Hollywood isn't the nicest area, but it's pretty central for lots of what you want to do.

There's lots of information (maybe too much) on the TripAdvisor Los Angeles forum. You would probably get a quick answer there.

One could certainly spend days @ LACMA & never see it all - so many delightful & interactive exhibits! The Tar Pits are certainly classic as well & The Getty is fabulous, if only for the view & gardens - it's on top of a mountain:

Sorry no experience w/ any hotels/accommodations, tho. I've only stayed w/ family in Santa Monica - which is beautiful & has a lot of fun things too, like the beach & pier.

" 4 days in July in LA. We'd like to see Santa Monica and Venice Beach, Downtown Disney, The Rose Bowl flea market, Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood sign, and the Walk of Fame/Hollywood touristy stuff. Maybe attend a taping of a TV show. And my son has his heart set on Six Flags Magic Mountain"

I've lived in So Cal almost all my life. You are not going to be able to do all this in four days. I'll break it out below.

1. Santa Monica & Venice Beach. You can do these in a day. I would add the Getty Museum

2. Downtown Disney on a day without traffic is over an hour each way from Santa Monica and tiny. Unless you are going to be park, 2+ hours of driving for lunch and a quick walk-around is t worth it. They are now also doing full security checks for DD. I live not far from there.

3. The flea market is the 2nd Sunday of the month and sometimes cancelled if there are other events going on. Pasadena from Santa Monica can easily be a two hour drive. The flea market and lunch in Pasadena will take the better part of a day.

3. Griffith Observatory/Hollywood Sign/Hollywood is a day. Last time we tried to go to the Onservatory, there was no parking, in the lot or nearby on the street, so we left. I don't know about the hours. Prepare yourself for Hollywood. It's not glitzy.

4. TV taping. I know nothing about this.

5. 6 Flags is not near LA proper. This is a long day.

With a smaller list, I might be able to give you a better idea of where to stay. There are good pockets and bad. LA traffic can easily mean an hour to go cross town any time of the day and any day if the week.

Rose Bowl flea market is an all day adventure (I go every month to buy for my business.) Wear very comfortable shoes and pack water and snacks. I love the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

I wouldn't stay anywhere near the Walk of Fame- the area is very busy and very dirty. I'd skip the Walk of Fame all together unless you like being hassled for spare change every 3 feet. Its really not nearly as fun or neat as people think it is.

if you mention the kinds of things your family likes you might get some good suggestions.

Also, consider staying one place for 2 days and somewhere else for 2 days to cut down on the driving.

I agree with 1929 Spanish, including about the Getty Museum.

Concerning 6 Flags vs Universal, it depends upon why he wants to go to 6 Flags. If he is a coaster aficionado, Universal will be a disappointment--it only has a few short rides. 6 Flags has many, high quality roller coasters. The aesthetics are not anywhere near Cedar Park's in quality though; some coasters flow over asphalt. If you have access to any other 6 Flags parks, or will be traveling to them this year, seriously consider buying season passes. A pass often is only a little more than general admission, but is good for free admission at all 13 Six Flags Parks!

I don't see the point of Downtown Disney if you aren't going to Disneyland or California Adventure. While it is a nice addition to the parks as a dining and hang-out area, it's not a destination I would prioritize on its own, especially given the distance you would have to drive.

I'll also give another vote for the La Brea Tar Pits. It has been many years since I went, but I found it very interesting and enjoyable. I also like the Getty, but am not sure how appealing it would be to a 13-year-old boy (my 12-year-old girl quickly lost patience with museums of all sorts when we went to Paris last year).

Of the locations you listed, I'd probably choose Santa Monica.

We went down there this winter break and stayed in Hollywood. With kids. Holy cow that place has changed. It's full of families and kids and not at all sleazy like I remember from my college days. Of course since I had kids with me I probably wasn't out when it got "interesting". We went mainly for the LA County Natural history museum (Bay Area museums are seriously lacking when it comes to dinosaurs) and the tar pits. I love that there is a stinky puddle of tar in the middle of a swanky business district. It doesn't even NEED Columbian mammoths to be awesome.

So I have to agree, if you are in the area, don't miss the tar pits. And yeah, Magic Mountain is somewhere else entirely. Wally World? See if Knott's Berry Farm suits--it's slightly closer. Slightly. NOT in LA though.

Thanks for all the info so far.

