Getting around in Los Angeles and what area to stay?

[Jude Starr]

I have never been to the USA; hoping to get to LA for my birthday, but I know nothing about the layout of the place. I have been digging around on the interwebs, but have a poor idea about where stuff is in relation to other stuff. And I have heard that getting around can be a bit difficult, public transport wise.

Thne things I would really like to see include Hollywood Forever Cemetery, La Brea Tarpits, Petersen Automotive Museum, Sunset Strip (in the evening I think - maybe The Rainbow for dinner?)

I can't figure where these things are compared to each other, or what area I should be staying in for ease of access. And any hotel recommendations would be appreciated too - not ridiculous price but not a fleabag either...your personal experiences would be welcome. Thankyou in advance!

 

[Melburnian1]

Look up Google maps or TripAdvisor to see where each is and calculate the distances between them.

There is a map of Los Angeles' rail lines at urbanrail.net > metro - subway - light rail with links to the elevated rail operator and the suburban rail operator (while Amtrak is the passenger train operator for longer distance trains.) Los Angeles also has many urban buses.

 

[Himeno]

Public transport in LA is fine. It's just a long distance between things. for example, the first time I was in LA, I went from my arrival point, the greyhound bus station, to Santa Monica. 1 hour apart on the bus down an almost straight main road.
Or the Metro Blue line, Downtown LA to Long Beach (LACC-LBCC) 1 hour to travel the entire line each way (same trip is about 45 mins by car with average traffic).

If you're going with public transport, get a TAP card. It works just like the myki, MyWay, Go card or Opal in Australia and works on most of the public transport operators in the LA area.

 

[harvyk]

Personally I always hire a car, LA is built for cars. That said expect to take a long time to get from A to B. Trying to squeeze too much into a day = day of traveling between interesting things, and only a small amount of time looking at interesting things.

 

[jastel]

I normally stay near the airport, this will get you a free hotel transfer bus to and from many nearby hotels.
Also useful to get back to terminal and then to rent a car depot if you are driving out later to SFO or Vegas as many do.

There is a big bus terminal just behind the main hotel drag where you can get the main buses to the beaches for a couple of bucks.
From here it is easy to get on a Hop On/Off bus and see the sights and get the tour, then can add extra Hollywood Star Houses tours etc.
The only problem is the tour buses stop at X o clock and if you want to party on in Hollywood.

As said bus or car will take a while in traffic...but parking (finding and $$$)/navigating/wrong side of road driving are other PITA if you have your own car.

I saw everything on your list and more except the cemetery this way.

 

[ozjuice]

I nearly always stay in Long beach and i always hire a car. I would never stay near Hollywood again unless you're in a top top hotel, it's hard to be near anything as it's a huge area. I love driving over there and it means you can do what ever you want to.
Driving is easier than it is in Australia i reckon, well apart from the traffic. But the drivers seem less angry. Anyway, getting around in a car is easy even with big traffic, it still flows quite well. Just avoid peak times.
To me Long beach is a much nicer place to stay if in the warmer months. Personally i like to stay somewhere that's easy to walk out of the hotel and find a bar or restaurant, During the day i just use google maps on the iphone and go wherever i want. It's the way i have always done it. You can see all the crazy stuff and then drive back to a nicer area.

 

[cove]

My sons use Uber and Lyft to go to sporting events like the baseball at Dodgers stadium or Angels stadium. From Marina del Rey to Angels Stadium costs $40 USD with Lyft.
We hire a car with Argus / Alamo and it costs about $35 US a day for a newish Toyota Corolla with insurance. I bought a GPS to avoid a hire fee. I think it cost $140 USD versus $9 a day hire for a 5+ inch screen.
The Big Blue bus is ok between Los Angeles and Santa Monica and the city but we now use the Metro light rail to get from Santa Monica to Staples Center for shows and sporting events.
There are plenty of places to stay but I would avoid some parts of Hollywood as a D9 bulldozer is needed.
For airport hotels our staff use the Ayres chain and we haven't been disappointed. They always look close to the freeways but they are quite ok.

 

[Nizar]

Stayed for a week back in 2015 in West Hollywood and hired a convertible Mustang. Worth every dollar. Only cost me about US$1,000 for 12 days, though I booked online and a long way in advanced

 

[fairbasa]

You can get really good hire car rates booking through the .IE or .CO.UK sites of Hertz and Avis, all which seem to include LDW (booking through the US sites won't). Lookup generic promo codes for a further 10-20% off.

We hired a convertible Mustang in SF and drove to LA in one day, it cost $80AUD including LDW with no one-way fee. We also hired a Camry in LA for a day to get around and store luggage as we had an evening flight. It cost us $49AUD for a Camry.

Longer hires would yield cheaper results.