Los Angeles: Bigger Than Life

Advantages: A World Class City
Disadvantages: Don't try walking, the bus, or light rail

...Los Angeles: Bigger Than Life Let me state it right off at the start: I love Los Angeles. It is a great city to visit or to live in ? IF you know how to get around, and how to put up with the eccentricities of the place. Getting Around L.A. Originally, Los Angeles was a much smaller city. Long Beach, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Fe Springs?.those were all separate towns a long way from L.A. You reached those towns by riding the old red trolley cars. Sometime in the late 1940's the urban planners who are responsible for this awful sprawling mess made a conscious decision: Los Angeles would be a megalopolis connected by a system of freeways?people living in the megalopolis would, of course, be wealthy and every person would own a car. So, during much of the 1950's the streetcar lines were...

grape_nehi 27.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Los Angeles (California)

CITY OF ANGELS...A GUIDE

Advantages: movie history, one of the best cities in the world, great beaches,
Disadvantages: so spread out - you NEED a car, smog at some times of the year

...Any review of Los Angeles - unless contained within the covers of a City Guidebook - can realistically merely ‘prick the surface’ of what is to offer in this sprawling metropolis on the West Coast of America. I’ve tried to cover what I have personal experience of during two brief visits to the ‘City of Angels’ • HOLLYWOOD – MOVIE MAGIC On our first visit to L.A, we stayed at the Holiday Inn, right on HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD. Alas it is no more – it was demolished last year to make way for a huge development to include Cinemas, Shopping and a new home for the Oscar ceremonies. But it was pretty neat to stay there all the same and could almost literally step out onto the ‘WALK OF FAME’. You’ve seen it on TV, documentaries etc – all the way along Hollywood Boulevard...

flashpointz 08.03.2001 (16.11.2001) · Read review
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Review of Los Angeles (California)

Los Angeles: Top 5 Tips

Advantages: Sprawling exciting metropolis with tons to do
Disadvantages: Can get smoggy

...Here are my top 5 tips on Los Angeles 1) Be prepared for mad driving conditions. Driving on the huge 7-lane freeways is a great experience but takes a bit of getting used to. The main thing is to plan where you are going before you set out - the signs clearly show interconnecting roads and destiantions bu8t you don't want to be fiddling with maps as you drive 2) Don't miss Universal Studios. This is great fun theme park for all ages. Very young kids may prefer Disneyland but for anyone else this has more thrills and more interest. The T3 ride - a 3-D combinations of film and actors is fantastic. 3) Hollywood is good fun. Go on a tour of the stars homes which is full of gossip. You may just see lots of gates and driveways but it gives you a feel for the town 4) Catch a movie. You can't do to the city of Hollywood and not see a movie...

pxs 27.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of Los Angeles (California)

Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles

Advantages: Didn't stay long enough to find out...
Disadvantages: Intimidating for first time visitors.

...along La Cienega up to West Hollywood, where our Ramada Hotel was waiting for us. One peculiar feature was that all the furniture in the reception was made out of glass, so on your way across to the elevators, you keep whacking your shins on virtually invisible coffee tables. The jet-lag wasted us. At three in the morning we were wide awake. The time warp logistics of losing hours and gaining hours during air travel were always beyond me, and I couldn't get my head round it. Back home, they were all sipping their second cup of coffee of the morning. By midday the next day, we were ready for bed. We emerged into a pastel Los Angeles morning. We were the only people out walking on the streets. The only other people who go by foot in LA are other Europeans and the joggers. It's an incredibly vain city - every other shop is a gym...

Plissken 27.12.2000 · Read review
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Review of Los Angeles in general

Living in LA-la land

Advantages: You will see lots of pretty people
Disadvantages: Realization that you are not pretty

...California is a state like no other in the US. Once you are in California make no mistake, it is broken into two completely different halves. The first time I heard the term No-Cal I assumed the California sales staff was talking about yet another Hollywood diet plan. No-Cal is the northern California area and is dominated by the Bay Area which contains San Francisco and Oakland. So-Cal is Southern California and consists of Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego area. This is the area where I spend a great deal of my time when in California, especially the LA area. Getting There If you are flying from another destination in the US there is a myriad of airports to choose from. The largest airport is Los Angeles International Airport which is usually referred to as LAX. You can also fly into the Long Beach Airport or Burbank...

