hacker-pschorr

The plans have been finalized:

Saturday February 11th arrive in Yuma AZ around 2PM whatever time zone Yuma is in

Drive straight to Dan Diego

Monday February 13th drive to San Felipe Mexico

Thursday February 16th drive to L.A. from San Felipe - arrive around 9PM is the plan

So, if you are in the area and want to meet for drinks / dinner, whatever let me know

I have the L.A. hotel choices narrowed down to these - Any advice or info on any of these is appreciated.

928ntslow

Your selection is spread all over the Los Angeless area. Furthest 2 apart could be an hour...on a good day! You have chosen the Marina, the airport, Downtown, West L.A and Hollywood. I am familiar with several of these hotels and must say that they all offer something different and are affected by their surroundings. You have to look at a map and decide what you actually want to do to make the hotel your central point. If you are just winging it, you are going to lose out on something somewhere.

If I had to choose, the marina is real nice and peaceful with wonderful places to eat, but certainly not centralized. The quietest place on the list. The Biltmore is an awesome historical hotel by the convention center....just not a damn thing to do in downtown L.A. The Roosevelt reaks with Hollywood history and you are right in the mix in Hollywood....that may or may not be a good thing! Chambelain seems to be (or used to be) a see and be seen hotel in the sheekness of Hollywood youth crowd. The ones on Century Blvd are all by the airport and are good if you need to get out of town real quick...hope you like jet noise. The ones in Century City (i.e. Ave of the Stars)...yawnnnn.
West Hollywood is trendy, but has a large non heterosexual community...it's a crap shoot there. Beverly Hills, you have to watch out because some places are just in the zip code and are far from what you would expect. If you are going to stay in Beverly Hills, you need to be on Wilshire in the 90210 zip...and it ain't cheap!

Hope this narrows it down for you. Do try to have an idea of what you want to do out here. L.A is an area/city that is so far spread out in things to see that you can drive 50+ mile to get from one side to the other.

Tell me again what night you want to have dinner. I will set up a place and put the word out to folks in the surrounding areas.

Randy V

Come on up to my place on Sunday the 12th for cocktails and lunch if that works for you. PM me and we'll work out the details.

hacker-pschorr

Keith,
As far as dinner goes we will plan around your schedule. Thursday would be a bad choice in case we get stuck in traffic between San Diego and L.A. I would hate to hold everyone up.

I did a search for west hollywood in Expedia, this is the best of the list. Lorelei wants to hit a trendy club, other than that she does not care. I want to:
Visit the observatory from Rebel Without a Cause
Visit the Jazz club from Collateral (I have the name / address somewhere around here)
Drive the entire length of Mulholland Drive (only did about half of it last time)

With only a couple of days, not sure what to all look forward to. I am still amazed how much ground I covered in three days when I was there in December.

I just found two screaming deals on hotwire:
Los Angeles (Downtown) Westin Bonaventure for $61 per night
Beverly Hilton for $160 per night.
The Westin looks like an awesome hotel, but like you said, not much to do in downtown LA.

I expect we will spend a lot of time just driving around exploring, this is what we do. Find something cool, stop & check it out. I hit Universal City when I was there, I see no need to go back. I'm not much for "tourist" type spots. The drive up the mountain in December was the highlight of my trip.

Deb

Plse check for PM

928ntslow

Hollywood sounds like the ticket for you guys. It is in the middle of all you mention with the streets of Hollywood out your front door. There are some smokin' clubs on the strip. You just have to narrow down what kind of scene you want! No tellin WHO you will run into on the strip(Sunset Blvd).
Friday traffic around LA blows, so it would be a better chance of getting folks out on a Saturday night for dinner. It doesn't matter to me since I work for myself, but others who "work for the man", may have an issue with getting out of work at 5PM or 6PM on a Friday in LA, going home to change only to jump back in traffic to head to where everyone is partying.

Let's see what develops by this weekend.

docmirror

I don't know why you discounted the Renaissance on Hollywood & Highland. It's pretty nice for under $200/nite for a penthouse room. I don't get any commission on the deal, but I like it. I'll be in LA next week, flying out on Fri 17th day. If you have time, we can get together thur, but you may be back late. I'll PM you contact info. Have a good time, looks like excellent weather. I'll be staying in Palos Verdes this trip, but I'll be around Hollywood for much of the days.

If you want a VIP tour of Warner Bros studios, I can help arrange it. they are currently filming Invasion, Cold Case, Two and half men, A couple of movies and Gilmore girls(drooooollll). No guarantee of meeting any stars, but it's a probability.

Doc

Bill51sdr

Well on Saturday the 11th, Derek 86.5, BdOnoldsOn, The Stig (maybe) and I will be in the midst of removing Derek's S/C and will probably be in the mood to blow off some steam that evening. Let us know if you feel like getting together that night along with any other listers in the area you come in contact with.

Chazz

You have a lot of driving in your schedule and, as Keith pointed out above, you have to be careful to avoid rush hour jams. There is pretty decent real time traffic information for Los Angeles and San Diego counties on line at www.dot.ca.gov/traffic which you may want to sample before you leave or you can check out as you travel if you are bringing a portable.

BC

Also, www.sigalert.com Both LA and San Diego. Red means bad.

928SS

guess strip clubs are out or the airport area would be good....not that I'd really know...

bonadventure is nice... if you are high enough it's quiet, and the rotating resturant is cool... good central location - not bad traffic on a weekend, but weekdays is wall to wall cars and people... not too far from hollywood, shopping, etc...

the musieum in sylmar is very cool, and not far from mulholland/pch/westside.. so maybe a sat. am meet at the musium could be a fun start for that mulholland/pch tour, end up in MDR or santa monica area for din/din - lots of great food/sharksters there... maybe plan for another day doing the south/downtown parts to avoid bouncing around too much...

you can also rent some pretty cool cars in la too - vettes, vipers, hummers, late model porsches... look around the beverly hills/century city area, IIRC... prepare for a warm weekend in town, been 80's in the valleys this week... but in the 60's and windy in the local mountians

I could probalby get away on a sat or sun. to play.... got a 5th grade project to help with eventually this weekend, so a hangover might be a good prep exercise

also be a good excuse to get the rust off my brakes and cyls

hacker-pschorr

Lorelei may suprise you

928SS

probably had enough surprises from women at this point/still recovering/trying to forget the last 20yrs of them - she's all yours!!

since you are staying in century city - there are plenty of clubs that you can be "surprised" at in west hollywood just watch your *** (so to speak) hehehe...

928ntslow

Rob...you say that from experience?

LOL..I have to admit...if someone ever wants to go to the best party on the west coast, be at San Vincente and Santa Monica Blvds on Halloween night. It is nothing short of INSANE!!!!!!!! Times Square on New Years eve does NOT hold a candle to this...and I have been to both!

...and btw, the strip joints are called "Gentlemans Clubs" out here.

hacker-pschorr

How many brides do you know willingly jump into a Shelby Cobra moments after her wedding knowing the risks of setting the dress on fire from the scorching hot side pipes?
Took 3 people to help her in / out of the car.