Extended Stay America Los Angeles-LAX Airport, Los Angeles

Los Angeles: Bigger Than Life

Advantages: A World Class City
Disadvantages: Don't try walking, the bus, or light rail

Los Angeles: Bigger Than Life Let me state it right off at the start: I love Los Angeles. It is a great city to visit or to live in ? IF you know how to get around, and how to put up with the eccentricities of the place. Getting Around L.A. Originally, Los Angeles was a much smaller city. Long Beach, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Fe Springs?.those were all separate towns a long way from L.A. You reached those towns by riding the old red trolley cars. Sometime in the late 1940's the urban planners who are responsible for this awful sprawling mess made a conscious decision: Los Angeles would be a megalopolis connected by a system of freeways?people living in the megalopolis would, of course, be wealthy and every person would own a car. So, during much of the 1950's the streetcar lines were ...

grape_nehi 27.10.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Los Angeles (California)

Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles

Advantages: Didn't stay long enough to find out...
Disadvantages: Intimidating for first time visitors.

along La Cienega up to West Hollywood, where our Ramada Hotel was waiting for us. One peculiar feature was that all the furniture in the reception was made out of glass, so on your way across to the elevators, you keep whacking your shins on virtually invisible coffee tables. The jet-lag wasted us. At three in the morning we were wide awake. The time warp logistics of losing hours and gaining hours during air travel were always beyond me, and I couldn't get my head round it. Back home, they were all sipping their second cup of coffee of the morning. By midday the next day, we were ready for bed. We emerged into a pastel Los Angeles morning. We were the only people out walking on the streets. The only other people who go by foot in LA are other Europeans and the joggers. It's an incredibly vain city - every other shop is a gym ...

Plissken 27.12.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Los Angeles in general

God bless America? No, God bless the NHS.

Advantages: Geared up for tourism; good weather; good base for exploring
Disadvantages: none during daylight!

I had opted to stay in Santa Monica when I travelled to California on a recent fly-drive. From here, I figured, I could see most of Los Angeles, before heading inland to stay at Anaheim, to meet The Mouse and his friends. Despite it being part of Greater Los Angeles, if you want to stay in LA, where you stay will probably come down to three neighbourhoods: Hollywood (which despite the heritage is really quite down at heel and grubby); Anaheim (to visit Disneyland) or here. Judging from what I saw, a large part of the income in Santa Monica itself is based on tourism. Either in the amount of restaurants and cafes and bars there are, and the hotel/motel trade. It strikes me that there isn't really a difference between a hotel and a motel here because from what I saw, they all seem to provide ample parking. We chose to stay at a Days ...

kevin121 21.01.2009 (31.01.2009) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Santa Monica, Los Angeles