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

[Gillbot]

Excellent advice scott, thanks VERY much!!

In my research I have seen that I must go through LA to get to the good stuff on the other side. How is Western LA and LA proper in a sunday? We may need to check out the majority of our sights like the Hollywood sign and Rodeo on Sunday to avoid the weekly rushour, if that's even worth it.

 

[shopbruin]

hollywood sign = won't be that crowded. it's a tourist site, so there are tourists swarming this area any time of the year. if you go early, you won't hit traffic. if you want to go to griffith observatory however, you must make reservations. i think the one time i've been to see the hollywood sign, i went up to griffith park before they reopened.

HOWEVER, if you are just going to go to hollywood to see the chinese theater, in the back of hollywood and highland (the mall) near CPK, there is a little "viewing area" and you can see the hollywood sign and take pictures of it. you can also go to the walkways and take pictures from up there also. in front of the chinese theaters, there are a bunch of people dressed up as random characters - if you're going to take a picture with them, make sure you have a few dollar bills ready, because they're pretty aggressive about getting their tips.

rodeo, on a sunday, i think you'll want to get there before 5pm. i think a lot of the stores will be closed by six i believe. there is still traffic in the area, but it's not as bad as the weekdays. (i try to avoid wilshire around rodeo as much as possible, mostly due to tourists and crappy drivers.)

 

[AVAFREAK182]

Anaheim is great!

 

[Gillbot]

We made the trek over. It wasn't that bad and not as crowded as I thought. Next we'll head south and see what we run into there.

Any ideas as to what we can do on weekdays without hitting gobs of traffic?

 

[Ophir]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
We made the trek over. It wasn't that bad and not as crowded as I thought. Next we'll head south and see what we run into there.

Any ideas as to what we can do on weekdays without hitting gobs of traffic?

Edit - Most of the information below was off the top of my head, and did not factor in that things are actually much further away from each other than I remember them. I thought Rancho Cucamonga was closer to Riverside. For reference, Temecula, Arrowhead are 50+ miles away; Palm Springs is 75 miles away. Sorry I'm not more familiar with the Ontario area.

South of Rancho Cucamonga is Temecula, which I haven't been to but has a growing wine industry, a casino, and good golf. There is, of course the Orange County coast (Newport Beach, Balboa Island, and Laguna Beach) that should not be missed but is a long drive out during the weekday rush. You'd be better served heading there early in the morning on the weekend. Other areas in OC are the Block of Orange and Angels Stadium (they're about a mile from each other). The Angels play the Red Sox this week and there still might be tickets. The Block is nice for after-hours with good, fun restaurants, but it is basically a nicer, open-air version of the Ontario Mills Mall.

I grew up in the Anaheim/Fullerton area and although there are some nice spots, few really merit the 30-45min drive.

Other alternatives:

You could head east to Palm Springs. My preference would be the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and do a little hiking and relaxing. Palm Springs is also well known for the golf, day spas, and gambling.

You could head north into the mountains to Lake Arrowhead. I haven't been there in 10+ years but I remember it being very quaint and pleasant.

 

[Ophir]

I just thought of another thing, you could also head to the Dana Point area. Its a small town on the coast that has some great restaurants and the sort of nice little shops which women seem to love. It's 30+ miles, but you may be able to skirt traffic. Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with the 15 (I15 South for you non-Californians) on weekdays so YMMV (literally). It's worth it to see the beautiful coast, and enjoy the good food and mild weather.

 

[Gillbot]

How bad is it to get to Long Beach after 3pm? Are there any side ways to get to that area? There are a couple of things i'd like to see there but I don't get out of work until 3pm.

 

[axelfox]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
How bad is it to get to Long Beach after 3pm? Are there any side ways to get to that area? There are a couple of things i'd like to see there but I don't get out of work until 3pm.

You can always take the Blue Line Metro Line to Long Beach.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
How bad is it to get to Long Beach after 3pm? Are there any side ways to get to that area? There are a couple of things i'd like to see there but I don't get out of work until 3pm.

hahahahahaha

I see a 2.5 hour commute in your near future

 

[Gillbot]

I'll just skip it if it's that bad. We don't have enough time out here to do EVERYTHING. We are just trying to get to as much as we can in our short trip. Unfortunately only being here till thursday and me working 7am to 3pm, all we can do is figure out where to go after 3pm on weekdays.

