From my three visits to Los Angeles in the late 70's and the early 80's, I could tell you more about Los Angeles than any tourist guide will tell you.

To really sightsee Los Angeles, you need to spend at least a week to 10 days here: there is just so much to see and do.

As far as transportation goes, you really don't need a car to get around Los Angeles. They have public transportation. At the time I was here, their public transporation system was RTD or Southern California Rapid Transit District. Now I believe it's called MTA.

Well anyway. there are bus routes that'll take you to Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley area, downtown Los Angeles, UCLA, Beverly Hills, Westwood, West Los Angeles, and Santa Monica. There is now rail service between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach and the San Fernando Valley area. Just think: if you want to go down to the Queen Mary, you can easily take the train.

I know that most people will eat a lot there, but if you really want to save some money, try going to a local supermarket and get some food there to eat in your hotel room.

If you really love the beach, Santa Monica is the best place to go. Santa Monica not only has the beach, but shopping, restaurants, nightlife, and theater. You can even go and see a concert over at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

If you're a movie or a TV buff, you can take tours of both the NBC and Universal Studios, the Kidak Theater, and I believe that Warner Brothers offers tours of the studio. You might want to check out to see what shows will be taping there. Perhaps you might want to go see a taping of either Dr. Phil, The Price is Right, The Tonight Show, or any other show.

Based on my experiences there, the best areas (low-crime) to stay at are either in Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Westwood, Burbank, Glendale, or Santa Monica. Hollywood is pretty run down, and I've also heard that there's a lot of homeless people in Santa Monica. But anyway, wherever you stay at, just take the proper precautions and be care.

If you want to visit the graves of your favorite celebrities and pay your respect to them, you can go to either Forest Lawn or Westwood Memorial Cemetery.

Los Angeles has something for everybody.

Learn more about this author, Lisa Fagan.
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