• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Just moved to LOS ANGELES

I

ibitegirls

Member
What up GAF.

I moved to SO CAL "Southbay" area for contract work and I'm wondering what are the must see locations, attractions, or places that will help me to get a good feel for the city and surrounding area's. I have literally nothing to do on weekends and would like to spend time traveling around the city before my contract is up, but I just don't know where to start LOL
 
I live in Hawthorne so right near you probably. Do you want touristy things or local things?

Manhattan beach is great and non-touristy
Monkish is the best brewery near South Bay
Lots of good stuff in downtown, Korea town, little Tokyo and china town.
Howlin Rays is the best restaurant and worth the 3 hour wait

Sept is our hot month, sorry.
 
mcfrank said:
I live in Hawthorne so right near you probably. Do you want touristy things or local things?

Manhattan beach is great and non-touristy
Monkish is the best brewery near South Bay
Lots of good stuff in downtown, Korea town, little Tokyo and china town.
Howlin Rays is the best restaurant and worth the 3 hour wait
Click to expand...

i hate touristy, and tourist traps. haha
 
Have fun. When I moved to the US I moved to LA, met some cool people, had a blast. Always have a special place in my heart. Too bad Ben Frank's closed.
 
ibitegirls said:
i hate touristy, and tourist traps. haha
Click to expand...

Avoid Hollywood then, it sucks. Manhattan beach is better than Santa Monica pier.

Do go to grand central market, Griffith observatory, and most places seen in LA LA Land. It is kind of a good locals guide to the best places in the date montage.
 
I'm moving to LA in two months :-o ...so I'm also gonna take an interest in this thread lol.

Also, September is your hot month?

I'm moving from Tempe, AZ, we're still in our hot... half-year til like mid-October lol
 
roknin said:
I'm moving to LA in two months :-o ...so I'm also gonna take an interest in this thread lol.

Also, September is your hot month?

I'm moving from Tempe, AZ, we're still in our hot... half-year til like mid-October lol
Click to expand...

Yeah last week in august and most of sept is our hottest time of year. Rest of the time is pretty pleasant as long as you are near the coast.
 
Welcome to the GOAT city OP. Shit, i don't even know where to tell you to start, but definitely go to Venice beach just to walk around or go to Koreatown if KBBQ is your thing. Go to Runyon if you like hikes. Griffith observatory is cool too. Also, Diddy Riese if you like ice cream.
 
Whenever I am in LA I am at Manhattan Beach... I like this spot called the strand house right on the water.
 
Dodgers games are good. Good opportunities for NFL games and USC or ucla games if you care about that. In LA county, we hate the angels so make sure you get on board with that.
 
There's so much to do and experience, if you're willing to go outside of gentrified areas to do em. This place is massive. And I think what fucks with most people when they are here is that they don't have a partner in crime to dive deep for a good while into the communities.
But first, it's hot as fuck. Take care of that. lol
 
ibitegirls said:
Nature, water activities related, sports, music, movies...

foods: pasta, pizza, Mexican, Chinese, fried food



my apartment is 79 degrees and only window fan is keeping me from having heat stroke. so yess
Click to expand...


79? This made me chuckle :) I live around San Antonio and my house is kept at 76. I know I know different parts of country but still funny :)
 
I think Griffith Park is extraordinary. Climb to the top of Mount Hollywood in the park! It's a great place to see a sunset. If you're still here in the winter, Griffith is extra nice because stuff will be green from the extra rain that happens in the winter season.

The beaches are all good, from south bay to Malibu, IMO. I don't do any water activities but I like the beaches for a walk and some cool air. Nice sunsets, too.

It's a small attraction (you'll be done with it in 30 minutes) but I think the La Brea Tar Pits are neat. Just straight up pools of tar in the ground! And a little museum with ice-age fossils. It's also right next door to LACMA, a more substantial museum experience :)

The 82 is a fun "barcade" in downtown LA. It has lots of old arcade machines and alcohol. If you just want to play games and drink somewhere else, it's close to Angel City Brewery, if you're into craft beer. It's also close to the Little Tokyo neighborhood which I KNOW has some great places but unfortunately the only time I've ever spent in Little Tokyo I got blasted and don't remember any of the specific places I went. It was a good time, though!
 
