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Travel to San Bernadino & LA area, What to Do and what to Avoid!?

Gillbot

Gillbot

Lifer
I'll be flying into Ontario, CA, USA sunday for a buisness trip week of the 5th. What areas should I avoid and what is a MUST see? I'll have the wife in tow so give me some good ideas!
 
Originally posted by: everman
You could go to Universal Studios if you have a full day to spend.
Avoid the ghetto.
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I thought avoiding the ghetto was obvious but since i'm not from there, what areas are considered ghetto!
 
Eh, if you're landing in Ontario you're not really in LA. Far from the City of LA at least. No place to really avoid because it's just semi-desert area suburbs. Nothing much to do out there. Head west, don't go to downtown Los Angeles at night, and don't plan on driving anytime between 3pm and 8pm unless you really want the LA experience, traffic and all.
 
Yea, Ontario is not SE L.A. that's like more East/NE and it's way way out there almost 100 miles. It'd take you a good 45 minutes+ to get into L.A. proper, of which you have a plethora of things to see/do.

Edit: About going into downtown l.a. at night - I live in downtown and it's not as bad as people make it to be. Plenty of bars are around with people, and it's not that desolate until 11pm+. Skid row begins around main and is east of that, so anything west isn't bad. But as for sightseeing there isn't much unless you want to stop by Disney Hall or something.
 
try heading down to the anaheim area if you have time lots to do, disneyland, knotts, wax museum, medievil times etc.
 
Originally posted by: abaez
Yea, Ontario is not SE L.A. that's like more East/NE and it's way way out there almost 100 miles. It'd take you a good 45 minutes+ to get into L.A. proper, of which you have a plethora of things to see/do.

Edit: About going into downtown l.a. at night - I live in downtown and it's not as bad as people make it to be. Plenty of bars are around with people, and it's not that desolate until 11pm+. Skid row begins around main and is east of that, so anything west isn't bad. But as for sightseeing there isn't much unless you want to stop by Disney Hall or something.
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No, it's about 50 miles from hollywood. Just do a google maps from ONT (that's the airport) to universal studios (my suggestion). Of course there's tons of other stuff to do, lots of restaurants etc.
 
Originally posted by: abaez
Yea, Ontario is not SE L.A. that's like more East/NE and it's way way out there almost 100 miles. It'd take you a good 45 minutes+ to get into L.A. proper, of which you have a plethora of things to see/do.

Edit: About going into downtown l.a. at night - I live in downtown and it's not as bad as people make it to be. Plenty of bars are around with people, and it's not that desolate until 11pm+. Skid row begins around main and is east of that, so anything west isn't bad. But as for sightseeing there isn't much unless you want to stop by Disney Hall or something.
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Originally posted by: Dragnov
Eh, if you're landing in Ontario you're not really in LA. Far from the City of LA at least. No place to really avoid because it's just semi-desert area suburbs. Nothing much to do out there. Head west, don't go to downtown Los Angeles at night, and don't plan on driving anytime between 3pm and 8pm unless you really want the LA experience, traffic and all.
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I know it's not really LA but I thought that might get more responses. Guess not.

As for downtown, The wife wants to go just because. We're east coasters so how often do we get to travel that way on someone else's dime. 😉 I'm just looking for the main things to avoid and the things we "must do" before or short trip ends. Never know when we'll get the chance to come back, if we even want to! 😉

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Will you have a car?
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Yes

I have been thinking about making a trip over to vegas too just because we'll be so close. (As opposed to coming from Ohio anyway) Kinda kill the LA and Vegas bird in one trip.
 
Originally posted by: Gillbot
Originally posted by: Skeeedunt
I'd start by avoiding Ontario and the rest of the Inland Empire.
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Can't. My work is in Rancho Cucamonga so i'm gonna have to be in that area.
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I was mostly kidding. Sort of. I just looked at a map and Ontario is further West than I remember. Just stay the hell out of San Bernardino and the rest of the ghetto areas. I think Ontario has a huge mall. That's all I got for ya.
 
Originally posted by: abaez
Yea, Ontario is not SE L.A. that's like more East/NE and it's way way out there almost 100 miles. It'd take you a good 45 minutes+ to get into L.A. proper, of which you have a plethora of things to see/do.

Edit: About going into downtown l.a. at night - I live in downtown and it's not as bad as people make it to be. Plenty of bars are around with people, and it's not that desolate until 11pm+. Skid row begins around main and is east of that, so anything west isn't bad. But as for sightseeing there isn't much unless you want to stop by Disney Hall or something.
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Where are the ok and not ok places to go in LA itself?
 
Originally posted by: abaez
Yea, Ontario is not SE L.A. that's like more East/NE and it's way way out there almost 100 miles. It'd take you a good 45 minutes+ to get into L.A. proper, of which you have a plethora of things to see/do.

Edit: About going into downtown l.a. at night - I live in downtown and it's not as bad as people make it to be. Plenty of bars are around with people, and it's not that desolate until 11pm+. Skid row begins around main and is east of that, so anything west isn't bad. But as for sightseeing there isn't much unless you want to stop by Disney Hall or something.
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Exactly. Plus, Richmond and Oakland got a more dangerous rating than Compton =)
 
If you're willing to go to Vegas, what about Disneyland? If you've never been there then I'd say it's worth it. Six Flags isn't far either, a great park if you like all kinds of coasters.
 
