LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA AREA

A Sprawling Wonderland Of Diversity

Los Angeles has tons of diversity. Of course, there's ethnic and cultural diversity. There is also geographical diversity. Within a few square miles, you'll find beautiful sandy beaches, desert, mountains, freshwater lakes, cactus, palm trees and pine groves.

We spent four full days in the LA area... on July 4th weekend. Be assured... if you want to see as much of LA in the shortest possible time... then a tour company is the way to go. On our first full day, we took a bus tour with VIP Tours. The 7 hour tour included Hollywood, Sunset Blvd., downtown LA, downtown Beverly Hills, Venice, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Monica Beach and Pier and the Farmers Market with 20-40 minutes at each stop.

Unquestionably, Hollywood is the world's motion picture capital. However, those who expect downtown Hollywood to be glitzy, glamorous and sanitized will be gravely disappointed.  Downtown Hollywood certainly has character and some interesting attractions, but it is generally kitschy, touristy, seedy and in places... mildly run down. Visitors will see lots of costumed characters (e.g. Homer Simpson, Batman, Spongebob) roaming around for tips in exchange for photo opportunities. Downtown Hollywood's places of interest include Grauman's Chinese Theater where you'll see the stars' footprints. There's  a Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum at the corner of Hollywood and Highland... and of course, there's the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Blvd. and Vine St. where the sidewalk features stars honoring celebrities from movies, music and TV.

Driving in LA can be a challenge. I found the city streets to be no more difficult to negotiate than those in other American cities... but the highways are a nightmare and are worthy of their reputation. Stopped traffic is the norm during rush hour, and bottlenecks are common any time of day.