If you have a weekend opportunity I would recommend driving up PCH from LA as far as you can. Take some time to stop and meander along the way.

Yelp is your friend. There's so so much food out here, though some of its spread out. Best dim sum is in Monterey park. Find a Zankou chicken for shawarma. You can find good Mexican food everywhere. Yelp "king taco" and see what kinda results come up near you.


Hollywood is chill. Just not the touristy shit. If you like movies cinespia does fun flicks in a Hollywood cemetery for the summer. http://cinespia.ticketfly.com

Hit up San Diego for a weekend too
 
- The Comedy Store/Improv/UCB (ideally Franklin)
- Runyon Canyon at sunrise
- Wisdom Tree Hike
- Malibu Wines
- Grab a drink at The Frolic Room before a show at the Pantages
- check out Footsies on Prince only Thursday
- Bike the path through Santa Monica
- eat Sugar Fish sushi
- check out the Hollywood Junkyard. Haggle with the owner for an old Hollywood prop.
- paddle boat Silver Lake
- check out the old time machine mart in Echo Park
- get some records at Amoeba Music
- Drive the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible to Santa Barbara
- Get drunk at The Viper Room/Rainbow Room/Whiskey a Go Go on Sunset Strip
- Go to The Abbey in West Hollywood to experience a gay bar
- Grand Central Market DTLA
- Warch an eSports competition in Santa Monica
- See a movie in Hollywood Forever Cemetary
- Warner Bros. Movie Tour
- Take the train from Union Station to San Diego
- Check out the Watts Towers
- Have a Martini and a Steak in Johnny Depps booth at Musso and Franks
- Take a photo at the Urban Lights and post it on your Instagram
- drive up and down the side streets of Beverly Hills/Bel Air/Brentwood and see how the 1% live
- Helicopter over the Hollywood Hills
- check out Univeral Citywalk to see the most touristy place of all time. Get a Voodoo Dougnut and hit the AMC for amazing reclining chair movie viewing experience
- Find a Q&A movie prescreening at the Pico on Wilshire. Ask a question to a famous person.
- Get the Uga Bugga drink at the Tiki Ti that requires the whole bar sing and yell at you
- La Brea Tar pits if you're into that
- Stroll through Century City on a weekday at lunch to see all the agencies schmooze their clients
- Wander through Forest Lawn Memorial Park
- The Broad
- Go to a warehouse party in Chinatown and do Molly until 5AM
- Bungalow in Santa Monica
- People watch on Hollywood Blvd (and explore the amazing dive bars nearby)
- Boutique shop on Melrose
- Bar hop Old Town in Pasadena with a Tinder date
- put $200 on Santa Clarita Horse Races.
- Boutique shop on Abbott Kinney
- Little Dom's in Los Feliz
- Bar 82 in Arts District
- Attend Catcon or go to the Car Cafe in West Hollywood
- Hit Karaoke Bar in Little Tokyo or Koreatown
- Korean BBQ in Koreatown
- Queen Mary on Halloween in Long Beach
- Bar crawl Hermosa/Redondo/Manhatten/Venice
- Rent a boat in Marina Del Ray
- Watch a script reading at LACMA
- See a Disney movie at El Capitan Theater in Hollywood
- Ear osyerts at The Anchor in Venice
- Have a drink on a rooftop downtown (Perch, Ace Hotel, The Standard)
- Jumbo's Clown Room for burlesque / Body Shop or Seventh Veil for full nude strip clubs
- Sneak into a pool party at the Waldorf or The W
- Uber to Vegas at bar close
- Smoke weed on Venice Boardwalk
- Drop acid in Joshua Tree
- Find your way into The Magic Castle for the love of god its amazing
- Enter No Vacancy through the trap door under the bed of a naked woman
- Wander Santa Monica Blvd when they shut it down for Pride or Halloween
- Go see a Dodgers game
- Go see a show at The Greek
- Go see a show at the Hollywood Bowl
- Go see a show at the Palladium
- Go see a show at the Echoplex
- Buy a book at The Last Bookstore
- Attend E3 at the Convention Center
- See a King's game
- See a Rams game
- Sneak into a corporate party at the Roosevelt Hotel. Or go to Beachera Madhouse when it finally reopens inside.
- Tailgate a USC football game (ideally vs. UCLA, Stanford, or Notre Dame)
- Drop in on a UCLA liberal arts lecture and ask a question to a professor
- Go roller skating in Burbank at the annual Harry Potter themed show
- Go to the annual showing of The Big Lewbowski Fest at The Wiltern on Friday and get wasted at the bowling alley in South Central on Saturday
- Drive Mulholland Drive at sunset
- Hit up Fairfax High School Flea Market
- Get a beer and graze the food at The Grove Farmers Market
- Take a Red Bus Tour or a cheesy Hollywood Celebrity Tour around the city. Get high or drunk before.
- find a swingers event and just observe the LA kinky
- Hit up Chateau Marimont
- eat In-n-out even if it's overrated
- eat Howling Rayes even if it's overrated
- eat Eggslut even if it's overrated
- go to the Star Wars bar on Hollywood Blvd.
- Hit an extremely high end restaurant on Rodeo Drive
- Check out the Silent Movie Theater or Quinten Tarantino's movie theater
- Go to Pig n Whistle or The Ackbar for amateur comedy night and witness what struggling in LA really is.
- Be an extra on a film set
- Go see Jimmy Kimmel Live, or Conan Live, or Ellen Live

