Trip Completed> Los Angeles - Food, Sights, Tours?

Hey All, I'm leaving for LA on the 19th and since i'm travelling on a student's budget for 6 days, I was wondering if anyone that's been there could recommend a few things.

Does anyone know of any cheap places in LA to eat that's not fast food? ie. buffets and stuff?

Also since we are only there for six days, of which about four are fully occupied, are there any good (cheap or free) sights/tours that we should do for the other two days?

Things that are already on our schedule are:
Six Flags Magic Mountain
A general bus tour of Hollywood (recommendations?)
A taping of "Listen Up" (Anyone heard of/like show? It's with George from Seinfeld and Theo from the Cosby Show. I've never seen it myself but it's free )
Beach (recommendations? Temperature isn't that good right now though . . .)

Keep in mind we are doing this on a budget!

Thanks,

Kerlo

Food is not cheap man!!

I went to a burger rest but can't recall the name in IRVINE!

Originally Posted by Kerlo

Things that are already on our schedule are:
Six Flags Magic Mountain

Too bad you're going to be there 1 weekend too late. I'm going to be there the weekend before there.

Going down there for 2 coaster events which offer ERT(exclusive ride time) during off park hours.

If you're looking for other amusement parks there is also Knotts Berry Farm and Disneyland/Disneys California adventure. Those 3 parks are in Anehiem(just south of LA). There's also Universal Hollywood close by.

Edit: Oh an just in case you didn't know Six Flags season passes are good for all Six Flags parks. This includes La Ronde which is in Montreal, and Darien Lake in Buffalo. Probably too soon to get a season pass from there. But SFMM is offering play passes this year. Basically the regualar admision of like $40 something gets you a season pass. So if you plan on going to La Ronde at all it would really pay off.

I would go on the Warners Bros. tour. I enjoyed it, check out real sound stages and see how they make movie props and stuff. I saw the Friends set while I was there. They were also filming Constantine which opens tomorrow.

I thought the Universal theme park was crap. Shrek ride was ok, everything else was gay.

I would also check out the Desert Hills outlet mall. Its east of LA, not too far out. Like any outlet, it takes digging but there are gems. Bought 3 pairs of Nike Shox for $30 US each. Bought a wool/cashmere blend Ralph Lauren suit for $150 US.

http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlet...sting.asp?id=6

Originally Posted by Kerlo

Does anyone know of any cheap places in LA to eat that's not fast food? ie. buffets and stuff?

i highly recommend mimi's cafe, good food at reasonable prices. you'll find locations all over socal: www.mimiscafe.com

A couple of fast food burger joints worth checking out in California is "In and Out" and "Phat Burger". Both good burgers.

Sorry for thread-jacking a little bit. Carnage, how did you get those ERT package? Do you have to be a member of some sort, or you can actually buy packages like this?

Rent a car and drive to Vegas for a night of wild gambling.

Winter is also a good time to visit Death valley because it's not too hot.

Joshua Tree National Park.

If you drive fast, you can go surfing @ Santa Monica and then drive to Bear Mountain for skiing. Now you have experienced surfing & skiing in 1 day.

Santa Ana for Vietnamese food. Better than Toronto's. Even the Chinese food is different/better. Way too many Cantonese restaurants here. In LA, there's more variety.

Originally Posted by NDman

Sorry for thread-jacking a little bit. Carnage, how did you get those ERT package? Do you have to be a member of some sort, or you can actually buy packages like this?

I'm a member of a coaster enthusiast club. Gets me into club events. Most major parks have events each year.

Saturday at Knotts is the parks official event, they have a few coasters open before the park opens from about 6am to 10am, and then 2 coasters open after the park closes from 10pm to midnight.

Then sunday at SFMM is an event run by my club. 3 coasters open up for us from 8am until the park opens at 10. We'll probably be expecting at most 300 people. So it pretty much ends up being 2 hours riding with no waits.

Kind of the perks of being an enthusiest.

Nice!

Thanks for all the help guys!

Keep posting ideas, I'll try to give updates throughout the week.

Originally Posted by mtevie

Food is not cheap man!!

I went to a burger rest but can't recall the name in IRVINE!

Regular food is much much cheaper in Los Angeles than in Vancouver or anywhere else in Canada.

If you are looking for a good place to eat in Los Angeles, it depends on what you're in the mood for.

