) You could also park across Flower St. at the World Trade Center, which I believe is something like 25 bucks a day max.
posted by turducken at 4:37 PM on March 15, 2007

Go to the library, which is across the street from the hotel, and get a free library card. You can park underneath the library and just go into the library everyday and show your card to have the library validate your parking.
posted by HotPatatta at 7:06 PM on March 15, 2007

Last time I was there I don't remember the library offering to validate for overnight parking though... so, huh?

I worked near Little Tokyo years ago (just northwest of Union Station). One day I parked in a cheap unmanned lot, against a wall, under some spray painting that said "Squatters rule!" & walked the block to work. At 7pm I came out to my car and found someone had thrown a brick through the window and taken my stereo as well as everything else I had in there. So all I'm saying is... just be safe & use good judgment, whatever you do. The money you save on parking isn't worth it if you have to replace a car window or end up walking a dangerous area by yourself.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:24 AM on March 16, 2007