Downtown Disney was because we have a friend who lives in Yorba Linda and offered to meet us in Downtown Disney -- apparently there's a Tapas restaurant with a great view of the fireworks int he park. I didn't realize it was so far though. I will have to think about that.

Regarding Magic Mountain -- My son is 12 and is currently on a roller coaster kick -- he has asperger's and tends to become obsessed with topics and his current obsession is roller coasters. He wants to go to Magic Mountain because they apparently have the most coasters of any park in the world. Thing is, I am not sure he'll actually RIDE the coasters when we get there, especially if they are extreme - it's more of a mental obsession, learning all the facts about every coaster and the names of the designers, etc. He will ride the tamer ones at our local amusement parks, so I am not sure if taking him to California Adventure or Knotts would be better. But from what I can tell, Knotts seems to have a lot of the same rides as our local Cedar Fair park. And we were already at Universal in Orlando - most of the rides seem to be exact duplicates of ones we rode there. Magic Mountain is far, apparently very crowded and dirty if online reviews are correct, and there's nothing really around for me to do (I don't do coasters and would happily send my husband and son to the park and I could shop or hit a museum or something....but there doesn't seem to be anything up that way.)

Staying 2 days in one place and 2 days in another seems like a good idea, but a lot of the VRBO type places want a minimum stay of 3 or 4 nights.

I am currently debating between a rental that is 5 blocks off the beach in Santa Monica, one in Mid-Wilshire, one right on Hollywood Blvd, or a couple places way up in the Hollywood Hills near the observatory and sign. I am not too enthused about being in the thick of things on Hollywood Blvd -- though it would be nice to be able to walk to those attractions instead of looking for parking -- and Santa Monica seems close to the beach but too far removed from everything else. So I think it is down to the Hollywood Hills (I like the area - it seems quiet and the views are gorgeous but I worry that it is far from everything except the observatory, basically) and the Mid-Wilshire one (which seems pretty much centrally located to everything and close to the freeway and cheaper than the Hollywood Hills area.) I would love to hear your opinion about which is better.

Question about parking - if I need to run errands (go to the grocery store or CVS or Target) - is there parking at those types of places? Because from what I can gather, LA isn't very walkable and doesn't have great public transit, so I'm assuming that people drive everywhere and that stores have free parking lots, but I have no idea.

Mid Wilshire is hit and miss. Some good areas, some bad. Hollywood Blvd needs to be a no. For the Hollywood Hills, I think there is a road closure up there due to a mud slide. Don't know how long the road will be closed. Check the interwebz for more info.

Im not a Disney person (no kids) but I think they just closed the tower of terror.

There are parking lots at those stores. Not very big, but they have them.

Universal has a new Harry Potter attraction. It's not as extensive as the one in Orlando, but still fun if a person is into Harry Potter. I live in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, so I cannot help with places to stay in LA. However, if you were willing to split your stay, I think your son might enjoy California Adventure which has one large physical coaster and one virtual coaster. You would be on site to meet your Yorba Linda friend at Downtown Disney for a meal. Does your son still enjoy Legos? There's a large Lego store at DDisney as well as a theme park in north San Diego County.

I'm not sure what you expect of Hollywood Blvd but is a 30 minute activity, tops. Look at the theater, look at the handprints and foot prints, look at some stars, go back to the car. Its not in a good neighborhood to walk around.

The Hollywood sign is the same way- it really looks better from a distance anyhow and you can't really get up close to it- its fenced off. You can hike a trail up behind it (IF trails are open at the time,) but unless you just love hiking its not very exciting. Air quality can be lousy in the hot months of July and August so the views may or may not be good depending on the smog.

There are lots of great things to do in LA, just not those things. :)

I did not drive while I was in LA but my impression is that parking can be treacherous and expensive… Treacherous because the signs can be hard to decipher for outsiders. I think a lot of tourists might use Uber or Lyft. I used public transport to get everywhere and I was fine but I'm used to public transportation.

For Hollywood Boulevard I did a tour, the tour I did was called sights and bites because I really like food, but I would pick a good sightseeing tour off tripadvisor and do that just because the gossip, anecdotes, and history are more than half the fun of the places you see in my opinion. Personally I would rather book off tripadvisor than pick up one of the sightseeing tours off the street.

When we are in LA, if we are not in DH's friend's car, we valet park. But yeah, it can take forever to drive a few miles. It might not look bad on a map, but it'll take an hour. We stayed at the Hollywood Roosevelt once and then at The Moment.

Fun2behere, I didn't know you also live here!

