There are vapid whores everywhere, but don't miss the...

From 4:00-7:30: Up to 70-80 minutes. Traffic will fuck you on either the 10 or the 110. Santa Monica direct to the 405 will be crowded also.
From 8:00-midnight: 20-25 minutes

 

Thanks. Flight leaves at midnight, so I guess I'm in luck for traffic. Just wanted to make sure, since it's hard to tell how long these things take just by looking at a map. JFK didn't look too far from my apartment in Manhattan, but it would always end up taking somewhere between Forever and Fucking Forever.

 

No one has mentioned King Taco? Cretins.

I live in Pasadena, and there are some good bars along Colorado that don't have much of the shitty "Hollywood V-neck" douche vibe. I FUCKING HATE Hollywood. I avoid it like the fucking plague, except for the 3 block area of Thaitown when I want some Thai food, one has a Thai Elvis impersonator that's hilarious. It's a shame, but traffic is just a bitch. There is very little around it.

The In-N-Out theme cannot be emphasized enough. It's a must while your out here.

Enjoy.

 

Corman suggested renting a car (can be done for about $30 including a GPS).

I'm arriving at 10:30am, have a lunch meeting (don't have the time for it yet, when do LA types eat lunch?), and my flight away is at midnight.

Is Ben just dicking me around? He has a history of doing that.

 

If you make it downtown, peep Wurstkuche, a great sausage place with a decent beer selection. It's fairly new and extremely crowded on weekends.

I sang praise for The Roost in Atwater Village elsewhere, and a rep commenter reminded me that it's a block from the outdoor-themed Bigfoot Lodge, which I can also dig. Atwater is sort of near Pasadena.

There's great hiking all over the place: Griffith Park, Los Liones Trail in the Palisades, Tujunga Canyon in the Valley... If you love the movie Chinatown as much as I do, the neighborhood is worth a visit - a lot of the neon will look familiar, and it beats the teeth out of Chicago's Chinatown, if not SF's or NY's. (There's a dive in C-Town called Hop Louie that's famous for the rudest bartenders on earth, but has stiff mixers, a decent juke, and incredibly festive patrons.) Most locals seem to agree that Manhattan is the beach of choice, but in case you don't surf in January, the cliffs at Santa Monica or Malibu are better eye candy. And don't hesitate to scale the Hollywood sign - it's there.

Re: Mass transit. It's not particularly useful unless you live and work on the same bus line, or you live in East Hollywood, Pasadena, Downtown, Santa Monica or Long Beach and don't explore much. For a short stay, your best option might be a cheap rental, depending on how much ground you're covering. The one feature I like is the Flyaway Bus to and from LAX. Gets you to Union Station in about :30.

I like SoCal, despite everything. I like the nice weather and the thick ethnic girls in short skirts and boots. And I have a sick sense of humor, which helps. If you encounter a vapid whore, just strike up a conversation about how much you both hate all these shallow people.

 

Definitely some suggestions that I haven't heard from anyone else yet so thanks guys. An additional follow-up question to my original post- given that we'll be there for New Years, is there a specific New Years party that we should definitely go to? The "HOLY SHIT, IT'S A CELEBRITY" scene doesn't even remotely appeal to me but if it's a cool party, I'd be interested. I'll be with three to four sorority girls, among others, so they probably wouldn't complain about being around that shit.

 

I was gonna recommend that as well. Public transit is non-existent and you can get a rental for the same cost as a cab if you have to take it from WeHo to LAX.

Nothing in LA is close to anything else so a car is pretty crucial if you actually want to check the city out. Lunch is from 11:00-3:00.

 

There are some cool semi-off the beaten path bars on Franklin St. in Hollywood - Birds and La Poubelle. Also, the Oaks Gourmet around the corner has one of the best burgers in LA.

Father's Office in Santa Monica is a great place for good food and burgers.

And, lastly, it's not cost efficient by any stretch of the imagination, but Seventh Veil on Sunset at 3am on a Saturday is something that needs to be experienced by every warm blooded male who likes dirty sluts rubbing their vaginas in your face.