 

[Mursilis]

If you're into aviation, there's a neat air museum in Chino, which should be close, if I remember my SoCal geography correctly. It's called Planes of Fame. Link

 

[FallenHero]

I suggest you avoid SE LA.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: FallenHero
I suggest you avoid SE LA.

Silly, i'm already here and it's not that bad. Besides, I guess locals do nit consider the Rancho Cucamonga area to be SE LA.

 

[Dunbar]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
How bad is it to get to Long Beach after 3pm? Are there any side ways to get to that area? There are a couple of things i'd like to see there but I don't get out of work until 3pm.

Shouldn't be too bad since you'll be going opposite traffic, but probably still take close to 1.5 hours. I'd take the 10 or 210 over to the 605 or 710, stay off the 91. I hope you stay for dinner so you avoid the traffic coming back.

 

[Kadarin]

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

I'd probably avoid San Bernardino. There's nothing worth seeing or doing there.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Dunbar

Originally posted by: Gillbot
How bad is it to get to Long Beach after 3pm? Are there any side ways to get to that area? There are a couple of things i'd like to see there but I don't get out of work until 3pm.

Shouldn't be too bad since you'll be going opposite traffic, but probably still take close to 1.5 hours. I'd take the 10 or 210 over to the 605 or 710, stay off the 91. I hope you stay for dinner so you avoid the traffic coming back.

Took us about 1.5 hours or so. Wasn't too terrible really. We had fun and decided to stay for dinner while we were there. Hung out at Sunset Beach a little too. We took the 10 to the 605 to the 105. We had to make a pit stop at South Gate, then we took the 105 to the 710 into Long Beach and ran around down there for a while.

Originally posted by: Kadarin

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

I'd probably avoid San Bernardino. There's nothing worth seeing or doing there.

We are staying in Ontario, Ca, USA. We haven't bothered to go to San Bernadino at all.

 

[WildHorse]

Beware that big sign

 

[Gillbot]

Lol!

I think we got in nearly everything we wanted to see. We checked out the chinese theater, hollywood sign, rodeo, long beach and a few other areas. Overall a good trip. Thanks to those that gave us ideas!!

 

[Gillbot]

Well, Guess I'll be going back for another week but this time i'll be solo!

 

[OS]

you can go to huntington library if you like botantical gardens/museum. There is also an arboretum near pasadena. While you are around there you can walk through old town pasadena.

Either of the Ghetty museums are also nice, but they next to the beach in west LA which is far. While you are there you can stop by 3rd street santa monica.

In RC itself you can go shopping at victoria gardens.

you can use the LA murder map for places to avoid

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/homicidemap/

 

[Gillbot]

What is the best way to get over from Ontario to the Hollywood area after 3pm?

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: Juno

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Avoid wearing red or dark blue.

:Q

That's the Bay Area. The gang came from SJ.

the bloods and crypts have a strong hold in LA as well.


Things to Do:
6 flags or Disneyland maybe?
Beach (santa monica and venice are both good experiances)
Santa Monica Pier
Eat at Pinks in Hollywood
Hit up a Hollywood/Sunset club (the culture is unmatched)


What not to do:
get on the 101 during rush hour
get on the 405 during rush hour

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Kadarin

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

I'd probably avoid San Bernardino. There's nothing worth seeing or doing there.

100% true. San Bernardino is the land of stucco and tract housing, nothing more.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
What is the best way to get over from Ontario to the Hollywood area after 3pm?

i don't think you can really win no matter what. The straightest way is to take the 10 fwy all the way through but it's always a crapshoot.

you can use sigalert.com to check traffic before you leave.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: Gillbot
What is the best way to get over from Ontario to the Hollywood area after 3pm?

i don't think you can really win no matter what. The straightest way is to take the 10 fwy all the way through but it's always a crapshoot.

you can use sigalert.com to check traffic before you leave.

How reliable is Google traffic? I know i'm gonna hit a mess on the way, I just want to know the best route and/or time to go after 3pm.