Scott_Howitt 20.05.2003 (22.05.2003) · Read review
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Review of Los Angeles (California)

Salou, Hotel Los Angeles

Advantages: Beach, Scenery, Monday Salou Market, Close to Barcelona, Cheap (there and presents to bring back)
Disadvantages: Some people - don't go if you don't like being pushed out of the way by locals!

...What a wonderful holiday! We searched the Internet for ages for information on our hotel prior to our holiday and found nothing - so here you are for anyone else interested in going! Hotel Los Angeles is 5 minutes from the beach, less than one minute to the bars (across the road!) and less than one minute to the restaurants and shops. It is very commercialised - you don't feel like you're seeing much of Spain, but the cheap prices for everything including our holiday and beautiful scenary and beaches make up for it. The hotel itself is a bit more than basic - it has 2 twins and either a single or bunks in the two rooms we had between the four of us (myself, my boyfriend and two friends, all early 20s). A bath and shower and TV (only CNN English speaking). The walls are paper thin. I would not recommend it as a hotel for light...

Vix_Ricks 09.06.2001 · Read review
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Review of Hotel Los Angeles, Salou

Surrey or Los Angeles?

Advantages: great story, brilliant performance
Disadvantages: none

...is the best moment she can give him her present, it is a special book. The boss has an announcement so they go out to hear him: he announces Jasper?s engagement with one of their colleagues. Amanda (Cameron Diaz) is a very successful film trailer editor, owner of the company. She lives in a luxurious house in Los Angeles. She realises that her boyfriend cheated on her so she fires him. The two main characters sit in their home with broken hears. Amanda decides to go on a holiday to make easier forgetting her ex. She founds a home exchange site and writes a message to Iris. They decide to do the change next day. Amanda goes to Surrey and she finds a snow covered beautiful place away from the crowded cities. Iris arrives in the sunshiny L.A. where she founds a full equipped house. Both girls are surprised about their new place. Amanda...

D_i_a_n_e 21.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Holiday (DVD)

Not all Glitz and Glamour

Advantages: Lots to see and do
Disadvantages: Not as glamorous as expected

...Los Angeles and Hollywood conjure up images of glamour and luxury. We spent three days there earlier this year and were a little disappointed. In fact, it seemed run-down and even seedy in parts. Many of the older theatres and restaurants had been closed for a number of years and were now derelict. We stayed at the Best Western, Hollywood Hills, which is well-located for exploring Hollywood. At $99 per night (plus sales tax), it was reasonable value for money. This didn’t include breakfast, but there was an excellent diner attached to the hotel. We had traditional American breakfasts, complete with hash browns, excellent salsa and unlimited coffee. It opened at 6am, which caters for anyone making an early start. There is plenty to see an do, although things are very spread out. Like most tourists, we headed...

mandyhaley 26.06.2001 · Read review
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Review of Los Angeles (California)

Ga Ga over LA

Advantages: An Amazing place
Disadvantages: Can be a little daunting at first

...Late last year myself and my girlfriend took a three week break to explore the west coast of America and Hawaii. One of the places where we spent more time than we should was in The City Of Angels - Los Angeles. This vibrant city has something to offer everyone, but beware, day becomes night, night becomes day and sleep becomes a thing of the past. We stayed at a Comfort Inn in Hermosa Beach during our time in LA, this was about a 1/2 hour drive away from the touristic centre, which includes such great sites as Mann's Chinese Theater (the place with the handprints in the concrete), Macy's, Bloomingdales and a whole lot more. Although you may feel like too much of a tourist do not underestimate the acclimatisation that a guided tour around the stars homes can do - it really is quite interesting, and it gives you a good layout...

MARKMAN 09.02.2001 · Read review
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Review of Los Angeles (California)

Guide to booking a self arranged holiday to USA

Advantages: speaks for itself
Disadvantages: you have to come home

.... TOURIST BOARDS One of the first things to do is research where you wish to go , just so that I can speak from a position of knowledge , I will be referring to the Western side of America , California , Arizona and Nevada. If you've ever tried obtaining information about a UK holiday resort , it can be like getting money out of the taxman. America appears all together different. Visit some of the major Search Engines and look under Tourist Information / Tourist Boards for the Town or State you are interested in. The vast majority have excellent web-sites which allow you to put in your name and address and they will send you relevant Information. I'm not just talking about little leaflets , the ones from San Diego , Grand Canyon and Arizona tourist boards were substantial packs (postage costing them many dollars) , including details about...

kayesheard 27.01.2002 · Read review
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Review of Los Angeles (California)