Hi neighbor, 1929Spanish-GW. :-)

We live here and do the tourist thing at least once a year with guests. I agree that you can definitely do the Hollywood blvd thing in less than an hour unless you go into the Wax museum, which every visitor seems to love, especially kids/teens. With all the places you are planning to visit, I don't think it matters much where you stay since there will be a lot of driving no matter what, but I would personally rather be in Santa Monica. You could do everything you are planning as long as you plan your days well and and are prepared for long days of driving. Six Flags is one day, Santa Monica/Venice/Getty can be done in one long day. LACMA and tar pits could be a day and Anaheim another day or part of a day.

Well if your kid is a roller coaster aficionado and has deliberately selected Magic Mountain on its merits, I guess you'd better just make a day of it. :)

Unfortunately they modernized their scariest coaster (scary because it felt like it was about to break). But they kept the bones of it so it still looks like Wally World. If your son likes the historic aspects of roller coasters, he'll love Colossus. Yeah, you have to do it.

The Santa Monica Pier has a roller coaster on it, so that might be a compromise. A/C may not be necessary near the coast, but definitely be desirable east of the 405. The Grove shopping center and the Farmer's Market are walkable from the La Brea Tar Pits, but SM might be more family friendly/less congested. Mid-Wilshire neighborhoods vary greatly; parking there and in Hollywood can be ugly.

If you stay in Santa Monica, you can take a Metro bus via Wilshire to the La Brea Tar Pits/LACMA and avoid parking problems.

The Expo Line train begins near the Santa Monca Pier and is a possibility for public transportation.

If for some reason you can't make it to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl swap meet, there's one at the Santa Monica airport a couple of Sundays a month.

There's also a Metro bus from Santa Monica to the Getty Villa on Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades.

Having lived in San Diego for 20+ years, I never explored LA except taking my sis to Hollywood and Vine/Sunset Bl/Chinese Theater, many moons ago. DS wanted a looksee, and it's definitey improved over the years~there's now only one giant gift shop, a complete block, whereas before it was every other store. If you're a first timer, you should do the walk-of-the-stars, just to say 'you did'.lol I also had the opportunity to 'sit on the curb' and watch the Rose Bowl parade(fantastic!)as well as going to the flea market, which is only open the 2nd Sunday of the month~definitely worth going! I saw what would be known as shabby chic before it hit the market~you never know what incoming trends you might see. Pasadena city college also has a flea market that's pretty good, with no admission fee, but an not sure of dates. Now living in Tx, my yougest adult son and I take a trip every year, and decided to 'do' LA a few years ago. We weren't familiar with any of the areas, but somehow ended up in Culver City, a small town undergoing quite a beautiful transition, about 35 minutes from the city. We were suprised by the many good restaurants in this small town and stumbled upon the old Kirk Douglas movie theater, as well as Sony Studios. There's an antique store right across the street with a lot of unusual(and expensive!)things, many from various movies~we spent several hrs looking! The downtown is walkable and quite cute, and if you're a night owl, will have plenty of company. Shops may be open a little later on the weekend, but am not sure. We stayed at the very quaint Culver Hotel, and were very pleased with the accommodations. We did quite a lot of driving around since he loves looking at homes and the different architecture as much as I do, and you will see various extremes as well. Driving up any of the 'canyons' in the LA area is quite a treat with their winding *narrow* roads, and the view of the city is spectacular, IF the smog isn't too thick! We didn't visit any of the museums, but the La Brea tar pits are very interesting and DS would probably enjoy it. Santa Monica is a must see also~we enjoyed breakfast at a very popular restaurant and the crepes were incredible. I can't remember the name, but you'll recognize it when you see the line! You might also want to check out the Stinking Rose(restaurant)known for all things garlic! The garlic butter is off the hook! I think it's on SM Bl. Definitely visit The Grove with the farmers market~one is right next to the other. Lots of eats where you can sit outside and again, a fantastic crepe spot. There's usually some sort of entertainment going on at The Grove also. Warner Bros offers tours and the many sets might look familiar. Disney is a waste of time(IMO)but maybe that's because i've been to the 'original' several times. Legoland might be too far out, and you're sure to get stuck in traffic going/coming, but if you keep going south you'll end up in Del Mar, a small beachy town, my favorite beach when living in SD.(SD is about 35 minutes, depends on traffic, further down). Have a great time!

