Travel Guide : Los Angeles

[mouko]

Make reservations for Milleniums Restaurant. Prices are 10.00 for appetizers - 20.00 per plate. Not bad on the wallet, very good on the taste buds. 5 star vegan food. Get the fried mushroom platter for an appetizers and get the chocolate cake for dessert. Thank me later

Shopping, check out the obvious Union square.

Make a treck to American Rag on Van Ness.


Rolos on market, 9th street and castro. (The one on market and the outlet on 9th have a better selection in my opinion)
http://www.rolo.com
Take the 71 to Haight Street and check out the shops there.

If you're into it. Check out SFMOMA (which is currently having an exhibit on fashion) and The Legion of Honor for great art.

 

[tangerine]

Tangerine hasn't been on in a day or two, but he will have some info to add to this. It sounds like you're really excited about your trip. I would be too. I hope you have a great time.

I agree with mouko and ingenue's suggestions. I will add, check out abFits, they have a store at 40 Grant, that you can see on the Union Square expedition, and also the original store at 1519 Grant, in the historic Barbary Coast aka North Beach. Upper Grant (esp. 1200-1500 block) has a lot of cool little boutiques and vintage stores.

If you would like to try a great seafood bar, go to The Swan Oyster Depot at 1517 Polk. (near American Rag as suggested by Mouko ) There is usually a line but it's a great experience.

If you want to hang out with [neutral inflection] the hipsters, the Mission District is where you want to go. Go to 16th and Valencia and you'll see.

 

[tangerine]

^that's all in SF, by the way.

Big Sur is beautiful, as you're headed down the coast.

 

[Hanne]

Not shopping related..but if you haven't been to a red wood forest there is one just north of SF..walking there is amazing..the scent is heavenly..and if you do decide to take a detour north of SF..Napa Valley has some really great eateries and sceneries ..Looking at the favorite hotel thread, I can see I wouldn't be the only one recommending you guys stay at Chateau Marmont in LA!

If you like the store Anthropologie >>> http://www.anthropologie.com/
there is one in Santa Monica

scandinavianchic I'm sooo jealous..I went september 03 for 16 days, my honey and I were in a frenzy to see a lot..which we did..but back then only my honey had a drivers license..so after returning from our holiday he needed a holiday from all the driving he had done.

We did :

SF for 3 days

Muir Woods National Park (Redwood Forrest)

Napa Valley : Calistoga and The Old Faithful Geyser

Gold Country (We were so lucky it was AM. History Day? at Mokelumn Hill..and we meet a school class doing all kinds of "Old Gold Country" doings such as washing for gold..which we participated in..visited an old graveyard.. with gravestones of people from all over the world who had died persuing gold) and saw the picturesque old mining town Angels Camp.

Yosemite http://www.nps.gov/yose/

Bodie State National Park (an amazing ghost town..it's out of the way..but well worth the extra kilometers of driving) http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509

Mono Lake

Driving past the Sierra Mountains

Death Valley (AMAZING!) >> http://www.nps.gov/deva/

Zion Canyon http://www.nps.gov/zion/

Bryce Canyon National Park (AMAZING!) >> http://www.nps.gov/brca/

Las Vegas...too kitch for words

Grand Canyon http://www.nps.gov/grca/

LA

Highway 1 Big Sur

and back to SF

If you plan on experiencing some of the fantastic national parks on the west coast you should get a years membership..which will lower the cost of entering thess parks..that is if you go to see more than 3 (I think)
Here's the National Park Service link http://www.nps.gov/

A book that really helped us decide where and what to see was Eyewitness Travel Guide's California book..in danish it's called Politikens Visuelle Guide til Californien..I'm sure you should be able to get it in Norway..

Car rental wise DO GET a convertible..you see SO much more..I can't stress that enough..

I hope you have a GREAT trip..and yeah like I said..I'm jealous..any question you might have feel free to ask

 

[yourbestfriend]

"california here we come, right back where we started from"

i dont have any suggestions but i go there about every 2-3 years
if you like roller coasters, i suggest six flags north of LA

 

[scandinavianchic]

WOW, thanks everyone!!!! I really appreciate all of your help!

It is really important for me to see as much as possible. I have made the trip once before (but with my dad when I was 17..) and we only spent like 5 days.. (we went from SF-Santa Barbara - Pebble Beach - LA)

Hanne, I think I may follow your advise!!! THANKS!!!!!

 

[Hanne]

scandinavianchic, I just re-read your first post..and it doesn't say when you are going..when are you going??

Most if not all (?) of Yosemite is closed from around October till April (?)..
Death Valley is SO HOT..allmost unbearably hot when we went in september (no regrets tho') so if you're going in the summer months ..I'd skip Death Valley..

High Way 1 can get misty and cold.. it was when we went in september..so pack a warm sweater if you do decide on a convertible..oh and a hat or scarf..I forgot to wear that one hot day around noon when we were driving..and my scalp got too much sun..but nomatter what..its best to see Cali in a convertible !

