Sightseeing in L.A.

My husband is attending a conference in L.A. next month. My 2 girls (ages 7 and 13) and I will be coming along. I was hoping to get some advice on what to do and best tours to take.

We will be staying at the Rennaissance Hollywood Hotel on North Highland. Does anyone know what this is within walking distance to?

Last September we went to Disneyworld and Universal Studios and since the California parks seem to be similar to each other, I am not really planning on going back to those parks. I would however like to go on a tour of a studio, see how movies are made, maybe catch amovie being made and I%26#39;m sure a very remote chance of actually seeing a celebrity but,hey, maybe we%26#39;ll get lucky. What tour or tour companies would you recommend? Which ones are rip offs? Do you have to pay to go into the Universal park to take a tour of movie studio part?

We are considering Knotts Berry Farm or Six Flags. The main thing is we want to see the sights but also spend time at the hotel for the kids to swim. What tours should we take? What%26#39;s not to be missed?

The last couple of days all 4 of us will be together. What are some of the sights not to be missed in the surrounding area outside of L.A? We will be getting a hotel outside of town. Don%26#39;t know where yet , we%26#39;re open to ideas. My husband wants to see Seqoia National Forest and of course we want to go to the beach.

thanks for the help,

Sarah

Sightseeing in L.A.

If your girls like the American Girs dolls, you might want to take them to the Groove for one afternoon of tea and fun at there store.

As for swimming, consider Hurricane Harbor, which is right next to Magic Mountain and a pretty nice waterpark for girls your age to have some cool fun

Santa Monica is a great beachtown to stroll around and if it is warm enough, you can drive towards the santa monica canyon and spent some time at Will Rogers Beach, which has volleyballcourts and is also home to Patricks roadhouse. A cool little restaurant for a snack or lunch

Sightseeing in L.A.

Please see our FAQs page at the top of the LA Forums, many of your questions are answered there.

Yes, your hotel is within walking distance to many tourist spots. Will you have a car?

In case you want to do some research on it, the prior poster%26#39;s reference to ';the Groove'; was a little typo: it%26#39;s the Grove. Info is here:

http://www.thegrovela.com/

Your hotel is about a block from the Chinese Theater. In the courtyard of the theatre is the main office of STARLINE TOURS (Starlinetours.com, click on LOS ANGELES on the left side of the home page). This is L.A.%26#39;s oldest tour company and is highly regarded. They offer tons of tours of all durations (from 2 hours to an entire day).

The two most popular Studio Tours are:

Universal (which includes admission to their amusement park)

and

Warner Brothers

The former tour is pretty short -- less than an hour -- and does not include getting off the tram and doing any exploring.

Warner Brothers%26#39; tour is longer -- 2-1/2 hours -- on a smaller tram (which holds only 12 people) and involves getting off and walking onto the soundstages and into auxilliary buldings (prop houses, etc).

If you%26#39;re driving, it%26#39;s about 15 minutes (without traffic) to WB from your hotel. If you%26#39;re using public transit, it%26#39;s about 30 minutes.

Info about WB is here:

http://www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour/

Knotts Berry Farm (Knotts.com) is a lot of fun for the young ones (I especially like %26#39;Camp Snoopy%26#39;, there even though I am all grown up). Knotts also has a waterpark adjacent to its amusement park, known as:

Soak City (www.knotts.com/soakcity/oc/tour.shtml#rides)

When you say ';what are the sights outside of LA ?';, that%26#39;s a little bit vague. Los Angeles is within a couple of hours drive to beaches, mountains, and deserts. The Sequoia National Forest is only about 3 hours away. . Southern California is far from being ';a one-horse town';. For example, we have over 100 museums in the city!

So, please tells us what KINDS of things you might be interested in seeing and we can point you in the right direction.