Best Burgers: In n Out Burger or Fatburger (obviously there are a lot more good burger places in LA but they are much much more expensive) IN-N-OUT burger is an awesome restaurant and is always jam packed with ppl. IN-N-OUT is the reason that so many McDonald's store were shut down in California. IN N OUT everything FRESH. They cut their own potatoes and make their own patties. They have no freezers unlike the crud you get at McDonald's.
Best Chinese food: Hoy's Wok in Hollywood (located at Sunset and La Brea) It would be a perfect choice for dinner if you're in the mood for chinese food. Hoy's Wok is to the left of El Pollo Loco and to the Right of Wendy's (food at Wendy's is double the price in American Dollars).
Persian Food: Massoud's on 1300 S San Pedro St (Downtown Los Angeles near the Santee Alley) or Santee Falaffel on Santee of course
Best Pancakes: Original Pantry Cafe on 877 Figueroa Street (mouth watering pancakes). This place is right next to the Staples centre in Downtown and there is always a huge line to get inside the restaurant, but it's worth it.
Best Steak: Original Pantry Cafe. They have Sizzler's and the Keg too.
Japanese Food: Yoshinoya Beef Bowl (they have chicken and shrimp too).

In Los Angeles there is no shortage of food. You can find absolutely anything you want and anytime of night/day. You can also stick to the generic food there if you don't trust these restaurants. You may be wondering how I know so much about LA, it cuz I've been there so many times in the past 10 years. If you plan on going to Las Vegas, I can also help you out with stuff there if you need it

Also, in Los Angeles, refrain from eating at Mexican restaurants since they usually get C's for cleanliness and health inspections. Don't go into a restaurant unless it got an A or B rating. These ratings if you're wondering are the samething as health inspections we have in Canada. In the States they assign businesses Letter grades based on how well they do on these inspections. In Canada I believe you have to be at an A standard otherwise you'd be shut down; although I've seen many stores here that aren't so clean

As for safety, DO NOT walk around Downtown after 7pm; it get's dangerous there after 7, that's why you notice all the businesses there are closed and gone by 7pm. That's when the Gangsters come out to play and the homeless camp out outside stores. Also stay away from going to deep into Crenshaw BLVD. One of the hotel attendees said that Crenshaw blvd. is a really dangerous area where lot's of crimes occur, so you should keep away from that area. Other than that it's pretty decent.

Originally Posted by Kerlo

A general bus tour of Hollywood (recommendations?)
A taping of "Listen Up" (Anyone heard of/like show? It's with George from Seinfeld and Theo from the Cosby Show. I've never seen it myself but it's free )

I took a bus tour of Hollywood and I found it pretty boring.. not worth the money. A few of the stars' homes are obscured by gates and shrubbery (ie. the Playboy Mansion ), and from a moving bus, it's hard to tell them apart, anyway. You might want to try buying a Star Map and take your own tour, instead.

You can also get free tickets to a number of talk shows and game shows, especially the lesser known ones. You'll see ticket distributors at many tourist shops and spots (ie. Ocean Front Walk at Venice Beach). And I agree with an earlier poster that Universal Studios is not worth your time. It's outdated -- unless you really need to see a big mechanized shark and ape.

You might also want to visit the Museum of Radio and Television .

In-N-Out is outstanding -- highly recommended. If you only eat one hamburger on your trip, this is it. And make it a double-double.

Originally Posted by zefal

i highly recommend mimi's cafe, good food at reasonable prices. you'll find locations all over socal: www.mimiscafe.com

Or COCO's is good as well.

Originally Posted by a3000

You'll see ticket distributors at many tourist shops and spots (ie. Ocean Front Walk at Venice Beach). And I agree with an earlier poster that Universal Studios is not worth your time. It's outdated -- unless you really need to see a big mechanized shark and ape.

Lol, those two attractions you referred to are both a part of the tram tour, which has been with Universal studios since it has opened. Universal Studios isn't cheap by any means; It's $50US for an Adult and $40 for children under 48 inches in height. If you've never been to Universal Studios before, then it's totally worth it to go once. They have many awesome attractions. Personally I find it much more intersting than Disneyland. A few of these awesome attractions are Jurassic Park the Ride, Back to the Future, Terminator 2:3D (This is a WICKED 3D show! TOTALLY AWESOME!), Shrek 4D (This is another wicked attraction, You absolutely love this attraction), Backdraft (You can really feel the heat on this one and you can see what a jumbo fire feels like first hand), Van Helsing Walkthrough ( you get to go through the sets of Van Helsing, there are special effects and everything and every now and then there are a few scares too ), the Tram tour as previously stated, and an Awesome new attraction called "The Revenge of the Mummy". This roller coaster ride is wicked, it beat's out the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland any day for scares, highspeed forward and reverse travel in the dark, scarabs, Mummies, and extreme drops in the dark, which were both in forward and reverse directions not to mention the sudden jerks along the way. You should've heard how loud people were screaming on this ride.

Aside from the rides, Universal Studios has many shows that you can catch for free. Some of these shows are a Special Effects studio, Waterworld the show, Wild Wild West, Spider-man Rocks, some musicals and more.