Utah where Bryce and Zion Valley is located is beautiful..and underrated compared to Grand Canyon imo...Bryce inparticular !

I'm so going back in a couple of years time !

 

[meowmix]

sf--> make the usual Union Square round-- big dept stores like Saks, Neiman Marcus, Nordies, etc.. all the upscale stores are within the perimeter block.
Head over as well to Union Street Off vanness.. there are some nice shops there too.
Santana row strip mall is a good place as well if you're into the high end designer stuff. Westfield Valley Fair Mall is just across Santana row (both are in san jose).
if you like going to outlets, try the Great Mall of the Bay Area in Milpitas-- they have outlet stores like Off 5th (saks 5th outlet) as well as some designer brand outlets. Gilroy is another outlet hub, though unlike great mall, shops are located outdoors and you will need to drive to cover all the bases.
if you like quaint shopping, go over to east bay by Berkeley-- there are some nice little shops on 4th/ 5th street off university avenue.
Stanford shopping mall has Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Macys.
Go to Haight-Ashbury/ Castro district as well. Some nice specialty shops there.
Apart from what else i have mentioned, i cant really think of any other places. well my brain's kinda fried. its 7am and i havent slept a wink!!

wow... i'm guessing you're from the bay area? all of that is like so close to home, it prettymuch IS home

santana row is kinda designed to be all european-ish...with bad live music. they've got crate and barrel, the container store, bestbuy, gucci, burberry, camper, la camisole, tommy bahamas, donald j pliner, ann taylor loft, theory, diesel, aveda, ted baker, z gallerie, tod's, bcbg, st john, escada and a few others... straits cafe isn't bad for asian fusion, maggianos gets really badly packed, nothing too special otherwise. there's also a pearl milk tea place there called fantasia
the nordstrom in valley fair across the street is actually kinda nice, they carry stuff like chloe, armani, narciso, blumarine, missoni...and there's an LV store in VF too.
if you wanna try some REAL chinese food theres a place called cupertino village with an asian market and lots of authentic food... you'd take the Wolfe Road exit
there's also real chinese food near the Great Mall in Milpitas...i think you'd take the great america pkwy exit, not too sure... its a little confusing, but it's right next to Cisco.
Stanford shopping mall has pretty much the same thing as Valley Fair, except they've got some nicer things like Max mara... and right near Stanford there's lots of restaurants and shops down University Avenue, but parking there kinda sucks

 

[scandinavianchic]

scandinavianchic, I just re-read your first post..and it doesn't say when you are going..when are you going??

We'll be staying from April 1st - April 18th

 

[meowmix]

oh yeah if you like MC hammer, his house before he got bankrupt is in fremont and i think the gate still says Hammertime on it

 

[scandinavianchic]

oh yeah if you like MC hammer, his house before he got bankrupt is in fremont and i think the gate still says Hammertime on it

ROFL!!! I def have to see that!

 

[Hanne]

We'll be staying from April 1st - April 18th

Spring...Niiiiice.. ..I'll probably be in heavy labour ..wanna swap ?

 

[yourbestfriend]

is freemont near pleasanton?

 

[scandinavianchic]

Spring...Niiiiice.. ..I'll probably be in heavy labour ..wanna swap ?

Not really... lol... Have any of you stayed at the Madonna Inn before? http://www.madonnainn.com/ (very kitch)

 

[Lea]

Shopping - South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa - about half an hour from LA

http://www.southcoastplaza.com/

 

[Hanne]

Not really... lol... Have any of you stayed at the Madonna Inn before? http://www.madonnainn.com/ (very kitch)

Nope.. I haven't..if you do Las Vegas you'll get all kitch'ed out..I remember reading on a travel forum an american guy suggesting that people should stay at the Venetian in Las Vegas and just skip Venice in Italy..It was so much more clean and classy ..I went to see the place and it was surreal..a Disney version of Venice.

 

[Spacemiu]

Santa Barbara is super nice, good boutiques to.

Ventur has good thrift stores.

If you go to LA, I can give you soem shoping recomendations, or you can go on LA.com

There is a fun resturant in Big Sur called Nepenthe that is sort of hippy vibe, right on the highway with gorgeous views.

 

[pradaesk]

Santa Barbara is super nice, good boutiques to.

I Santa Barbara too.

In California they have that nice coffee chain called "the coffee bean & tea leaf". what a great foamy cappuccino!

 

[scandinavianchic]

I think that my big problem with this trip is figuring out how many days to stay in each location.... Any good ideas as of how to spend 18 days in Cali...? Day by day?

 

[wyatt.]

i find santa barbara very generic and bland. picturesque, but still generic.

you should defineatly...well i was going to say check out hearst's castle by san luis obispom but you're from europe and have probably seen castles galore. it's still very impressive and on the way down from san fran on the coast.