Spending a week in LA in mid-to-late August...good...

For the past 6 years I have traveled to LA in late August with my son (now 15) to visit family, see cool stuff and just hang out. We seem to always end up near LAX or in Culver City. We%26#39;ve stayed at the Westin LAX, The Four Points in Culver City, the Radisson accross the 405 and so on. Culver City seems to be a great and central spot to the places and things we want to see but there is little information by way of clean, quiet, and economical places to stay with parking. I might add we are totally open to trying a new areas in LA but just haven%26#39;t a clue where to look. Even over the hill in the Valley would be ok.

Oh, we stayed in Van Nuys on our first trip...at the Motel 6 accross from the Budweiser factory. We learned quick on that trip.

To all Angelinos, we love your city!

Best,

Michael

Spending a week in LA in mid-to-late August...good...

Another spot to consider for inexpensive place to stay is:

4 Points Sheraton Monrovia for $79.00/night

if you ask for the Irwindale Special...

more on that

It includes free parking..

http://www.irwindalespeedway.com/hotels.asp

The place is very close to many restaurants, a good shopping/movie/Dave and Buster Fashion Park

http://www.westfield.com/santaanita/

Its about a 15 minute drive to Old Town Pasadena

http://www.oldpasadena.com/

and Monrovia with its fun Friday nights is also close by

http://www.ci.monrovia.ca.us/

Very close to visit is the LA Aroretum (5 minutes drive); Hungtington Library (about 15 minutes) drive

http://www.arboretum.org/

http://www.huntington.org/

and a quick drive to the San Gabriel Mountains...Mt. Wilson area: http://tchester.org/sgm/hikes.html

Its on-off location to the freeway is ideal to be able to drive within an hour to:

Hungtington Beach

Downtown Los Angeles

Disneyland and Downtown Disneyland

Universal Studios

There is a really fun Mexican Restaurant with live Mariachis in the evening and Sunday brunch

Guadalajara Grill featuring Mariachi Guadalajara

14610 Garvey Ave., Baldwin Park, CA 91706

Phone: (626) 337-8168; Fax: (626) 337-7749

Mariachi Shows: M-Th: 8-9:45; F: 8-1am; S: 7:30-1am S: 11am-2pm 6:30-9:45pm

and its close to Santa Anita Race Track

http://www.santaanita.com/

Irwindale Race Track (Jesse James from Monster Garage sometimes race here doing Figure 8 racing) is also fun.

For a day trip its about 90 minutes to 2 hours away from Palm Springs and you can take the Tram to the Top of the Mountain (San Jacinto). http://www.pstramway.com/

If you are there in September, Los Angeles County fair is also close by:http://www.fairplex.com/2005/homepage.asp

Another fun trip (60 miles away) is up to Big Bear and to Arrowhead Lake:

http://www.bigbear.com/

http://www.lakearrowhead.net/

so you can easily do that in a day too.

Its convenient also to get to Universal City Walk, Greek Theater... 30-40 miute drive; You can also catch a Hollywood Bowl shuttle bus from the El Monte (about 5 miles away) bus station.

http://www.citywalkhollywood.com/

http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/

http://www.greektheatrela.com/

Its also fairly close to the Metro Line...

http://www.mta.net/default.asp

and about 30 minutes to enjoy the zoo, the Gene Autry Western Museum, and/or a drink at The Circular Bar at the Bonaventure...

http://www.lazoo.org/

http://www.museumoftheamericanwest.org/

and also an easy (30-40 minute drive) to catch a LA Dodger game.

Just wanted to mention as another place to check out for clean, easily accessible location to other places; and economical....

There are other places in LA to also consider....

Will let someone else give some other suggestions to choose from....Just wanted to mention this one for now...

Spending a week in LA in mid-to-late August...good...

Hey, Michael

Is it safe to say that your family lives somewhere near Culver City? What did you think of the hotels you stayed at? (We understand about the Motel 6). What is a comfortable budget for you?

There%26#39;s piles and piles of areas in L.A. to consider including, apparently, Monrovia (which is in the hottest, most smog-intensive area of Los Angeles as well as being so far from LAX that you%26#39;d be closer if you stayed on the moon!)

Give us an idea of how far from the airport and your family you%26#39;d like to be. This will help us narrow down the search for you.

Stayed at both the Holiday Inn Express and Best Western in Marine del Rey over the past years and both hotels were good deal and also close enough to LAX and Culver City as well as Venice, Santa Monica and easy enough access to highways.

Thank you for these great replies...!

Yes, I think Monrovia is a bit far for us, we were thinking more west.

My son and I have stayed at the Four Points (rooms were dark but quiet), the Radisson Westside (rooms were noisy, could hear others two floors away, its directly accross the 405 from the Four Points), the Airport Plaza (the big hotel on Centinela at the 405 - really run down and pricy for what it was...we were stuck for a place), and we stayed twice at the Westin at LAX (fabulous beds, quiet rooms and Starbucks kiosk in the lobby).