When I go down there I stay in Burbank-which is technically in the Valley but is in the middle of the TV studios and very close to Universal. The Universal City Walk is fun to do-much better than Downtown Disney IMHO. It's also close to the freeways. When I was down there in July we were able to get around much easier than I thought-but that was because I avoided the 405 as much as possible!

If you were to stay in Burbank, you will find it MUCH easier to get to the grocery store, etc-because it's not as dense as in the city. Actually, Downtown Burbank has a lot to see itself. Magic Mountain is less than a half hour drive from there and you can get to the beach (Santa Monica) in an hour. Be prepared-parking at attractions is EXPENSIVE. I think it was $10 to get to the parking lot at the beach in Santa Monica. Oh, and since you'll be down there in summer-you might not get to the beach-if you do, you'll need to get there extremely early or late in the afternoon or you won't find a place to park at all. I think we got there about 4pm and it wasn't too bad, but traffic was a nightmare, and we went during the week, too.

I think you definitely need to try In-N-Out Burger-I grew up on them and every time I get 'home' I go and get me a double double.

I'd skip the flea market-it's a whole day affair and as mentioned above, hit or miss if you will actually get there on a day it's open. If you do get to the beach, you'll want to go to the Getty-I missed it last time. Hollywood sign-meh, it's not all that great, but the observatory is cool, but again-it's a tourist trap so it would be super crowded. Walk of Fame-it's fun, but as mentioned-there are A LOT of people hustling for $ and they can be aggressive. It's also hard to find parking for the effort.

You can check the websites for the network shows to see who is taping when and if you can get in to a TV taping, it's a lot of fun. But you need to request tickets in advance, and the studios are mostly down near Burbank area too-NBC and Warner Bros are there for sure.

You're looking to cram a lot in to a very short time!

Hey neetsie, next time you're down in Medford I'll treat you to an In N Out burger. :-)

The Rose Bowl Flea Market is the second Sunday of the month.... Every month. In the 19 years I've been going there I don't recall one cancelled. If its something someone wants to do its pretty easy to plan around since its the second Sunday of every month.

I've seen them cancelled around the 4th of July and there used to be an RV show that got in the way of a month in the summer.

We toured the Dolby theater (formerly called the Kodak theater) where the Oscars are held. Very interesting. Got to see backstage, the green room, go on the actual stage, etc.

I did not know that the theater is in a mall. They have to shut down the stores at least a week before the Oscars and disguise the store fronts with curtains. The stars walk past the curtains to get to the theater.

The steps in the theater are extra wide and not as high as regular steps so the women in high heels can walk easier.

Very interesting tour!!

More info:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Theatre

http://dolbytheatre.com/tours/tour-information/

We are going back to LA this spring. My daughter dances at Disneyland.

We are planning on visiting the Reagan Presidential Library/Museum. An Air Force One airplane that was retired in 2001 is there to tour plus a replica of the Oval Office.

More Info:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan_Presidential_Library

https://www.reaganfoundation.org/library-museum/

I like Newport Beach, Laguna Beach or Corona Del Mar better than Venice or Santa Monica beaches. Its quieter and parking is easier. The beaches are pretty and less touristy. I live near Disneyland. The traffic is a little better here. If there's no traffic, it will be 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes LA to Yorba Linda. But there is usually traffic so it is more like 2 hours unless people are commuting then it will be 3 hours and after work sometimes even more. Try to get up early before 6 or wait until after 10 to get on the freeways in LA. on a weekday or go in the middle of the day but even then you will be going slower. From Yorba Linda it will be approx. 45 minutes to the beach down the 55 fwy to pacific coast Hwy. On pacific coast hwy near Malibu is the amazing Getty Villa ( ancient roman villa recreation with antiquities and historically correct atrium and gardens ) You might like to drive that PCH stretch from Getty Villa to Newport or Laguna. I'd rather see the coastline than the ugly sprawl along the freeways in LA. I highly recommend the Huntington Library or the Getty. If you see the Huntington, you can also see the Norton Simon in the same day.

Magic Mountain is waaay up above LA through tons of traffic. Downtown Disney is small but parking there is easy peasy if you are coming from Yorba Linda for dinner and fireworks.

Laguna Beach is quieter, clean, kid friendly but smaller without the beachfront concessions or tourist shops. There are some tidepools

I like Laguna Beach the best for just relaxing at the beach. Walking in old town Laguna is fun. Shops, galleries and places to eat. It feels calm, friendly. Go early morning to park right at the beach.

