When you think of Los Angeles, you think “big city” and “highways.” You don’t automatically think of LA as a place you could visit without having to rent a car. But writer Rich Grant took on that challenge and says “it might just be the best way to go!” Here’s his how-to guide for, what we think, sounds like three perfect days in L.A.

Can you visit LA without a car? You bet! Here’s your plan for 3 perfect days.

Okay, the worst thing about the City of Stars is the traffic. But what if you could visit La La Land and see Hollywood, Olivera Street, Venice Beach, Universal Studios, Griffith Park and downtown, all without ever getting behind a steering wheel on a freeway?

Well, you can. It’s very simple today to visit many of LA’s top attractions by rail. The only big link missing is from LAX to downtown, but even there, you can make the 35-minute trip from the airport to Union Station in a deluxe motorcoach with restrooms, under-seat power outlets and free Wi-Fi for just $9.75.

DAY 1:  DOWNTOWN L.A.: HISTORY AND MUSEUM HOPPING

After you get your bags, head to Lower/Arrivals level of LAX and catch your bus at the front of each terminal under the green “FlyAway ^® Buses” sign. No reservations are required. Each bus is marked with its service location, so look for the one saying Union Station. They come every 30 minutes. You can pay by credit card upon getting off; no cash is accepted. Or better, buy a TAP card before your trip, which you can also use on the Metro. $25-30 should cover all your fares for the three days.

From the airport, your FlyAway bus arrives at Union Station, a beautifully restored 1939 marvel of Mission Revival and art-deco glamour from old Hollywood with a waiting room of leather chairs, chandeliers, arched ceilings and marble floors. Duck your head out of the lobby to see the row of tall palm trees leading to the city and you’ll know you’re not in Kansas anymore. Then use your TAP card to ride the underground Red Line Metro three stops to the 7^th Street Metro Center. 

The Heart of Downtown

If you haven’t been in downtown LA in a decade, emerging into the sunlight will be an entrance into a strange and wonderful new city. And a pedestrian friendly one too. In the new downtown LA, you can wheel your bags to a half dozen luxury hotels. There’s the incredible InterContinental, which has a lobby on the 70^th floor (visit the lobby bar for a drink and a view, if nothing else). The opulent 1923 Millennium Biltmore is also worth a visit for its grand hallway with carved marble fountains, frescos, murals and embroidered tapestries. The hotel has been used in many films including Chinatown and The Sting, and was the home of the Oscar Awards from 1935-39 and 1941-42. 

 

Or there’s the flashy The Standard with its celebrity-popular rooftop pool and bar or the Hotel Figueroa, another historic building that’s been modernized into a luxury boutique. But there’s also a Residence Inn, Courtyard and America’s Best Value, so there are close accommodations in all ranges.

Downtown LA, for those not familiar with it, is now a very walkable and fun place to spend a day. Start at the talk of the town, The Broad, a free contemporary art museum housing the collection of local billionaires Eli and Edythe Broad. The building itself is a work of art, but the collection is fun and funky from the second you start up a psychedelic escalator into a gallery of huge works from Andy Warhol to stainless steel tulips by Jeff Koons. You can just show up and wait in line to get in, or make specific timed online reservations; both are free.

 

You can take also take a free self-guided tour two blocks away of the Bradbury building, with its exposed elevator and atrium grillwork that has been featured in many films, especially Blade Runner. Nearby, City Hall has a free observation deck on the 26^th floor with spectacular views of the new downtown. The familiar looking building has been used as everything from the Daily Planet Building in the Superman TV series to Dragnet. 

 

One of the things you look down on from City Hall is LA’s oldest neighborhood, Olivera Street. Yes, it can be touristy with its colorful Mexican pedestrian street marketplace, but it’s also fun with free mariachis and folk dancing on the weekends and the tours of the oldest house in LA (dating back to 1819) are also free. 

 

If you’re hungry, swing by the Grand Central Market for some seafood, tacos, Thai, ice cream, craft beer – or pretty much whatever else you like, all served up indoors in this 1917 marketplace filled with old neon signs high above aisles lined with 1930s countertops and stools. There’s also a trendy plaza and outdoor cafe at the Market, overlooking the Bunker Hill cable car.  Riding the cable car is only a $1 and worth it for the views.

The LA Conservancy offers a variety walking and self-guide tours of downtown, visiting grand old movie palaces, hotels, film sites, and architecture. Not all of downtown has been gentrified and some of it’s a bit sketchy, but all of it fascinating whether for its new, or faded glamour. On your own, don’t miss the rotunda of the Central Library and the surrounding Maguire Gardens. Much like everything else downtown, there are free docent-led tours of this absolute stunning building.

 

After dark, LA Live (next to the Staples Center and the home of the LA Lakers) comes alive with gigantic video-studded walls lining a large plaza filled with outdoor music, cafes, clubs, bars and the Grammy Museum (which also has a live music venue). You can dine downtown at places like 71Above with its 360-degree views of the city or WP24 by Wolfgang Puck on top of the Ritz Carlton, or at young, popular new places like Bestia, Otium and Bar Ama – all with live music, sports, or symphony within walking distance.

DAY 2 – HOLLYWOOD without a car

What is LA without the movies?  Marilyn Monroe grew up in an orphanage in Hollywood and knew the neighborhood well, writing:  “I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming of being a movie star.’ But I’m not going to worry about them.  I’m dreaming the hardest.” Marilyn’s “city of dreams” and the LA of the film La La Land are easily accessible by public transportation. For most of these places, a car would be hindrance. Here’s how to see Hollywood.

