Hi im looking to drive up to LA and make a day out of it.

What are some cool places to visit?
Where are some good places to eat?

So far on my list are only..

- Wax Museum
- Ripleys believe it or not museum
- chinatown plaza



- Pink's hot dogs
- that korean bbq kart by UCLA from jekkis blog

Juju Cereal Bar for Breakfast
Sprinkles cupcakes for sweet tooth fix

As for eateries, i have to think about that.

I actually went this month, so happy I can pitch in.

Fathers Office - amazing place, if you like burgers you've got to try it. Office Burger is delicious

Palaminos - They have wonderful drink specials the $4 cranberry mojito is awesome. Everything about this place was just right, the mood and feel was great.

ChaCha Chicken - Caribbean food that taste very good

Joses Bernstein - I had a chicken quesadilla here...best I've ever had. This place is legit.

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I feel I should warn you... Pink's is overrated. It's a tourist trap, all the tour busses stop there. You'll literally spend a couple of hours in line for a so-so hot dog.

Originally Posted by Vegan I feel I should warn you... Pink's is overrated. It's a tourist trap, all the tour busses stop there. You'll literally spend a couple of hours in line for a so-so hot dog.

That is horse hockey. Pinks is delicious! Just make sure you get a polish dog and not a normal hot dog. Their nachos onion rings are also mighty delicious!!!

Kogi - the korean bbq/mexican cart should not be on your list. It's pretty expensive considering you can get some decent tacos around LA for way less. Also, what people don't tell you is that, unless you stand around in the streets and wait in line in the truck stop spot before-hand, you will probably have to wait 1-2 hours to get your food. Unless you really like Korean BBQ and really want to see how it taste in a taco/burrito, but if you eat Mexican food for what it is, this is something you can skip.

If you have money to throw down, you could try Pizzeria Mozza -- which might be hard to get a table depending on the date you're going. But that's on the expensive side if you're used to Domino's prices, though its supposedly one of the bets pizzerias in the country. If you like finer dining there are a few other places that are popular, but pricey and hard to get in as well. There are a few steakhouses in Beverly Hills -- I think Lawry's is the cheapest, kinda like House of Prime Rib in SF. I would not recommend eating at the Chinatown -- most of the restaurants there are crap, if you're aiming for authentic chinese food. I would go to Alhambara or Monterey Park instead for something like that, but then, the food in Chinatown might fit your appetite if you're used to american chinese food. (if you don't know the difference, you probably prefer the latter). Diddy Riese is cool for an ice cream sandwich if you're by Westwood, but its not a must visit place in a one day tour.

LA is not like other cities -- everything are pretty spread out and it's pretty difficult to find a good place to eat unelss you're wiliing to throw down some $$. It is pretty hard to make recommendations because of that. Cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, are great places to walk around to visit some place cool place and eat some good food, cheap or expensive. Los Angeles is not one of those cities.



For places to visit, if you like art or architecture, check out the Getty. There is actually two locations for the museum -- the Getty Center and the Getty Villa, which is arguably the best museums here in LA, if you're into art. The two differs though -- I believe the Villa is more into ancient statues/art, where as the Getty Center is more about art that are in the renaissance period on -- but look it up to be sure. You might also want to visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theater, which are right next to each other. You can also try the Santa Monica Pier. Other than these places, I don't know what else to tell you, unless you want to check out a studio, and perhaps watch a taping? Conan?

Originally Posted by blitz6speed That is horse hockey. Pinks is delicious! Just make sure you get a polish dog and not a normal hot dog. Their nachos onion rings are also mighty delicious!!!

Strongly disagree. Not even close to a good hotdog to be found at Pink's. Just an overcooked, greasy piece of junk. You are much better off going to Carney's on Sunset or Ventura.

Originally Posted by geminas01 Kogi - the korean bbq/mexican cart should not be on your list. It's pretty expensive considering you can get some decent tacos around LA for way less. Also, what people don't tell you is that, unless you stand around in the streets and wait in line in the truck stop spot before-hand, you will probably have to wait 1-2 hours to get your food. Unless you really like Korean BBQ and really want to see how it taste in a taco/burrito, but if you eat Mexican food for what it is, this is something you can skip. If you have money to throw down, you could try Pizzeria Mozza -- which might be hard to get a table depending on the date you're going. But that's on the expensive side if you're used to Domino's prices, though its supposedly one of the bets pizzerias in the country. If you like finer dining there are a few other places that are popular, but pricey and hard to get in as well. There are a few steakhouses in Beverly Hills -- I think Lawry's is the cheapest, kinda like House of Prime Rib in SF. I would not recommend eating at the Chinatown -- most of the restaurants there are crap, if you're aiming for authentic chinese food. I would go to Alhambara or Monterey Park instead for something like that, but then, the food in Chinatown might fit your appetite if you're used to american chinese food. (if you don't know the difference, you probably prefer the latter). Diddy Riese is cool for an ice cream sandwich if you're by Westwood, but its not a must visit place in a one day tour. LA is not like other cities -- everything are pretty spread out and it's pretty difficult to find a good place to eat unelss you're wiliing to throw down some $$. It is pretty hard to make recommendations because of that. Cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, are great places to walk around to visit some place cool place and eat some good food, cheap or expensive. Los Angeles is not one of those cities. For places to visit, if you like art or architecture, check out the Getty. There is actually two locations for the museum -- the Getty Center and the Getty Villa, which is arguably the best museums here in LA, if you're into art. The two differs though -- I believe the Villa is more into ancient statues/art, where as the Getty Center is more about art that are in the renaissance period on -- but look it up to be sure. You might also want to visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theater, which are right next to each other. You can also try the Santa Monica Pier. Other than these places, I don't know what else to tell you, unless you want to check out a studio, and perhaps watch a taping? Conan?