Newport has a long clean beach, beautiful homes on the beachfront and a path to walk or ride bikes. Two piers and shops to eat or buy tourist items. Newport has the most parking. Huntington beach is like that too with a pier that faces the main areas to to eat and shop. They call themselves surf city USA and you will see plenty of surf culture there. Its very relaxed.

Some parts have green grass parks and the others have beautiful homes looking out at the sea

Another small area along PCH that I love is right next to Newport Beach called Corona Del Mar. They have a quiet beach like Laguna with tidepools.

This is how I feel about some LA beaches like Venice. There are shops along the main walk with individuals selling all sorts of things, street performers, musicians. Its crowded, busy, can be loud, sometimes a little gritty. You will see all sorts of people there from the very rich to the very poor. Its very multi cultural. Parking's harder to get and more expensive. Some people love the variety and spectacle of it all.

In the summer, it will be very busy and congested. This must be a winter photo above. You will see all kinds of street performance artists and people trying to sell you whatever. Beware of thieves in these crowds.

Kitty, you and I also must be neighbors!

My guy says he prefers Long Beach Veterans Antique over the Rose Bowl. He does both every time. He says Rose Bowl has the hype and is trendier, but Long Beach has more true antique and vintage sellers. The sellers that do both put their prices up for the Rose Bowl days. Long Beach is not small. It takes a full morning to walk through. Parking is free and close in a new parking structure. The location is next to the Long Beach Airport. Also in Long Beach is the beautiful Long Beach Aquarium by the Queen Mary.

He adds that you can see Venice and Santa Monica in a few hours. He suggests Santa Monica Promenade over Venice because of ease of parking and cleaner, nicer overall. Venice is a circus of its own sometimes with all the personalities and touristy shops and people trying to sell you everything but it has a vibe some people think is LA kooky cool. I prefer Santa Monica Promenade as well. Street art and music, a little more controlled. He says if you can't make it to Six Flags, Knotts has coasters and thrills and the authentic ghost town section for less money. Knotts and Huntington Beach are close to each other.

1929, Corona del Mar was the beach I grew up with as a kid.

I grew up going to baby corona too! That hill was brutal at the end of the day...

Thank you all for all the suggestions and Kitty, thanks for all the photos! While those beaches look super pretty, I guess I'm really more about the "variety and spectacle" as you put it. We spend a few weeks each summer at my inlaws' beach house in North Carolina so we get our fix of peaceful secluded beach sitting (although I'm sure the waves/surfing are way better in the Pacific). I am more interested in what you call "LA kooky cool" -- things I can't see on the East Coast. We did Vegas last year with the kids - we didn't gamble, just walked around and looked at all the over-the-top-ness of it all - the street performers, the world's largest gold nugget....that's more our style vs. chilling on a beach gazing at the ocean all day.

When is the Long Beach market? We happen to be in LA the 2nd Sunday of the month, so I thought it was destiny that the dates lined up -- I have jealously watched people shop the Rose Bowl flea market for years on HGTV. Plus getting to see the Rose Bowl stadium makes a flea market trip a little more enticing for DH. But I'd consider Long Beach as well if the dates work.

As of now, I think we are planning on Saturday to see Hollywood (including maybe shopping on Melrose Ave), Santa Monica, and Venice (I understand there's an impromptu drum circle on the beach on Saturday evenings - though I hear that Venice can be sketchy at night so would appreciate more details there if you have any advice!), Sunday for the Rose Bowl flea market in the morning and Griffith Observatory that evening (maybe something in between if we can fit it -- that would be Sunday afternoon so not sure what is open -- I don't think the studios are, not sure about museums), Monday for Six Flags (and maybe something else Monday evening since I'd rather not stay at the park the entire day) and Tuesday for LaBrea tar pits and whatever other museums or maybe a Sony studio tour that we can fit in before our flight out at 7. With the distance to downtown Disney/Yorba Linda, I don't think we'll have time to meet up with my friend -- maybe next trip! Seems like the live TV tapings tickets don't come available til a month or two before the dates so maybe I'll look around in a few months and see if I can find something to attend though I'm not sure when exactly I'd be able to fit that in -- maybe after Six Flags, but we'll be coming from way north of LA and guessing the traffic won't make it a quick trip back into the city.

Oh, I forgot to say that we chose one of the places in the Hollywood Hills - it's on Beachwood Drive. Figured being more north would be better for Six Flags and the Rose Bowl and the house itself is adorable. It's walking distance to Hollywood and Vine where we can supposedly catch something called the Red Line which I think is a train to Santa Monica?? (Though I'm not sure how we'd get from Santa Monica to Venice....any advice on driving vs. taking this train?)