Explore the fuck out of every nook and cranny of this town. It's amazing.
 
Damn Dr. feel good, you've done it all.
How did you get into the Magic Castle? I've been wanting to go.


Don't forget to add checking out a Chargers game now that they're in L.A.

Probably mentioned but check out Manhattan Beach
 
SoldierOfLight said:
Damn Dr. feel good, you've done it all.
How did you get into the Magic Castle? I've been wanting to go.


Don't forget to add checking out a Chargers game now that they're in L.A.

Probably mentioned but check out Manhattan Beach
Click to expand...

Never heard about that before, but now I desperately need to find a way in next June, when I will be there for E3 (all the way from Italy).
 
To add to that big list:

-Go to good times at Davey Wayne's for a neat speakeasy type of experience
-go to bar 71 or whatever it's called at the top of the US bank building and take in the beautiful view of the city.
-get some great ramen at Daikokuya or Shin-sen-gumi. Two personal favorites.
-grab a beer with orangegrayblue at the brickyard if you're ever in North Hollywood! (are gaf meetups still a thing? We should organize another for LA).
 
OrangeGrayBlue said:
To add to that big list:

-Go to good times at Davey Wayne's for a neat speakeasy type of experience
-go to bar 71 or whatever it's called at the top of the US bank building and take in the beautiful view of the city.
-get some great ramen at Daikokuya or Shin-sen-gumi. Two personal favorites.
-grab a beer with orangegrayblue at the brickyard if you're ever in North Hollywood! (are gaf meetups still a thing? We should organize another for LA).
Click to expand...

I second this. Amazing and well worth the wait.
 
Need more info, OP. How old are you? Single? Married? Dating? White? Male? Other? Makes a huge difference. I'm in Torrance and frankly, South Bay is more family-oriented. Go to the Westside and over the hill for more . Depends on what you're into. The list above is pretty dang comprehensive.
 
BlackBanditSho said:
Need more info, OP. How old are you? Single? Married? Dating? White? Male? Other? Makes a huge difference. I'm in Torrance and frankly, South Bay is more family-oriented. Go to the Westside and over the hill for more . Depends on what you're into. The list above is pretty dang comprehensive.
Click to expand...

Why does it matter if the OP is white or not? I didn't take any offense to the question btw, just curious as to why it matters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Poll
Would you move to another place just to save $50?
33
743
Idleyes replied
Just turned 40, what to know?
2
69
1K
GnomeChimpsky replied
  • Poll
2024 MLB World Series: New York Yankees vs Los Angeles Dodgers
2 3 4
157
8K
diffusionx replied
Wife Just Got Laid Off 😔
2
97
2K
Aesius replied
Black Metal Without Distortion Is Just Surf Rock
Cringe 
21
701
Grenseal replied
Top Bottom