Thanks guys. This has been more than helpful. And that traffic is fucking nuts. No idea how people can live with that. I hate being stuck in 20 minute traffic in Fort Worth.
I agree but I also argue with people about the other side of the coin, which is LA doesn't have the public transit or the road infrastructure to support higher density units. A perfect example is the aforementioned Lincoln. They have piled so many more units into fucking Playa Vista/PDR/MDR that traffic has literally about doubled in the 7 years or so I've lived here. This is a driving city and it just means more cars in a lower sq footage IMO.
I drive from Playa to West LA / Santa Monica which is 4.9 miles, it usually takes me ~45-60 minutes.
When I was doing E3 for Best Buy:
Was a fun expo but once they opened it to ANYONE who wanted in the place smelled like shit and was ABSURDLY packed. Before that point it was cool basically getting back-room passes to see things that never made the light of day.
Shit I remember playing a mortal-combat-ISH game while on the floor at one show that was basically mortal combat battle arena. Never released and I don't recall the name of the game. I saw Tabula Rasa there before it released and belly-flopped on concrete. One year Heffner was there with a bunch of playboy girls all promoting a playboy mansion Sims esque game.
Traffic was BEYOND insane though, absolutely retarded but to be honest i never minded driving. My wife hates it so when we do road trips I drive. I would turn on music and mentally afk. traffic was going feet per hour at most times so I didn't give a fuck.
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Back on topic-ish
Honest to god though, if you wanna hit up places to chill and just be in the moment without spending retarded levels of money, Downtown Disney is a great experience.
Huntington Beach Pier is another one where you can hang out and eat at ruby's diner out on the pier (burger-joint food but a GREAT sea view for basically a "Medium Food" charge, arrive before sun-set and try to ask for a 2nd floor table.)
Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.com
Since you are taking kids, I 100% recommend eating here once. Try to hit it up at late afternoon so you can get dinner with a sunset. One of the places my wife and I talk about missing the most from SoCal.
100% hit up Knotts if you have the time (
Daily Tickets & Admission | Knott's Berry Farm ), knotts basically will make you hate Six Flags for being Ghetto as fuck because knott's is super low effort and yet the park still doesn't look like shit. It's basically what Six flags COULD be if they had pride in their park. they have a ton of rides ranging from kids stuff to new coasters. And the price isn't retarded as fuck, for 4 people you are talking 200, as opposed to Disney for 4 people being 400+