Where to stay for 2 day visit with teens - Santa Monica or West Hollywood?
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Anonymous
| We will be in LA for a couple of days next month, en route to a family reunion in Santa Barbara. My teens haven’t been to LA since they were small. Which area do you suggest staying in for such a short visit? Ordinarily I’d pick Santa Monica for its proximity to the beach and bike path, but it is not near any “attractions” like Hollywood, studio tours, Griffith Park, Dodgers stadium, Lacma, so I thought perhaps an area like West Hollywood could balance proximity to things to do plus a kind of interesting vibe. I’d appreciate thoughts and suggestions. |
Anonymous
| Are you planning to go do activities as a family or give your teens some freedom to go explore? If you are doing everything as a family then stay where attractions are easy to drive to. If you plan to give the teens time to be on their own then I would stay in Santa Monica so that they can walk the path/shops/beach. |
Anonymous
| I wouldn't stay in West Hollywood if you paid me, it is seedy. But Santa Monica is fine and perfectly safe. |
Anonymous
This |
Anonymous
|
So where would you both stay that is located closer to the types of sights I named - Hollywood, Lacma, Dodgers stadium, wb studio tour. SM is great but so far.
Thanks from OP |
Anonymous
| You could try Silver Lake/Los Feliz for lots of hipster eateries, etc., Melrose if you're more into high end. Maybe even Koreatown? |
Anonymous
No the answer is no, none of those crappy places. |
Anonymous
| West Hollywood is very trendy now with young people. My DD is a student at UCLA and they hang out there and in Melrose all the time. Great places to eat and shop. Drag brunches are a particular favorite! |
Anonymous
| Shutters is good |
Anonymous
So Santa Monica is the only acceptable place to stay in your opinion. Noted. Appreciate the rec for Silver Lake and the current thoughts on West Hollywood. |
Anonymous
Shutters is the best! We recently stayed in Santa Monica and that fit us just fine b/c we wanted to be near the beach and ride/walk along the path. We didn't care about the walk of fame or things like that. |
Anonymous
| Another vote for Santa Monica. You have the famous Santa Monica Pier and Santa Monica Place mall for eating and shopping. |
Anonymous
Los Feliz and Silverlake are fine if you're renting a house but Silverlake has some very sketchy areas too. It's almost 100% residential only. |
Anonymous
| This is OP. I appreciate the thoughts. We are familiar with Santa Monica (and Shutters, which is $1000/nt while we are there), and I like it there fine but we are headed to a family reunion in La Jolla so I’d rather show my kids some LA sights than more beaches. Maybe we’ll stay in Westwood - it is more centrally located than SM (if there is such a thing in LA) but we could easily take a bike ride on the beach path if we want. I think SM Pier will not hold much appeal to teens, by the way. |
Anonymous
| I’d stay in Beverly Hills! It’s iconic. And central to everything worth seeing. A beach is a beach but there’s only one Beverly Hills. |