Fun things to do in Los Angeles?
 

Ok, I grew up in LA and have taken my wife there 4 or 5 times. I'm looking for some new ideas of cool places to take her. She's from Northern Virginia and hadn't experienced much outside of it before we started dating.

Anyone have any cool ideas? I've taken her to a bunch of LA landmarks. Trying to be creative. We're going to be there Thurs through Monday the 24th.

If you are looking for a fun drive that also offers awesome views of downtown LA and the whole Valley go to the top of Mt. Wilson. Go at sunset that way you can take in both a daytime and nighttime view. Assuming a clear day the views are great. On good days you can see clear to Catalina island. This is something I did on a somewhat regular basis having grown up in Pasadena. Have fun.

Peterson Auto Museum for you and the J. Paul Getty Museum for both of you. Make a reservation for the Getty.

Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits.

East LA (?)

Underground clubs if your very adventurous.

My gosh the stories I could tell...you could find yourself having breakfast with Hollywood Celebs. :cool:

Its too much though for all but the most adventurous and cool open minded folks.

South LA is better!

When I was out there several years ago for my first time I did all these in a three day span:
Universal Studios back lot tour
Warner Bros. Lot tour (was very cool)
Live Sitcom Taping
Hollywood Blvd., Walk of Fame, Graumans Chinese Theatre
Rodeo Drive
Santa Monica Pier
Dinner on the Queen Mary (in Long Beach)
Drove Mullholand Drive, both directions
Finally, drove from L.A. to San Francisco via Pacific Coast Hwy.

Skip the tourist stuff, this is usually for locals only;

- Drive up PCH to Malibu and have lunch/dinner at the Netpune Net (don't worry, the bikers are cool)
- Tour the Getty Museum and then have lunch/dinner in Westwood
- Shopping in Old Town Pasadena and lunch/dinner at Il Fornaio
- Take a walk on Redondo Beach Pier, relax and watch the harbor while having a beer at Naja's Place
- Peterson car museum and then lunch/dinner at LA Farmers Market (Fairfax)

If you are into museums, James Turrell exhibit at La County Museum of Art. Buy tickets in advance. Saw it yesterday, very cool.

Ha! This was our Valentine's Day adventure. A sunset picnic overlooking all of LA with the full moon rising behind us over Mt. Baldy. Weather was in the high 60s and no wind. Good vis and we saw 5 islands off shore.

"most adventurous and cool open minded folks" = drugs and sex, lol:cheers:

Bunch of great ideas here guys. These are the things we've done in the last 17 years:

Palm Springs Ariel tram
Baja vwing in Palm Springs
Venice
Santa Monica
Knotts
Day trip to Baldy village
Queen Mary (spent the night there too)
Pch from San Diego to San Fran
In-n-out 100 times (still not enough)
Griffith
San Diego zoo
Just about anything you can see in Hollywood. My dad worked there growing up. I've shown her so much there shes actually bored with it.
Sunset blvd
Rodeo drive
Nicole browns house


I'm thinking the Getty would be nice. Huntington Beach too. Trying to do the less touristy things this time. I lived in Los Angeles for 19 years. It has a great culture I want her to see. You guys have some great suggestions. I grew up in Glendora and never even heard of the gamble house. May have to check it out.

Also, because she grew up in the 90s, I am planning a 90210 filming locations tour. Shes excited about that. The Walsh house is in alta dena close to Pasadena. Might have to do a Back to the future filming locations tour for my own amusement.

The 90210 beach house where Donna & the smart girl lived is on the Strand in Hermosa Beach where it borders Manhattan Beach. In other words, it is the northernmost house on the Strand in Hermosa Beach. Manhattan & Hermosa pier area is best beach area etc. :)

Thai places on sunset are legendary -- best Thai I've had in the states. Best road I've ever hit in a Porsche was the highway through Los Padres Nat'l forest in Ventura county, north of Ojai and about an hour out of LA.

TMZ tour? ....

Definitely not drugs nor sex really, but if respectable Hollywood folks go, without film crews or security you know its gotta be fun!!! :D

There are lots of good suggestions here that I should give a try, the underworld was just a passing fad for me when I was new to CA.

I've been in CA for 14 years now and have not done any of these touristy things on the lists...well, I suppose SeaWorld counts.
I have had a beer with Billy Idol and his drunk security dude, and breakfast with Connie Chung, so I suppose thats like touristy stuff as well, but thats all so far!

