THANKS!!!!

Be careful with Silver Lake/Echo Park. Some nice areas there, but definitely some bad areas nearby that owners might try to pass off as being in Silver Lake/Echo Park. Hancock Park and Larchmont are also possibilities if you don't want the beach- they are both close to the main museums on Wilshire Blvd. (LACMA, Petersen Automotive Museum, La Brea Tar Pits) and the Farmers Market area. Again, you would probably have to drive, although Larchmont Village itself is walkable.

Culver City is close to West LA attractions, but not particularly walkable, except for the area around the Helms Bakery.

gaslamp is perfect.
culver and silverlake are generally good but they each can have some pockets where they arent the best but nothing bad i think. but you should be fine with either.
culver might be a better location because its more west and fairly easy to get to other parts of the city from but it just depends on what you want to do. has the sony studio tour, easy to get to marina/venice, etc. silverlake area is more hipster but ive never been so i cant speak of the area.

Re: San Diego, Gaslamp area would be great. La Jolla is also nice for a family vacation. And Pacific Beach area is fun!

OP here once more. LA experts, just founds two great properties on VRBO that meet all our space/budget needs. One is in Culver City and the other in Silver Lake/Echo Park. Thoughts?
Also found an awesome looking loft in the Gaslamp area in San Diego. What do you think?

Thanks! We are not planning on spending a lot of time at the beach (probably none, we live in a Caribbean island....) So that is not a factor. Would that change your recommendations especially regarding San Diego?

if you stay in manhattan, huntington, seal or hermosa beach plan on adding at least an hour to travel to tourist spots in west la (santa monica pier, hollywood, beverly hills, etc)

Marina del Rey is certainly safe and somewhat walkable, but it's not very interesting (although you can walk to Venice, which has some interesting paths near the canals). Personally, I would recommend Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach and Seal Beach. Balboa Island in Newport Beach could also work, but it would be very crowded. Seal Beach and Huntington Beach (and Balboa) are relatively close to Disney/Knotts Berry Farm. Manhattan and Hermosa are very close to LAX, and there is a nice bike path along the beach there. Parking could be tough except in Marina del Rey, but I would imagine most rentals come with a parking spot. Santa Monica is also a potentially good option- it's pretty easy to walk between the Third Street Promenade and the pier area.

In San Diego, Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach are both nice- PB has a younger crowd, but has lots of restaurants. Coronado is also very nice, but keep in mind you have to go over the bridge to San Diego almost any time you want to go somewhere.

thats a bit of a loaded question because so much depends on what you want to do. anywhere is west la would be pretty safe and puts to closer to tourist attractions. its such a driving city that its hard to generalize one neighborhood as walkable. i might consider marina del rey or santa monica so you are closer to the beach. but santa monica is a very large neighborhood and much of it is very residential without a lot to walk to so it just depends on where you are. access to suoermarkets will be easy anywhere. i wouldnt stay in the valley, downtown, east la or southbay. those areas arent convenient to tourist areas and will just add commute time to your schedule. if you are staying in a residential neighborhood parking should be somewhat easy, especially if you have a rental house or apartment that would have parking. otherwise get a visitors pass if needed.
i feel like san diego is much more family friendly with its activities - zoo, wild animal kingdom, legoland, disney, etc. but i dont know the neighborhoods well. maybe la jolla youll be close to the beach and seals.

Hi, we are planning on spending about 10 days in Southern CA with our kids (10,7,4,2) this coming April.
We will divide the time between LA and San Diego. Because we are big family we usually rent a house or apartment when we travel through VRBO or a similar site.
I am not familiar with neighborhoods in either city. Can someone recommend a couple of places -neighborhoods, that are safe, good for families, near-ish to tourist attractions, ease of parking (we will be renting a car) and access to supermarkets, pharmacy, restaurants, etc? If they are nice to walk around and have parks nearby that would be awesome too.
Thanks!