Springtime in L.A.

Hah. A subject after my own heart.

There are zones in the LA area.. for example, it tends, at least in west LA, to get cooler as you cross the San Diego Freeway and go towards the beach.
When there is fog, it tends to hang by the beach, naturally. I dunno, Long Beach is also beach, and to me a vastly less interesting area to hang out in than Marina del Rey/Venice.

Hmmm. Let me think a bit. You might, for example, like the Santa Monica street, Entrada Drive, that intersects with Pacific Coast Highway, but I'll have to check it out as to how it is now, since I haven't lived around there since '99. I think Marina del Rey is a good choice re transportation and local stuff to do. (I lived three blocks from there.) Malibu I don't know as well.

Will you rent a car?

Back later.

Well, you won't get any better guide than osso, that's for sure.

I was in the LA area, staying with friends in Bellflower, and we took a day
trip to Venice. A stroll along the beach is absolutely not to be missed. All
manner of folk are there to see and be seen. Make sure to take a walk
along the canals, too. Osso probably knows the best streets to see.
Some of the houses along the canals are incredible.

Have fun!

Oh, on safe...

Venice has a tough neighborhood, which I can detail for you, but you're unlikely to walk there. It also has many multimillionaires, screenwriters, bla bla bla.

I miss the whole area because of my walks. I would walk from my house in the presidents' row neighborhood just north of washington and lincoln,

a) to the beach by walking through the canals
b) to the jetty by walking through the marina boat yards/channels
c) to the jetty by walking down grand canal
d) straight to the beach down Washington to the pier and up all the way to Santa Monica.
e) catty corner up Abbot Kinney (a cool street with lots to check out) past Venice Blvd. to Main Street (not bad either), and up Main Street to Santa Monica.
f) through the Walk Streets north of Venice Blvd and over to the Rose Cafe.
g) and lots of streets between.

But I can't tell you so much about walking at night, me being night blind.

I did live on what is now named Abbot Kinney, and lived at Windward and the boardwalk, and never was accosted at night. I think the main areas are fine. I might not walk the beach at 2 a.m. - but I turn from rather bold in the daytime to oldladyish at night.

There used to be a change at the boardwalk on very late Sunday afternoons in the height of the summer.. re a certain tension in the air.
But, given there are a zillion people there then, no problemo.

This link may show more than you want to know, Kicky - I say that as I like surprise when I travel. Anyway, I go on about Venice for a bunch of pages.


http://www.able2know.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2837469#2837469

Yeah, you have to visit Venice Beach, but I would stay in Laguna Beach -
quite beautiful there. http://www.casalaguna.com/

The maps of Santa Monica-Venice-Marina del Rey that I find online are pretty dismal.

Here's one that shows some of the area.

one more try - I'm having trouble transferring google maps at the right scale.

This one pinpoints my old gallery in the seventies, at 1621 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice (or a close enough number).
Check googlemaps for that yourself, and then move the arrow thingies north, south, east, west, and you'll see the connections between Marina del Rey, Venice, and Santa Monica at pretty good street level.


Ah, no good, on preview. Just google in on google maps..

She's right, Laguna has a beautiful beach. Eh, stay at both places, different scenes.

Excellent. Thanks. Marina Del Rey is now sounding better to me. But I really haven't heard anything about Long Beach. Is there no information anyone can share with me about Long Beach? Safe? Interesting? Fun? Exciting?

ciao

Why would you want to go to Long Beach?

Some of it is unsafe. But so is some of lots of places. I know there's present racially derived attacks, but not where. Sort of doubt they'd be where you'd land, as the Long Beach exits on the San Diego freeway go for miles and miles and miles and miles and, yes, miles.

My ex lives in San Pedro/Palos Verdes (nice homes) now. I hardly know what to say, no comparison to the Marina up to Malibu. Different worlds re stuff to do. There's also manhattan, hermosa, redondo beach. I like all of them for different reasons, but...

Laguna and Corona del Mar are beaches I went to a lot of times a long time ago. I've family at Balboa Island (see map around Newport).
Lightwizard can tell you more about these areas than I can, pm him if he doesn't pick up on this thread.

Laguna is nice. I also like Newport Beach.

Yes the entire area is nice, Laguna, Newport Beach, Dana Point...

Thanks, CJane. I think there is a nice area near Long Beach called Naples, but I've not seen it to testify.

But it's a big place, and I don't want to do a complete dumpo. There used to be a good bookstore... (only half kidding). Really, I can't get around it as a vacation spot, whatever the good points.

I drove through Long Beach not long ago, and it's just not a place to
vacation. Unless you know your way around it, and find the few spots
that are interesting, I would not attempt to visit.

Look at Dana Point

I think we need to look at weather in April.

Are you going to LA to lie on the beach all day? Don't, go to Mexico instead.

I'll nose around for some April data.

I don't know what Long Beach is really like, but I saw that it was fairly warm, and I've heard the name a lot. that's why I was thinking about it. Laguna Beach and Newport and all that looks real nice, but once you get south of Long Beach, aren't you pretty far from Hollywood and the city itself? I'd like to also see what the city itself is like. This is to be a combination of a vacation and an "I wonder if I could live here" kind of thing. Maybe I'll stay in Hollywood for part of the trip too. Is that area safe?

Two links,

http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/losangeles/l/bl_la_temp.htm

if you want to lie on the beach, go to Baja.. etc.


Santa Anas...
http://meteora.ucsd.edu/cap/santa_ana.html

That confirms what I remember, that April is more stable than some other months. LA can be 90 something in January, every so often, when it's not pouring rain and 48, due to the Santa Anas, but not so much in April.

A lot of it, yes. Some not.
But you do know Hollywood is not in Hollywood? It's also in Culver City and Studio City and Marina del Rey, and so on. But, sure.

Since I left, Culver City of all the godforsaken places is the new cool for art and food, say. (Venice adjacent, eh).

(You might not be able to tell by that that I like Culver City, but I do.)