Shoot back / return fire. They never expect that.

Drive through Compton, top down, with Vanilla Ice blaring away.....try to blend in. See how long you last and perfect your getaway driving skills.

Drill your own Hekyl & Jekyl?

Remove the wheel lock and replace with standard lug nut. Set stop watch first!

Find one intact piece of authentic Compton crime scene tape. It's all over the place. I brought one back once.

Go 24 hours and try to avoid either speaking Spanish of any kind, or being told to "yo, give me something" as you exit any store. I've never been asked to "give me something" before I flew down to buy my Box there. Stayed 2 blocks from Circle Porsche.

Try to find a single free public restroom. Cannot be done.

The 90210 high school is Torrance High on Carson St. in Torrance. It's also in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bruce Almighty, Less than Zero, and a bunch of other movies.

Most of Back to the Future was shot on the Universal lot but I believe it all burned down in a huge backlot fire.

Guess I should update this. We had a great several days. The temp when we landed was about 85. We left WV with about a foot of snow on the ground. We immediatly met my sister at the beach and went to dinner. Made plans for the next day, and went to our hotel. We stayed in West Covina. Close to where I grew up in Glendora, and central to a lot of what I wanted to do. They next day we met up with some friends VW who were also visiting CA and drove to Corona and visited Wolfsburg West. We walked into the order dept and I told her we were there from VA and WV and she gave us a tour. What a neat place. While we were in Corona, I decided to go to West Coast Customs. Neat to see but the cars that were are display showed that their cars might look great on TV but in person are less then quality examples. Neat to see the shop though. From there I had plans to go to several other shops, but we had gotten a late start and my friend really wanted to see KGP&R. It was a little after noon and Ventura is quite a hike from Corona. So, on to Ventura we went. What a cool place KGP&R is. Spent about 2 hours there talking to the guys and looking around. Took a bunch of pics. It was about 430 when we left and we hearded to Santa Barbara. Watched the sun set, and headed back to West Covina. The next day we headed to the OC Zoo with my sister. Fun little zoo. After we left my sister called and made reservations ti go whale watching. That was a lot of fun. Saw 2 grey whales, some dolphins, and a few sea lions. We headed back to West Covina and met up with our friends to head to Donut Man in Glendora.

The next day was my wife's BDay. We went to breakfast in Glendora were able to eat outside and not be cold. I've been telling her for 17 years that when I grew up in CA it was nice in feb. I was finally able to show her. It was her first warm weather BDay. She's a big Beverly Hills 90210 fan, so I took her on a tour of 90210 filming locations. The Walsh house, Dylan's house, The Peach Pit, Kelly's Mom's house, and the beach house. The Peach Pit is in Pasadena so I went to Gamble House and took a few pics for myself. From there we hit the Getty. Stayed there for a while and headed down the Coast. I had made reservations at Mar'sel in the Terranea resort. We went there and watched the sunset, and had an amazing dinner. I think I gave her a very memorable BDay and one I could only have given her in Los Angeles.

In all, it was a great few days, and I didn't do half of what I wanted to do. I'll post pics later.

Most of it was. However, all of the houses are real houses. Gamble house in Pasadena is the house that was Doc's house. The Puente Hills Mall is the Lone Pine / Twin Pines Mall. Whittier High is Hill Valley High, etc.

Did you get a tour of Gamble house? It is interesting from the outside but inside the wood and workmanship is like a fine shipwright. It was the winter home of the Gamble family (Proctor & Gamble) and was built with an unlimited budget. I have lived in SoCal my whole life and only just toured it this year. If you like Frank Lloyd Wright and other fine examples of American craftsmanship it is worth a few hours to see. Also the Sam Malouf home and workshop in Rancho Cucamonga.

Kahleefornia has all the fun.

If you visited the Donut Man in Glendora, you may recall a small gas station directly across the street. That was a Union 76 back in the day, and the place where I worked during high school. Also the place where I first discovered Porsches, and swore that someday I'd own one!

Remember it clearly. I grew up in Glendora. Went to Glendora High. I discovered Porsches as a kid when my parents owned nothing but VWs. My 71 Ghia was my fathers. He bought it at Bob Smith VW in Hollywood in 1980. Swore I'd own one as a kid too.

We had a packed day so we did not tour it. Both of us would like to go back and tour it though.

Find Lindsay Logan or Kim Kardashian?

No, but I wasn't looking for them either. Especially Kim. She has no talent and shouldn't be a celebrity.