General Questions

Hello,

At least I can say that this website is really helpful for planning future vacations. I am planning to travel to Los Angeles during the second week of August and I had few general questions. I will be staying at the Baltimore Millenium; therefore I was wondering if that%26#39;s a safe area to stay? Second of all, I was wondering where I could find a breakfast buffet; that%26#39;s good lol! How far is the drive from my hotel to Universal? Is the San Diego zoo worth seeing; because I am planning to drive from LA to San Diego just for the zoo. What is the best beach in LA? I%26#39;m looking for tanning and swimming. Has anyone been on the '; Movie Stars%26#39; Home Tours';? Is it worth it?

Anyways thanks for all the help, your feedback is appreciated!

General Questions

Just so you don%26#39;t have any trouble finding your hotel, it is the

MILLENIUM BILTMORE

The Biltmore is in downtown L.A. -- largely a business district (high-rise office buildings) that shuts down at the end of the business day. Over the last decade, however, downtown is seeing a resurgence and people are starting to move back there. But, the area is fairly quiet in the evenings. You will not see much pedestrian traffic and although the area in front of your hotel (known as Pershing Square) is not dangerous per se, I wouldn%26#39;t walk around there at night since there is nothing to see or do there. There are restaurants and some clubs in downtown as well as the Music Center (theater, symphony, etc) but, in general, I%26#39;d either drive or take a quick cab arouind the downtown area in the evening.

I%26#39;ll leave it up to someone else to uncover a breakfast buffet for you.

The drive from downtown to Universal is about 25 minutes WITHOUT TRAFFIC. High traffic times are weekdays between 6:00 and 9:00 am and between 3:00 and 7:00pm. Add another 10 to 20 minutes or so during these times. BTW, if you take the red line metro rail from downtown to Hollywood, it would take around 19 minutes. Trains depart the 7th Street/Metro Center station (4 or 5 blocks from your hotel) every 10 to 12 minutes, most of the day. When you consider the time it takes to retrieve your car from the hotel%26#39;s parking garage plus the time it will take to park it at Universal (for $10 or $20 depending on the closeness of the parking area to the main gates) plus the cost of parking the car at your hotel ($32), the metro rail is no less quick or convenient and a lot less expensive.

Actually, doing without the car and taking a taxi to Universal would be the least expensive and the most convenient.

NOTE: if you do take the metro rail, wnen you exit the station at Universal, you will need to cross Lankershim Bl and wait for the free tram on the right side of the road that will take you ';up the hill'; to the main gates. Just follow the crowd. The tram runs every 15 or 20 minutes and takes a minute to make the climb -- or you can walk up the hill (about 10 minutes).

THe SD Zoo is a superb zoo and well worth a visit. Driving to San Diego and back for just the zoo might not be the best idea since the drive (without traffic) will take about 2-1/2 hours and the drive WITH TRAFFIC will take about 3-1/2 hours. It is unlikely that you will miss the rush hour in BOTH directions!! If you leave L.A. at 9:00 (after the morning rush), you%26#39;ll pull into SD in time to find a place for lunch -- there are some nice options adjacent to the Zoo in Balboa Park.

After lunch, if you spend, say, 3 or 4 hours there, you will be driving back in the afternoon rush. With only 4 hours or so in SD and 6 hours ';on the road';, it doesn%26#39;t sound like much fun. Here are some options:

1. Take a hotel for one night in SD. This will split the driving onto 2 days and allow you to see more of the city, maybe even stop off on the way up or down at one of the beach communities (Laguna Beach, for example).

2. Take the Amtrak train. Trains are not subject to traffic and this route provides great views of the coast duringf the southern portion of the ride. Amtrak does offer a route to the Zoo area -- when you book the train, request the ';Zoo'; station. You will be issued a ticket that will take you to the main downtown station at which point you will transfer to what they call a ';Thruway bus'; which will take you to the Zoo.

3. Drive down at 9 and stay into the evening. This will allow you to see other sites (like Seaworld) and will break up the two drives over a longer day.

As far as the best beach in L.A., technically, there are only 2 beaches in Los Angeles -- at Venice and in San Pedro. The other area beaches, Santa Monica, Malibu, the south Bay, etc are all outside of the city of Los Angeles. Santa Monica%26#39;s beaches as well as Venice are a safe bet.

As far as the movie star home tours, it%26#39;s kind of a toss up, by my way of thinking. On the one hand, you rarely get to see any celebrities and most of the properties are cloistered behind gates and shrubbery but many, many people enjoy these tours. I went on a WB tour some time back and we had the opportunity of sitting on the famous sofa from the TV show CHEERS. About half of our group of 12 people did so and happily took photos of the event. The rest of us looked at one another and shrugged. So, it%26#39;s up to you: If the thought of seeing the place where your favorite celebrity lives will bring a smile to your face, then the Movie Stars tour is for you.

Have a great vacation

General Questions

HSJ: Since the Biltmore is on Grand Avenue, Pershing Square (Olive Street) is actually at the rear of the hotel (used to be the front), but I agree that you don%26#39;t want to go walking in that direction, particularly at night. We stayed there about 3 years ago and did that walk around 5pm on Saturday and while we did not feel it was dangerous, it was a little unsavory.

I don%26#39;t know about a breakfast buffet, but here are two choices for economical breakfasts within walking distance of the Biltmore:

CLIFTONS (actually have to walk past Pershing Square for this one)

tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g32655-d37鈥?/a>

THE ORIGINAL PANTRY

tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g32655-d36鈥?/a>

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