re: Spending a weekend in the Los Angeles area soon.

Go to Westwood Village Mem. Park Cemetery, right there amongst the skyscrapers (ok, medium-rise buildings), off Wilshire Blvd.

Lots of stars buried in a small area.

LINK

Mulholland Drive, El Matador Beach (Malibu), Reagan Presidential Library is a little drive to Simi Valley (you can walk through an older air force one)

L.A. is huge dude. Where do you plan on staying?

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L.A. is huge dude. Where do you plan on staying?

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Not locked in to any place specific.

Looking for something conveniently located to as many interesting touristy things I can pack into a weekend.

Definitely doing Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, Rodeo Drive, Mann's Chinese Theater. Maybe spend a couple hours at Disneyland in the evening.

Any food recommendations?

The wife asked SIRI to take us to Santa Monica Pier a couple weeks ago and it took us to Venice Beach. Just don't make those types of mistakes whatever you do

Don't stay near LAX. It is loud as hell and very close to Inglewood. And yes, they are up to no good. Based on what you listed, west LA would probably do well for a hotel spot. Not too far from the beaches, Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It will make Disney a long ride though.

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Looking for something conveniently located to as many interesting touristy things I can pack into a weekend. 

Definitely doing Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, Rodeo Drive, Mann's Chinese Theater. Maybe spend a ciouple hours at Disneyland in the evening. 

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Dude, you're not doing all that in one weekend. Or I'd you do, it won't be fun. Disneyland isn't even in L.A., it's in Anaheim. You won't be able to just pop over for a couple hours, especially on the weekend.

You should stay on the westside, ideally Santa Monica; that way at least you'll be driving against traffic if you plan to drive far and you'll be centrally located. You can do the Pier, the Promenade, Main Street Santa Monica is cool too, you'll be close enough to the Getty and the Getty Villa (different location), close to Malibu, Venice, and even Hermosa or Manhattan Beach piers. Rodeo Drive isn't too far away either.

Santa Monica also has a shite ton of restaurants. I think it has the most amount of restaurants per capita than anywhere in the country. Asking for good food recs for LA is like asking for food recs for France - there's thousands of options. If you like Japanese I highly recommend an area not far from Santa Monica called Little Osaka - a bunch of fantastic places, though most don't take reservations and are cash only. Way better than Korea Town. There's also a ton of great food in downtown SM (promenade area) and main street.

But seriously, do not try to pack too much in or you'll spend the whole time in the car and be miserable. You can't see all of England in one weekend and you can see all of L.A. in a weekend.

You could also go check out USC's campus. It's compact, beautiful with lots of history, and right across the street from LA Coliseum, Rose Garden, Natural History museum (awesome dinosaur exhibit), and the Science Center(with space shuttle). You could see all that in a day walking around instead of driving to a million places.

Good luck!

Go check out the sticky in the travel board and look for LA. I have a thread in there. Several restaurant ideas.

Do not go to Disneyland. It's too far away. Go to Universal Studios instead. It was excellent and waaay closer than Anaheim.

If you go to Santa Monica, check out a restaurant called Ashland Hill. It's great with or without kids.

If you look at my thread, disregard where I say that I want to stay in Marina Del Rey. IDK WTF I was thinking. Should have gone to Santa Monica instead.

Pinks

Griffith Observatory