Visiting for UCLA/TN game, where to stay? (Pasadena, Thousand Oaks: apartment, lease)

[MartyBarnes]

Hello everyone,
My friend and I will be traveling to LA on labor day weekend for the Tennessee/UCLA football game. We both live in Nashville and have never visited LA before so we are visiting for 5 days and trying to figure out where to stay. We have no plans to visit Disneyland, Universal Studios or places of that nature, we will spend our days at the beaches and checking out the city instead. Would rather stay somewhere convenient to nightlife for young singles (we are in our mid-20s, straight), and we will be renting a car so we can commute to the coast and to Pasadena on gameday. Right now we are between Hollywood, Downtown LA, West Hollywood and Westwood. I'm not too sure about staying in Westwood, I have read its not as happening as other areas of town. I've also read that West Hollywood is primarily a gay population which isnt our scene, but wasnt sure if thats more prevelent in certain parts of the city than others.

Any info and suggestions would be appreciated, I look forward to visiting your city!

[BRinSM]

most of the hotels in west hollywood are on our near sunset blvd, which is one of the biggest party areas in LA. The gay area of WeHo is mostly centered around Santa Monica Blvd, I highly doubt you'll be spending much time in that area. Westwood does have some nightlife, but is mostly college students, which you may or may not prefer. Downtown is not quite up to par with nightlife yet, but it does afford the best access to Pasadena. Hollywood is the very happening, just make sure you stay in a decent hotel, there are some really crummy places around there. if you're looking at spending time at the beach, you may consider Santa Monica, but that is pretty far from Pasadena, atleast 30 minutes without traffic, and you can certainly count on traffic near the rose bowl on game day. I've been to a few games there, make sure you get there early. also, bring your cooler, there is definitely a lot of tailgating before the games. and feel free to wear all the Vol gear that you have, you won't be harrassed by the bruin crowd, they are a very laid back bunch.

[LArenter]

Hey Marty,

Cal Alumni here; I went to the home and away series against you guys. I had a blast and am actually going to your game against UCLA as well.

My vote is for West Hollywood/Hollywood area. You can jump on the 101 - 110 - 10 to get to Santa Monica Beach or even just take Sunset all the way down to Malibu. Plus, you will be in a great spot for club/lounges. Hollywood/West Hollywood are the few places you can bar crawl on weekdays and have a (small) crowd in most bars late at night.

For game day, just jump on the 5 -> 2 -> 134 and youll be there in less than 30 minutes.

[MartyBarnes]

Thanks for the feedback. I think we will focus our efforts toward the West Hollywood/Hollywood area, it sounds like thats got what we are looking for. I would rather dodge the college town vibe of Westwood for the "LA experience" of Hollywood.

LArenter, glad you enjoyed Knoxville in '06, I was also at that game and had a blast. Had several friends go to SanFran last year for the season-opener and they really loved it (besides losing the game of course).

another question, what places in LA are known for having good live music? Not a big venue but just a bar with a good house band or something like that? I definately want to check out the LA clubs, but also love good live music (hence, I live in Nashville). I thought maybe a beach town like Santa Monica might have some places like that, but thats just a guess. thanks again for the help!

[BRinSM]

There is a place called Brennan's in Marina Del Rey that has a decent house band play on Thursdays. They also have turtle races on their patio that night. It usually gets pretty crowded, it's not my favorite bar, but it's worth checking out atleast just to see the turtles. The only other places I can think of that have bands play are music venues. If I were you, I would just go up to the Sunset Strip and pick a place that looks cool to you.

[LArenter]

Not sure what type of music you are in to, but I recently moved from the Los Feliz/Hollywood area and I regret that I didn't start going to SpaceLand on Silverlake Blvd till the last few months of my apt. lease.

Its a pretty small venue and they have shows almost every day of the week. I believe a lot of (now famous) bands got their first break there. You should definately check it out one night.

[JBryant8]

I also am heading out to california for the UT-UCLA game and I have a few questions. I am going to be staying with my brother who is living in Santa Monica and I plan on starting the festivities early. So, which bars and tailgating areas will be right for me on gameday?

I am 22 years old, a recent college graduate, my brother is 23, and we're looking to:
-have some friendly smack talk with hardcore UCLA football fans
-be around a relatively young crowd (age 21-35)
-meet some UCLA undergraduate females with "loose" morals
-not get kicked out for drinking lots of jack daniels
-sing rocky top loudly with some fellow UT fans
-be within stumbling distance of the stadium

Now I don't mean to bring trouble to the beautiful California city, but I do want to have many drinks and meet lots of people, preferably of college or recently graduated age. So what is it, a good tailgating spot? a good bar? some co-ed's apartment? Any advice would be great, thanks

[SCboi]

Too bad that Tennessee is playing ucla and not USC. We know how to throw tailgates and serve as gracious hosts to our guests, and we know how to party with passion. It's hard to do that when your school colors are an unfortunate powder blue and a tawdry, stale gold.

Having said that...

I think that Hollywood would serve as a fine base for the weekend, but I believe that Downtown could serve as an equally fun setting. Contrary to the poster who didn't have any idea of what he/she was talking about, nightlife Downtown is thriving. Google The Edison, The Standard, Seven Grand, J, Bar 107, Elevate/Takami, The Golden Gopher, Blue Velvet, to name a few. You can take the subway to Hollywood and the Gold Line to Pasadena on the day of the game. If you exit at the Holly Street station, the walk to the Rose Bowl will take you about 15 minutes, or you can take a shuttle (I don't know if ucla runs a shuttle from the station on their game day since all of their so-called fans will be driving big-ass SUV's from places like Thousand Oaks). That way, you can party to your heart's content and never have to drive. Not that you would ever want to park in the black hole of the Rose Bowl's "parking lot", in which 5 gazillion cars park on the lawn of the Brookside Country Club and try to leave at the same time on 3 streets.

Seriously, I think that Downtown L.A. might be a better option for you because you can take the subway to Hollywood and the Gold Line from Union Station. For hotels, check out: Wilshire Grand, the Marriott (newly renovated), the Biltmore, the New Otani, the Orchid, the standard, Checkers Hilton, the Figueroa Hotel, the Bonaventure, the Kawada, the Milner, and the Omni.

For partying with ucla and Tennessee fans, I would check out the 35er in Old Town Pasadena on Colorado or one of the many other bars and restaurants there. You'll see lots of orange around Pasadena for the weekend. Don't expect to see a lot of ucla fans though. They don't travel well.