Approaching city from I-15, what's the best route? (Los Angeles, Brea: credit, bars)

[Santa's Neighbor]

I'll be arriving in LA by car on a weekday, and have an appointment at Park La Brea at 2:00 pm.

What is the best route to take? CAA (like AAA but Canadian) recommends I-15 to a road that looks like it's numbered 18/138, to 14 and then the instructions end.

Also, how far out of the city can I safely be and make it in time to my appointment, allowing for traffic etc., and maybe a quick stop for lunch someplace if possible? (I'm driving across the continent so am trying to pace myself accordingly).

Thanks for any recommendations!

[Paula Lynn]

I would suggest mapquest.

[EscapeCalifornia]

The simplest route would be to come down I-15, stop at In N Out in Barstow, then head down the hill and go west on I-210 toward LA. Hit it in the afternoon and you'll be going opposite of traffic.

[BRinSM]

if you are going to park la brea there is no reason to go through pasadena on the 210. take the 15 south to the 10 west. you'll take the 10 all the way to fairfax. follow fairfax north a mile or so and you'll get right to park la brea. if you get there early, you can grab some food down the street at the farmer's market at fairfax/3rd. the only tricky part is that when you get to downtown LA make sure to read the freeway signs carefully as the 10 makes some tricky turns.

[bhcompy]

Problem is the 10 sucks.. pretty much all the way from the 71 on in

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by Santa's Neighbor

I'll be arriving in LA by car on a weekday, and have an appointment at Park La Brea at 2:00 pm.

What is the best route to take? CAA (like AAA but Canadian) recommends I-15 to a road that looks like it's numbered 18/138, to 14 and then the instructions end.

No, that is not a good route to take. Basically they are recommending that you exit the interstate highway, and take a 2 lane road for an hour across the desert. That road(Pearblossom Highway) is well known for deadly head on accidents.

The more than reasonable alternative is to continue on the I15 down to at least the 210. There are 3 east west freeways going from the 15 to downtown Los Angeles. These are the 210, the 10, and the 60. If you take the 210, you will eventually need to take the 57 or 605 to the 10 freeway, or the 210 to the 2 south to the 5 south to the 110 south to the 10. It will help a lot if you have a nav, iphone with map, or listen to one of the local news stations for traffic(980 or 1070 am).

The least confusing will be to take the 15 to the 10 westbound as this is the freeway you will exit to get to Park La Brea. Take the 10 past downtown(pay very careful attention to the freeway signs entering downtown from the 10 as its quite confusing) and exit north on La Brea. Take La Brea to 3rd street.

Originally Posted by Santa's Neighbor

Also, how far out of the city can I safely be and make it in time to my appointment, allowing for traffic etc., and maybe a quick stop for lunch someplace if possible?

Its next to impossible to say without knowing what traffic will be. If I were you, I'd plan to be at the 15/210 interchange area by about 11:00 AM. If you do that, you should arrive in the downtown LA area by noon and be able to find a reasonable place to have lunch. Take some time and relax or such.

[yukiko11]

Whatever route you choose, if this appointment is really important, get there the night before, spend the bucks to stay in the area and you can assure you will be on time.
People in LA hate you if you are late.

[Santa's Neighbor]

Thanks for all the advice. 15 to the 10 is what I had originally planned on, but I wasn't sure if it would be an awful route since the CAA recommended that other route.

If I take the 10 across into LA, does it get really backed up? Approx. how long on an average weekday would it take, any ideas of the range? Is it worse or equal to the other suggested routes?

I'll have a GPS with me but it gives the strangest advice sometimes, took me on an incredible detour in Kansas City (when I was just passing through it) that ended up on dirt roads eventually, although to it's credit it did get me to my destination, somewhat frazzled.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Santa's Neighbor

I'll have a GPS with me but it gives the strangest advice sometimes, took me on an incredible detour in Kansas City (when I was just passing through it) that ended up on dirt roads eventually, although to it's credit it did get me to my destination, somewhat frazzled.

Yeah, never trust those things. They'll route you in a circle around town to avoid non-existent slowdowns.

[bhcompy]

The 10 sucks on weekdays and goes through the worst interchange in the known universe(East LA Interchange). I'd find a way to make the 210 work