although Los Angeles may be a great place to work and live, but for a tourist is a waste of time and money unless you are a "special interest " tourist

There is three kinds of special interest tourists that should find LA interesting: movie buffs/Hollywood fans, people interested in exploring various ethnic neighborhoods/restaurants when they are all clustered in one place and people interested in urban poverty and gangs.

I've lived in this city for almost 17 years and I can assure you there is NOTHING to see here for a tourist unless you are really into Hollywood memorabilia or you want to explore the gang turf in certain areas of the city with almost third world living conditions , dusty dirty streets, industrial landscape. Places like the Grove at Third and Fairfax and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills is a miserable failed attempt to imitate some European cities with their authentic narrow streets and authentic european spirit. But there is no historic or cultural value in the Grove or Rodeo Drive - they are essentially fake and commercially oriented traps for shoppers and tourists. The Universal city is even more fake and Hollywood blvd , well... I guess you can take a few pictures of the movie star stars there if those specific stars matter to you.

Other than that there is Huntington Library and botanic gardens in Pasadena and Paul Getty museum off the 405 freeway - they are worth visiting , but they can't really make up for an overall lack of attractions and places that would have any sort of historic or cultural value in Los Angeles

There is also a Santa Monica promenade and a pier - next to the park alongside the cliffs overlooking the ocean - nice place to go, but if you are coming from a foreign country - very little touristic value

Downtown LA - well , first of all, no parks, secondly, may be you 'll like the architectural design of La Philarmonic, and its fun to walk along Broadway street - it feels like Mexico but other than that, - again nothing to see

If there is someone who is interested in gangs and poverty and urban industrial landscapes - go to Maywood, Cudahy, South Gate, Huntington Park, Inglewood, Compton and surrounding areas - there you can take some cool pictures and shoot some cool rap videos.

Also, the best type of attractions LA has to offer is its ethnic neighborhoods and multiethnic restaurants - there is no country in the world that's not represented here...

to be continued later....

L.A 16 March - 26 March Firstly we spent 5 days in Anaheim at the Disneyland Parks the weather the food the people were all truly a piece of the magic . We stayed in the Paradise Pier Hotel, it was one of the friendliest hotels we have ever been too, especially the little bar/cafe area near the lobby we met so many lovely people there. We then spent the next 6 days in Hollywood, at a Hotel in Hollywood and Highland great hotel we were just a bit shocked at the condition of Hollywood not the glitter and glam we expected. Beverly Hills and surrounding areas were beautiful though. We really enjoyed our trip to the Farmers market and The Grove some tasty cheap food, delicious ice cream and of course the shopping my 3 girls were in heaven. Santa Monica is not to be forgotton a great day at the beach and 3rd street promenade was a real treat with it's many preforming artists, lots of little eateries were you can sit outside and watch all the goings on and of course again the shopping. I think this is what i expected Hollywood to be like. Our last day was at the Universal Studios again another excellent treat get there early in the morning and you'll not miss a thing before the park closes and invest in a V.I.P pass. Two things to be wary of in L.A is one the cab drivers if they know your going to a place for the first time be prepared to go the long way and be totally over charged it happened to us more than once and two the hop on hop off one day bus ticket the buses finish at 6 and you might find yourself stuck somewhere and you have to get a cab home hence what was the point iof paying $65 dollars for a 24 hour ticket? Other than that I think we all had great time and we'd go back again I think we'd try San Diago we seemed to miss out on what they have to offer i'd say there's a lot more to see too in L.A we just didn't have enough time. we're looking forward to the summer now 2 weeks in Germany and then from there we're flying down to Turkey for 7 weeks, roll on the June.

I went with a Deaf School Exchange Trip for 2 weeks and stayed with a host family whose daugher is Deaf. She took us trips to lots of places of interests and regular day trips to a Deaf School she went to. The Deaf School Students group I was with travelled and visits lots of interesting places. We went to Hollywood, DisneyLand, The Universal Studios and Beverly Hills, San Diego. And Had the most wonderful fabulous time there. After we left U.S.A we went to Hawaii at Honolulu on our way back to Australia and stayed there for 3 days.

As a 1st time visitor to Los Angeles and person who heard horror stories about driving in and around Los Angeles, myself and 2 co travelers opted for mass transit and was not disappointed. We had no trouble getting from Long Beach oceanfront to Hollywood and points between. An all day city pass gets you there efficiently and comfortably. Schedules are readily available and I will probably go back.