Ride the Subway to Universal Studios

Hop back on the Red Line Metro for nine stops to Universal City. Free outdoor trams meet each metro train and whisk you up the hill to this incredible complex of restaurants, bars, shops and neon that serves as the fun entrance to the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. CityWalk is huge, loud, and touristy, but it’s free to walk around, pedestrian friendly, there’s some amazing neon sculptures and it offers great people watching, especially at twilight when the neon comes on.

City Walk in Hollywood.

If you haven’t been to Universal Studios in a while, it’s been re-invented. There’s still the popular tram-ride through the studio backlot and into films like King Kong, Jaws, and Earthquake. There’s lots of exploding gas trucks and special effects, but there’s also a whole wizarding world of Harry Potter that has been added with Hogwarts Castle, shopping in the quaint village of Hogsmeade, or dining in the snow-capped Three Broomsticks Inn next to the Hog’s Head Pub, which serves, of course, Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice. If you arrive by train, you won’t be paying for a rental car that’s just sitting all day in a paid parking garage.  And go ahead – have another Butterbeer. Afterall, you’re not driving.

 

Walk Hollywood Blvd. 

The old dreadful Hollywood Blvd. where Hugh Grant was arrested for picking up a prostitute is long gone and has been replaced by a more gentrified (but still trashy) version that can be fun and offer some gems in between the tattoo parlors, sex shops, souvenir stores and tiki bars. From downtown, use your TAP card and hop on the Red Line Metro to the Hollywood and Highline stop. Here, you are just a block from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the “Ground Zero” of Hollywood since it opened in 1927 as the world’s most gaudy movie palace. Of course, you have to read the cement signatures and hand and footprints that fill the plaza in front of the theatre, ranging from the “stars” of Star Trek and Star Wars to Judy Garland (who went to high school just down the block at Hollywood High).

 

Closer to home and under feet are 2,400 bronze medallion stars set in the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard and along Vine Street, honoring the legends of the film, television and recording industries. Some are obscure, behind the camera folks, but it’s a rare block where you don’t bounce from one super star to another as you stroll along. Some of the most popular: Marilyn (at 6744 Hollywood); Jack Nicholson and Michael Jackson (6925 Hollywood); and Marlon Brando (1765 Vine). Modern stars pay about $25,000 for the honor of having a star on the street.

Next door is the Dolby Theatre, the annual home of the Academy Awards, and a multi-tiered shopping center with a décor based on sets for D.W. Griffith’s 1916 masterpiece, Intolerance.  Few people today have ever seen or heard of Intolerance, but you will still be impressed, if slightly bewildered, by the 33-foot-high white elephants and gigantic Babylonian columns. In the background, framed by the mall’s grand arch, is the famous “Hollywood” sign. 

And of course, you want to have a drink at the classic Hollywood bar. Musso & Frank Grill (6667 Hollywood) opened in 1919 and is today the same dark wood haven that was familiar to Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart, and Elizabeth Taylor.  Raymond Chandler immortalized the bar by putting it in his noir LA mystery, The Long Goodbye. Step out of the bright California sunshine into this dark oasis served by waiters in red coats and place your cocktail on the same polished wood bar where Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable once rested their martinis.

Dance with the Stars of La La Land at the Observatory 

The prettiest view in LA, recently immortalized in the movie La La Land, is Griffith Observatory, where you can look through a telescope, visit a planetarium, see exhibits on everything from the solar system to earthquakes, and dine at a café overlooking the city and the famous Hollywood sign.  Driving there is a hassle with only a few parking spots that charge $8 an hour. Better, tap your TAP card on the Red Metro Line to Sunset and Vermont station and there, catch the Dash Observatory – a shuttle bus that will whisk you up the mountain for just 50 cents. Want to combine the visit with a hike? You can get off the Dash at the Greek Theatre and hike up (very steep) or better, ride to the Observatory and hike down to the Greek Theatre, where you can pick up a return Dash bus.

 

DAY 3 – THE BEACH without a car

You don’t want a car at the beach and there’s absolutely no reason to have one in LA. From the downtown 7^th Street Metro Station, hop on the Expo Line, which offers direct service to Santa Monica, with the final rail station less than three blocks from the beach and pier and within easy rolling distance of more than a dozen hotels.  Toss your luggage at the hotel, rent a bike, and hit the Strand, a 22-mile long paved bike path that runs along the coast from Santa Monica past Venice Beach, Muscle Beach, Hermosa Beach and all the way to Torrance.

There are sidewalk cafes, beer bars, coffee shops, volleyball games, skate parks, busker musicians, workout equipment, artists, bikinis, murals, roller skaters and California’s best people watching all along the entire route, and short detours bring you to fine dining, breweries, boutiques and shopping in downtown Santa Monica, Main Street and Abbott Kinney Blvd.

Don’t miss walking along the historic canals of Venice Beach, or strolling out on the 3^rd Street Pier – the official western end of Route 66.

 

Next morning when it’s time to go home, tap your transit card for a final $1.25 and board the “Big Blue Bus” in downtown Santa Monica, across the street from the metro station, (Route 3 or even better the Rapid 3) for the fastest direct service to LAX. Of course, traveling on the bus, you might encounter some traffic near the airport from all those idiots racing to turn in their rental cars. But just sit back, enjoy the view, and remember the waves crashing under the boardwalk.

— Story and photos by Rich Grant

 

 

Hungry for more? See how one of our other writers took Rich’s advice to Universal Studios, making the most of it. Stay a little longer in California and travel the Barbary Coast, another article by Rich Grant. While there, don’t forget to check out the Presidio. To fend off the hangries while you’re traveling, nibble a bit of California with this popular recipe for Spiced Walnuts.

 

 

 

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