We thought about disney but we'll probably pass. Probably won't do vegas due to lack of time.

How's LA on Sunday? We may head over there when we get in sunday just to say we did.
 
Here's a site that shows some interesting places to go here in LA County...Text

I had some friends come in fm Texas last 4th of July and they wanted to see the Chinese Mann Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Not too exciting but at least you can say you've seen it personally. 🙂

They wanted to go to Beverly Hills too specifically the famous Rodeo Drive. Nice place but too expensive for my taste and wallet.🙂

You can end your Sunday tour at the Old Farmer's Market now joined by The Grove. However, on Sundays, they close early at 7:00PM and 8:00 PM respectively.

One problem...no mass transit to go to these places. You have to rent a car.

Enjoy your stay and driving experience here in LALA Land.😉
 
I work in Ontario and there isn't much touristy stuff to do in the Inland Empire. In Rancho the Victoria Gardens mall has good restaurants and Ontario Mills mall has lots of movie screens. If you do drive into LA/OC avoid rush hour traffic during the week (6-9am and 3-6pm). Here's some things you could do:

Santa Monica pier
Walk around Hollywood
The Getty art museum
Walk around Pasadena
Visit an Orange County beach (Laguna Beach is nice)
 
Originally posted by: Dunbar
I work in Ontario and there isn't much touristy stuff to do in the Inland Empire. In Rancho the Victoria Gardens mall has good restaurants and Ontario Mills mall has lots of movie screens. If you do drive into LA/OC avoid rush hour traffic during the week (6-9am and 3-6pm). Here's some things you could do:

Santa Monica pier
Walk around Hollywood
The Getty art museum
Walk around Pasadena
Visit an Orange County beach (Laguna Beach is nice)
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I'll have a rental so I can travel.

Excellent suggestions! Like I said, we are just looking for guidance on where to avoid and the best times to visit the MUST Do's in our short time there.
 
Ontario airport is w-a-y out there far from LA. It's not just the miles, but the driving time.

Most of the good stuff in LA is on its west side.

East LA is ghetto, miserably hot, smoggy. It's basically Mexico in a continuous band from downtown LA for about 40 or 50 miles or more toward the east past Whittier, La Habra, Pomona, and further east. I do not exaggerate.

South Central LA is ghetto too. That's where the race riots happen. LA Colosseum & points south for about 30 miles until Long Beach.

The San Fernando Valley area of LA is hotter 'n hades & the smog hangs in there this time of year. But not too bad there in winter.

From Ontario you'd probably be happier going down into the Orange County area. That's where a lot of LA people go to escape LA.

Irvine, Laguna Beach is especially pleasant, Newport Beach, Balboa Island. World class shopping & entertainment, restaurants, universities, etc. Everything's newer, nicer, cleaner and more wide-open than in LA.

Here's a loop that'll tour you through the best of LA:

On the LA west side take UCLA as your central reference point.

All scrunched together you have
Beverly Hills across the east side of UCLA,,
UCLA,
Bel Air across the north edge of UCLA,
Brentwood to the west side of UCLA ,
Santa Monica..

There's the fantastic
Getty Museum
free. You must try to visit. It's the wealthiest museum in the entire world and is really special to see, both for its unmatched collection and its amazing architecture. The one atop the mountain over Brentwood (just west of UCLA) is new (<-this one), the other smaller one in Malibu is cool, built as a replica of an ancient wealthy villa found under Mt. Vesuvius lava. Free.

From there continue driving west on out Sunset Blvd. to the beach.

Stop at the
SRF Lake Shrine
nd spend an hour walking around the lake just before Sunset meets the beach. Some cult owns it but anyone can go in free and enjoy the place. I used to visit there sometimes when I got too frazzled in grad school. I always left there feeling deeply peaceful, calmed. It's beautiful, and free.

Continue on Sunset a few hundred feet past Lake Shrine to dinner at Gladstones
where you can eat on the patio above the beach watching the waves. A little bit expensive but worth it.

Or the other Getty Museum in Malibu is just a mile up PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy) from Gladstones.

Along the south-east corner of the Santa Monica area is a fun night entertainment place called
McCabes.
The top players hit that intimate fun place.

Loop ends here.

Other:

To the east of Beverly Hills is an interesting day-visit place called
La Brea Tar Pits
worth 2 hours seeing the fossils of ancient animals still being recovered & displayed there.

To the north is
Griffith Park
(the big dry-looking mountain in the center of LA) where you can see the Griffith Observatory & Science Museum where you push buttons, pull levers, etc., LA Zoo, LA Railroad Museum, LA Cowboy Museum, etc.

Up on the east side of Pasadena is
the famous Cal Tech University,
and just further east is
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
That's really spectacular, I love that place, but late February is the time to go (flowers blooming) and it's pretty hot there to enjoy in summers.

You already know the standard tourist stuff like Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios, Raging Waters, Catalina Island, etc. but that's out of LA proper.
LA Dodgers.
LA Galaxy & bend it Beckham Posh Spice
LA Angels
LA Lakers
LA Kings

Old thread 1

Old thread 2

A useful reference for mileage
 
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