Anonymous wrote:I've lived here my entire life, LA is nothing like you see on TV. It's now mostly poorer Hispanic and AA families along with tons of crime and traffic. Do yourself a favor and stay outside of LA such as in Huntington Beach, Santa Monica or the other various beach towns on the coast. Others here from Southern California will hopefully agree.

And disregard this comment, completely bizarre.

What's your budget? You should ask about a specific address or cross street and you will get better feedback.

If I was vacationing in LA, Id want to be in coastal LA: Santa Monica, Venice, marina del Rey. South Bay is also great: Manhattan Beach is the best places in LA region to visit, you will not regret staying in that part of town. But rent a car.

Since you mentioned a lot of Hollywood things: West Hollywood is fun, silly, bright, and safe. There are Eastern sections of Hollywood that are sketchy and definitely not a place you want to spend your vacation. You won't get robbed but it's just dingy and run down. Los Feliz is cute and a great neighborhood, but I'm not sure a tourist would enjoy it. Hope that helps.

I recommend the South Bay area (Beach Cities).

Santa Monica
Marina Del Ray

Oh - and La Brea of course. My kids loved the exhibit (they are 9 and 10)

I actually have come to love LA. My sister lives out there so I'm there every so often. Loz Feliz is a good recommendation as is Silverlake and Larchmont (esp if you can get a place walking distance to their main shopping stretch). Beach communities like Redondo Or Manhattan beach would also be nice. Food is so great in LA - very fresh and healthy! And of corse weather is marvelous (if not too hot!)

My recommendation for activities: Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Hills staircase walk (google), Walking, biking or roller skating from Santa Monica to Venice Beach. Universal I am sure is nice as well but I have never been to the one there.

Uber works great there if you don't want to drive everywhere (it's surpringly inexpensive and the traffic is what I don't think I could get use to there).

Enjoy!

Anonymous wrote:I live in Seal Beach and totaly agree about the LA issues. No one goes to LA on vacation, they mean Soutbern California when you hear people talk about visiting here.

Do your home work!

We will be further up the coast for a wedding but flying in/out of LA so we plan to spend a day or two visiting Universal Studios and hitting a few highlights of the area like the Santa Monica pier, La Brea Tar Pits and so on. It's definitely not a vacation spot in and of itself, we're taking advantage of proximity since I can't imagine ever choosing to visit LA for no good reason.

Anonymous wrote:Compton

LOL

Compton

Anonymous wrote:I've lived here my entire life, LA is nothing like you see on TV. It's now mostly poorer Hispanic and AA families along with tons of crime and traffic. Do yourself a favor and stay outside of LA such as in Huntington Beach, Santa Monica or the other various beach towns on the coast. Others here from Southern California will hopefully agree.

Huntington Beach is in Orange County, 45 miles from Universal Studios! Maybe he/she meant Manhattan Beach (near the airport), Hermosa Beach or Redondo Beach. Marina Del Rey is nice too.

I live in Seal Beach and totaly agree about the LA issues. No one goes to LA on vacation, they mean Soutbern California when you hear people talk about visiting here.

Do your home work!

I've lived here my entire life, LA is nothing like you see on TV. It's now mostly poorer Hispanic and AA families along with tons of crime and traffic. Do yourself a favor and stay outside of LA such as in Huntington Beach, Santa Monica or the other various beach towns on the coast. Others here from Southern California will hopefully agree.

West Hollywood.

Los Feliz is wonderful and safe (near Griffith observatory). If you can get something low in the hills near Hollywood and Highland that would also serve you very well

We'll be in LA this fall and I am thinking about AirBnb instead of a hotel so we can save money on meals, and probably also on cost of a home versus hotel. However, I don't know LA at all. Any recommendations as to areas that are safe versus to avoid? We'll be at Universal for one or two days but then also a day or two doing more touristy things like the La Brea Tar Pits, Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign, and so on which means we won't be in one central place. Since we'll be driving a lot anyway, I'm focused on price and safety.