Originally posted by Shallowford:
Griffith Park and Observatory is a beautiful park with a family friendly science museum. The Hollywood sign is also on the same ridge. A lot of movies have used the observatory -- Terminator 2 and The Rocketeer for example. Great views of the city, interesting architecture and Free!
The Griffith Park Observatory was also famously used in James Dean's 'Rebel Without a Cause' and is the basis for the observatory in 'Planet 51'.
They started remodeling it the week before we moved there and didn't finish until after we left. Big disappointment that we weren't able to visit it again. Remodel is totally finished now though.
You can get a great view of the Hollywood sign from one of the elevated walkways at the mall next to the Mann's Chinese theatre (for some reason, the name of that mall is totally blanking on me -- it's not really a place to go shopping as there are only very expensive shops there, and the Renaissance? Hotel I think.). I, literally, lived 6 blocks from there and it's where we took the subway from (hence the
about the name) but we took our picture with the Hollywood sign in the background from there before we moved out of town. The Hollywood sign itself isn't really a place to "visit" (in fact, it's discouraged), more something you see on the hills.
Annie B. Suggested...
The La Brea Tar Pits, the Getty Center, the Museum of Natural History, the L.A. Zoo, the Aquarium of the Pacific (in Long Beach), the Queen Mary (also in Long Beach).
Right
the Queen Mary ! Duh. Yes, that's much closer to Disneyland than the places I mentioned. It's an old timey cruise ship, now a museum and hotel. If you've ever dreamed of what it would've been like to go on the QE2 or one of the cruise ships they used before flying became the rage, definitely worth a look-see. Plus, if I recall correctly, it was used during WW2 to transport soldiers.
If you head south into San Diego, I would recommend the
San Diego Wild Animal Park . It's much less "zoo like" (no cages), much more wide open spaces. We used to be members and went all the time, when we lived in San Diego. Other bonus, is that it's on the North side of town, just east of Oceanside (the northern most "suburb" of San Diego), so you don't have to deal with San Diego's crazy traffic to go downtown.
LegoLand is also in Carlsbad (just south of Oceanside), but it's more geared for the under 10 set.
Just North of San Diego (or on the south side of Orange County) is an old Mission museum called
San Juan Capistrano . The town is also a nice place to wander through.
I'm not really a beach person. There's an okay beach in Oceanside (see above). I liked the one in Carlsbad and Leucadia (just south of Oceanside) better. I'm not sure about Orange County, but in LA I wasn't all that impressed with the beaches, mostly because I prefer silence and few crowds and city beaches aren't either of those things. Most of the decent ones are on the north side of the city and not what I'd call easily accessible (if one considers the drive there from Anaheim).
Venice Beach is a popular one (also famous for having a gym on the beach, Muscle Beach). It has a boardwalk with shops nearby and is used as the go-to beach for LA in most TV shows and movies set in the area. Basically, if you drive along the Pacific Highway #101, you're driving along the coast and you're bound to come across a beach or two... dozen.
