hotels

[2tinkerbells]

We are spending one night in the LA area not around Disneyland.
Do you recommend Santa Monica or Hollywood with tween and teenager?

 

[sheetz]

What do you plan to do? Because of traffic it's important to stay near the activities you will be planning.

 

[2tinkerbells]

We arrive around lunchtime at LAX. Visit Santa Monica Pier, maybe Venice Beach, and maybe drive to Malibu (not what I really want to do)
The next day we plan to do the Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Warner Brothers touristy things before heading to Anaheim.

 

[sheetz]

Hmm, I get the feeling you're still not exactly sure what you want to do. "Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Warner Bros touristy things" is pretty vague and you would probably need several days to be able to cover it all.

Read this thread for some ideas of what to do around Hollywood
http://www.disboards.com/threads/disneyland-hollywood-split-stay-help.3368329/

Staying in either place will work, I guess, depending on how much time you want to spend at each locale.

 

[StageTek]

I recommend Santa Monica if you want to be close to the beach. I recommend
Hollywood if you want to be close to Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Warner Brothers
touristy things.

Arriving at LAX around noon you'll end up at the Pier close to 2PM. A few hours
there and you head over to Venice Beach close to 5PM. You may want to get a
hotel in that area and head out to Hollywood and the touristy things in the morning.
But you could leave Venice after sunset and head into Hollywood for a hotel there
and get an early start on the Hollywood touristy things.

 

[2tinkerbells]

We have decided to stay in Santa Monica and then head into Beverly Hills the next morning for breakfast at The Ivy, go to the Grove/ Farmers market, catch the Hop on Hop off bus to Hollywood and Highland, then catch it back around to the various stops.
We will have a car so we will then drive to Warner Bros for a tour. Then head out to Anaheim.

Thank you for all the advice. Always looking for other disers opinions. They are the BEST!!!