Los Angeles Thread #7: Busch Gardens

My boring-ass Monday night = listening to dried up palm fronds fall onto the roof. >THUNK<

My sister and I will be visiting your fair city in April. Is the Farmer's Daughter still a good place to stay? How about the Figueroa?

I'd selfishly suggest the Figueroa so we can all hang out by the pool again.

or the bonaventure so we can ride the glass elevators

if money is no object and you want to be on the west side:

http://www.centuryplaza.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

^^swank-ass midcentury modern

Westside is awesome!

Money is very much an object. What is the best place to stay where you can walk out the door and not have to get in a car?

there are buses pretty much everywhere. if you stay downtown, you'll be near the red, purple, blue, and gold line trains.

I think we're gonna stay at the Secret Garden. Kind of wanted to try something different, but it's a lot cheaper than any of the others.

Any of you Angelenos free to meet up? Will be there April 6 to 10. Also, any museum/gallery/etc. stuff we should know about?

Dang, I'll have to bow out -- normally that would be a free weekend but two good friends down here in OC are getting married and I'm already booked up. Have a great time in any event!

btw, what's the best/not-expensive way to get from LA to SF without flying or driving?

Bus or train being your choices...there seems to be a Greyhound web fare option at $42, where an initial Chinatown Bus search comes out at $55. Amtrak might actually work as well, though -- the Coast Starlight takes you from LA to Oakland with a bus connection into SF at $54, while a potentially quicker connection would the Pacific Surfliner to Santa Barbara with bus service from there to SF.

thx Ned

All things being equal and with an eye on various service alerts and trackwork being done, I'd suggest Amtrak -- if you did the last option (LA to SB) you'd pass through the actual surfside part of the route there; everything else after that is more inland, though going down the Salinas Valley is also a joy, and in all it's a part of California that fewer people see because they're usually using the 5 freeway in the Central Valley.

Should also say I've done all these routes before so I know I'm what talking about from experience! If the Megabus option still existed that would be the way to go but alas that barely lasted a year. Chinatown Bus options supposedly start at $29 but a quick check at pricing over the next two months kept turning up $55 as a baseline.

btw, what's the best/not-expensive way to get from LA to SF without flying or driving?

this might be not morbs-friendly but my experience w/ norcal to socal via craigslist rideshare has been pretty good. don't take greyhound, it takes forever.

As long as it's $70ish or under, a train is fine with me

What day or days for travel are you looking at?

haven't gotten that far...

...but if I have to stay at a WeHo or Hollywood hotel for 3-4 nights, any recs? Less than $120/night would be good, $95 would be better.

morbs the best western on franklin ave by the 101 freeway is a short walk to Hollywood and i think the prices are fairly reasonable. there's an above-average diner on the first floor as well. if you're as much of a fan of 'swingers' as i suspect you may be, there were several scenes filmed in that diner.

yeah, less than a 10 min walk to hollywood and vine metro stop

also: i've seen bam margera at this diner TWICE

lol, I've never seen Swingers. Bam, mmmmm.

*reserves furiously*

i've never seen swingers but i HAVE been to the dresden

hey LA-ers: every time we go to our LA, on our way back (near the grapevine) i see this ... 'thing' off the side of the road, it looks like a field of giant thread spools, and miniature castles. does anyone know what i'm talking about and if so can they explain it to me?

Financially strapped KCET-TV is in talks to sell its landmark Sunset Boulevard studio to the Church of Scientology, according to people who know about the pending deal.

The Los Angeles television station, which is struggling to rebuild viewership after its recent split from PBS, plans to move its operations to a smaller location, real estate brokers said. Station officials have been touring potential sites, brokers said.

Terms of the potential deal were unavailable, but the 4.5-acre property at 4401 W. Sunset Blvd. has an assessed value of $14.1 million, according to county records. Individuals inside the station and real estate consultants who were not authorized to speak publicly about the transaction confirmed the pending sale.

Haha oh dear.

Huell Ron Hubbard

hey LA-ers: every time we go to our LA, on our way back (near the grapevine) i see this ... 'thing' off the side of the road, it looks like a field of giant thread spools, and miniature castles. does anyone know what i'm talking about and if so can they explain it to me?

How far up the Grapevine are we talking about here?

apparently it's not up the grapevine, it's just after castaic?

i was very excited to learn that nudie's rodeo tailors' longtime address was 5015 lankershim -- walking distance from me! looking at google maps, they sell discount futons at that site now. but nudie's shop held out until 1994.

http://www.nudiesrodeotailor.com/

on a similar note, been really enjoying the valley relics FB page. do they have an actual store? their website doesn't work

so I priced that Best Western near 101; in July the rack rate is about $200 a night, and Travelocity doesn't have it cheaper. May have to opt for a Quality Inn nearby, but probably won't reserve anything for another week, until I talk to my friend in the Valley.

Try Hotwire. You can get a pretty good idea of which hotels they are here: http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showforum=427&

never used hotwire but with that forum feedback tool i might be inclined

Morbs, why don't you stay at the Secret Garden in WeHo? Looks like its $135/night in July. If you can find a conventioner to share with you, even better. I've stayed there before and I'm staying there next week--the only thing is you might have to make conversation with the owner, but he'll tell you about Frank Sinatra and Chasen's.

http://www.secretgardenbnb.com/

i know people who have stayed here, seemed ok. close to LACMA, fairfax district, not too far from weho or hollywood

http://www.wilshirecresthotel.com/

VaPlain, the LA stay is AFTER the baseball convention, which is in Long Beach. (And I'm paying $119 a night there, solo, bcz I skip roommates on vacation too.)

donna rouge and i are participating in the adult spelling bee down in long beach! root for us! if i win, i'm giving half the prize money to doctors without borders.

and if i win, i'm giving half of mine to NARAL pro-choice california!

this is going down in sylmar right now.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/officer-domestic-dispute-sylmar-119173789.html?tw

Favorite Thai spot in the Hollywood area ?

everyone will prob say jitlada and they'll prob be pretty correct

Dr. M., perhaps you will meet a revivalist baseballer who you can invite to share your room for a romantic Hollywood weekend.

My sister's planning on renting a car; is this really necessary? The only out of town we might do is go to Pasadena.

Any classic old Hollywood recommendations for us?

Having a car certainly makes it easier to get around Los Angeles. I know there's a big public transportation contingent on here, but the public transportation isn't that great. Renting a car will certainly save you a lot of time sitting on buses.

It depends a lot on where your home base is and where you want to be going from there.
As a native to the area I would have never considered not having a car back in the day but on more resent visits I have been using a car less and less.

LA -> pasadena = definitely rent a car for that

gold line goes to pasadena, people complain about how slow it is tho