As someone who has lived in Los Angeles for the last decade and who actually works part-time as a line cook in the Hollywood area, I would agree strongly with the above. Mozza is one of the few places people who actually work as chefs go when they want a good meal.

Kogi is way overrated. It's a neat gimmick, but not worth waiting in the long lines to get. Lawry's is cool for the old school flair. I also like the Smokehouse in Burbank, right across the street from Warner Bros. Bossa Nova on Sunset and La Brea is good for Brazilian style chicken and steaks. I also agree with Father's Office for a really unique and delicious burger.

I would stay away from the touristy crap like Pink's or Sprinkles or even Pinkberry. All of them are way overrated and not worth your time.

Disneyland (to go to)

well if you aren't afraid of black people or the ghetto, you gotta go to roscoes near hollywood. absolutely amazing

Originally Posted by souljah420 well if you aren't afraid of black people or the ghetto, you gotta go to roscoes near hollywood. absolutely amazing

All you need to know right here.

Roscoe's is NOT in the ghetto.

Originally Posted by Vegan Roscoe's is NOT in the ghetto.

agreed. Well the one on Gower and Sunset anyways. It's across from a TV station. If you think it is ghetto over there, you need to go experience more of LA my friends. I would hit up Roscoe's and bring cash to pay for valet, it's much easier to deal with as parking is impossible around there.

If you can make it to Santa Monica, Buddha's Belly is pretty good too. I''d recommend the garlic fried rice (as simple as it sounds, they just do something amazing to it here and include sweet roasted cloves of garlic in the rice) or the ahi tuna burger with sweet potato fries.

but i will agree about Pink's and the Kogi Tacos. Pink's is overrated and the Kogi tacos are good, but it really isn't that hard to cook some beef with korean bbq stuff and throw it with some cilantro and kimchee into a taco. You can do that at home.

If you're looking for desert, how does an ice cream sandwhich sound? Freshly baked cookies and a scoop of your choice of ice cream = diabetic coma. Look up Diddy Reise.

I only make the trip up to LA from Orange County to either 1. Go clubbing, 2. Clippers game, 3. KOREATOWN FOR KOREAN FOOD.

I guarantee you, you will not find better Korean food anywhere in California. No where. You can't go wrong with any of them actually. I would recommend the Gomtang place that's open 24/7 with the barred windows. Can't think of the name of place off the top of my head.. but yeah, I'll get back to you. Korean mafia eat there sometimes.. but they don't really do anything.

Originally Posted by shinryuu Disneyland (to go to)

Unless it's the purpose of the trip, I wouldn't recommend going to Disneyland. It's expensive even if you have a so.cal residency, and it's not even in L.A...takes 40 mins minimum to get there from downtown.


Roscoe's is another place that is overrated. Expect to play $15-$20 for 2 pieces of chicken + waffles. It's no different than chicken and waffles I've had from Jersey, New York, Atlanta, or Oakland. The waffle is good, but chicken is definitely not the best fried chicken you can get around here. And no, it's not in the ghetto.


K-town is good for Koeran food, though I would say OC's korean food isn't bad either. And go Clippers -- Dumbleavy don't screw it up.

Originally Posted by geminas01 Unless it's the purpose of the trip, I wouldn't recommend going to Disneyland. It's expensive even if you have a so.cal residency, and it's not even in L.A...takes 40 mins minimum to get there from downtown. Roscoe's is another place that is overrated. Expect to play $15-$20 for 2 pieces of chicken + waffles. It's no different than chicken and waffles I've had from Jersey, New York, Atlanta, or Oakland. The waffle is good, but chicken is definitely not the best fried chicken you can get around here. And no, it's not in the ghetto. K-town is good for Koeran food, though I would say OC's korean food isn't bad either. And go Clippers -- Dumbleavy don't screw it up.

Agreed. Roscoe's is another one of those novelty places. The food isn't particularly good, but people like the idea of combining chicken and a waffle, so they keep going back. I would also say that Gardena has some great Korean places, as well as some of the best Japanese food in Los Angeles County.

Pink's is awesome if you enjoy spending $7 on a hot dog. Seriously, I don't care what you put on it - no hot dog is worth $7 unless someone's feeding it to you and it's made of Kobe beef.

Originally Posted by JJSP Pink's is awesome if you enjoy spending $7 on a hot dog. Seriously, I don't care what you put on it - no hot dog is worth $7 unless someone's feeding it to you and it's made of Kobe beef.

I prefer getting my hot dogs from the vendors right out on the street corners. $4 usually for a "Heart Attack". Best stuff to eat right after leaving the club. Yum. I can totally justify the $4 because you get a nice hot link, all the toppings, grilled onions, and bacon bits. So bad.. yet so good.

I don't know, when something is being cooked on a baking sheet with a couple cans of sterno underneath, that's when I start to question whether the health department knows about it.

Originally Posted by bojay1997 Strongly disagree. Not even close to a good hotdog to be found at Pink's. Just an overcooked, greasy piece of junk. You are much better off going to Carney's on Sunset or Ventura.

agreed! go to Carney's way better than pinks.