We are hitting San Francisco and Yosemite before LA so I haven't gotten very far in the "figuring out the logistics of getting around" as far as LA goes!

The Peterson is a great suggestion!

The Expo Line goes to Santa Monica.

If you're near the Red Line, you can travel east to the 7th and Figueroa station and transfer to the Expo Line there. Expo begins there and ends in Santa Monica. Maps and more information are available at the LA MTA website.

There's a boardwalk, and bike path, that connects Santa Monica to Venice at the edge of the sand. Or you can take the LA MTA 33 bus from Palisades Park near the pier south to any of the stops in Venice, which will be a few short blocks east of the boardwalk. If you decide to take the 33 bus north back to Santa Monica, please make sure the destination displayed on the front of the bus says "Santa Monica" and not "Venice." The "Venice" bus will end at Rose and Main, near the SM city limit. However, it's a pleasant walk along Main Street -- shops, restaurants -- to the Expo Station in Santa Monica.

It's a good year for Yosemite. The snow levels this winter will make the waterfalls outstanding.

In LA, don't miss Runyon Canon for a chance to workout with the celebs and to see the city from new heights. We did it about 4 years ago with DD. She and DH ran, I walked, but we met at the top!

Hike Runyon

Third Sunday of every month. $ 6.00 admission price

www.longbeachantiquemarket.com

We will be staying close to Runyon Canyon, so I will definitely try to find time to fit that in! Unfortunately, we won't be there on the 3rd Sunday of the month, so it looks like it's the Rose Bowl if anything. The Petersen looks cool. I was also wondering about the Museum of Natural History, since I think we could get into that one for free since its reciprocal with a museum we already belong to. Is it any good? Close to LaBrea?

Good? Yes. Close? No.

As Spanish said, it is not close...at least 1/2 hour away but when I was about 10 years old I went to the Museum of Natural History on a field trip through school and I can still remember it. That was 58 years ago so it definitely left an impression on a young kid. You might want to consider it although it will be, like everything else, extremely crowded.

I have not read all the responses, but did anyone recommend the Getty Museum? It is worth the time to visit if you can fit it in.

Getty Museum

There are months and months of attractions in SoCal. Even living there for 30 years it seemed to take that long to see most of it. We lived in Riverside but my grandfather lived in Wilshire for 20 years and liked to take us around (1950s and early 60s). Back then we thought traffic and parking was bad, but it's nothing like today.

The Disney stuff is quite a distance away from everything else you mentioned. I would suggest making Orange County a different visit. Disneyland is easily worth 2 days. Unfortunately the reason for that is the lines can take hours. Figure out their fast pass system and use that. Knott's Berry Farm is second rate to Disney, but that still puts it pretty high in quality. You can do Knott's in one day. I agree with what has been said about the beaches. Laguna, Newport, Corona del Mar, and Little Corona are all in Orange County. My preference was Little Corona, but parking in the neighborhoods above it was a problem. Laguna is flat out gorgeous - very picturesque.

As for the Hollywood walk, you might want to drive through first and then decide if you feel safe enough to get out of the car. It's a mass of people dressed like super heroes and panhandlers (sort of the same thing) mixed among the tourists. You'll see that at Venice, but it doesn't seem nearly so crowded with the wide open beach.

Warner Bros studio has a very informative tour. It's off the beaten track, which is nice. I got a lot more from that tour than I did Universal Studios tour. Watching TV get made is not all it's cracked up to be. Lots of waiting in line and then waiting in the studio and then waiting for all that goes with making professional TV. Maybe they have entertainment during the waiting, but back in the day they did not.

You have to eat somewhere. In-n-Out is excellent for lunch. Eat there early in your stay because you might want to eat there again. For dinner try the killer shrimp at Killer Shrimp. Don't snack first.

Many people don't think about art museums. The Getty is an art museum. So is the Huntington Library in Pasadena. Huntington Library is also a nice garden with acres of unique landscaping. For more of that there's Descanso Gardens nearby the Huntington.

If you have an interest in horses, Arabian horses, Cal Poly University in Pomona puts on a horse show on selected Sundays throughout the year. That won't work for your July visit, but who knows who might be reading this.

You should not need air conditioning within 10 miles of the beach. There are a handful of days per year that it gets into the high 80s or 90s.