For reasons of indecision about this trip I missed some early deals at the Sheraton Gateway at LAX which we could have booked for like $70. per night. You snooze, you lose. If we could get a 3-star-like hotel for around $70 that has parking it would be perfect...and we may also be dreaming. But I am looking.

I have not tried Priceline and must confess to being gunshy about the hotel not being known until the room is paid for. I don%26#39;t want to end up with a booking at the ';Adventurer'; on West Century...who in Gods name stays there...foreigners with backpacks? A classic dump that totally misrepresents itself in every online booking blurb I have seen. So, I guess I don%26#39;t know how to structure the deal on Priceline to avoid such a mis-step. I know you all know what I mean.

I%26#39;m not opposed to the valley, but the near-to-Hollywood end of the valley (southern valley?), around Burbank, Toluca, etc. Any thoughts?

Oh, and what is Silver Lake like, any good possibilities there?

I love your city.

Best,

Michael

Michael:

I am currently in LA on business and staying at the Extended Stay America LAX (www.extendedstayamerica.com). This is located on main Sepulveda Blvd. right before Culver City begins. Parking is no problem here, I am very satisfied with the room, its like a suite with a full size refrigerator, kitchen, coffeemaker, iron, writing table, relaxor chair, high speed wireless internet access, etc. etc.

Although honestly I would much rather be closer to where the action is Wilshire/Beverly Hills/Hollywood, I choose not to move becasue I really like the room and am very comfortable and getting a much larger suite as opposed to a small room, yet at a reasonable price. I am paying their weekly rate of around $85 per night (taxes included). If you do decide to stay here, I suggest you CALL and make the reservation rather than just on the internet.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Umar

Thanks Umar...

I know the place, you are near the Howard Hughes center right? And there is a breakfast-all-day kind of restaurant next door (forget the name...something like ';Polly%26#39;s';...right?).

I%26#39;ll call them to get a quote for the week.

Thanks again,

Michael

Commerce is probably the best kept secret in Los Angeles. You can often find $60 rates at the Wyndham at the Citadel Outlet Mall on many of the popular travel sites.

The Best Western Montebello Plaza is a former Holiday Inn that was completely remodled 2 years ago...you can generally get a $49.00 rate from www.roomsavers.com. Nothing elaborate, but you%26#39;ll be hard pressed to find better budget accomodations.

Since you%26#39;ve tried Motel 6...if you get stuck at the airport again, the Travelodge is a fantastic bargain. You can usually find rooms in the 60%26#39;s and their courtyard is wonderful.

OMG the Adventurer....if you stayed there, I don%26#39;t blame you for asking for some help!

Thanks for the tip about Commerce. I just did a mapquest of the address and it is further east than we want to be...though I think the values look great.

I have discovered Torrance - the Holiday Inn, Torrance - and am thinking it may be a great spot for us to use as a base of operations. My only concern is that the 405 is a mess 24/7 and while it is about 10 miles from Culver City it is 10 miles of 405 hell. Do I have this right or am I missing something? In the past I have found the surface roads (Sepulveda) a great and restful break from the 405...does Sepulveda or its%26#39; alternate go as far south as Torrance?

Any thoughts about the Holiday Inn, Torrance?

With thanks!

Michael

Oh, and I never stayed at the Adventurer...but noticed it on a trip up W. Century and made the connection, they have a pretty agressive presence on all the hotel search sites. And it is a scary place in real life.

Michael

';I have discovered Torrance - the Holiday Inn, Torrance - and am thinking it may be a great spot for us to use as a base of operations. My only concern is that the 405 is a mess 24/7 and while it is about 10 miles from Culver City it is 10 miles of 405 hell. Do I have this right or am I missing something? In the past I have found the surface roads (Sepulveda) a great and restful break from the 405...does Sepulveda or its%26#39; alternate go as far south as Torrance?';

I live near Torrance. You%26#39;ve got that right about the 405 and traffic. I%26#39;d only take route 405 early in the morning or late at night if I were travelling from Torrance to Culver City. However, I think the Holiday Inn in Torrance is over on Vermont Avenue, which is kind of a dumpy, semi-industrial, uninteresting section of Torrance. (Apologies to anyone who might live near there.) It%26#39;s probably inexpensive for those reasons, though. Torrance is a little bit ';in the sticks'; and this location is even further away from things--it%26#39;s barely in Torrance. Driving from the hotel over to Sepulveda Boulevard/Pacific Coast Highway would take twenty minutes or so, probably negating the time-savings you%26#39;d get by taking surface streets, since the highways (110 and 405) are just to the east of Vermont Avenue over there.