How to do a driving tour of all the good parts of LA when I am visiting.... (Pasadena: renting)

[l'actrice]

I am planning a trip and will be renting a car. I want to spend a day (or several days) just driving around all of the good areas of LA, since I am planning on moving there and want to determine where I would be happiest.

I have never driven in LA and don't want to end up in a dangerous area (I'm a little white girl), however. I'll definitely have the GPS with me, in addition to mapquest print-outs, but what is the best way to go about this? For example, what is a good central location for my hotel, and what is the best time to drive in what direction to avoid traffic? Any LA residents who want to help me map out a plan? I would be greatly appreciative!

I want to check out the Valley, West Hollywood, West LA, and the South Bay area. Any good areas I'm excluding? I want to avoid south LA, east LA, and downtown LA. I may need to spread this over several days, but I do feel it's something I need to do, before I commit to living in a particular area for an extended period of time. Thanks for your advice!

[Charles]

Number 1 suggestion for seeing things is drive on a Sunday morning. You'll see the most per hour but you won't experience the realities of traffic.

[l'actrice]

Thanks! That's a really great suggestion! Hopefully, I'll be able to plan my trip to be in LA on Sunday.

[Charles]

Realize that not experiencing traffic due to driving on Sunday morning may not be a perfect idea either. If considering a place to live, it may be a nice drive on Sunday morning but a horrible drive the other 6.5 days of the week. Huge consideration when deciding on where to live based on where you would be working.

[goldst]

For the areas you want to see you should try to find a hotel just off the 405 around santa monica blvd. It is basically in the middle between south bay and the Valley and also between Santa Monica/West L.A and WeHo/Westwood.

I have checked the same areas myself for over a month (I was based in a hotel close to LAX) and the traffic was not bad at all after the morning rush hours and not intolerable even during rush hours. Weekend would be best to drive east towards holywood but for the other areas you should be OK almost any time.

[the one]

is there are reason why you are avoiding downtown and the areas east and south of it?

downtown is really a great place.

[LASam]

I'd at the very least take a brief look at Pasadena. East of downtown doesn't equate to bad. You really would be better off venturing around with a local if you have any connections in the LA area. It will be difficult to see all the options available to residents as a first-time visitor. What kind of living accomodations are you looking for, and what do you plan to do when you get here for work? These factor in heavily when considering where you want to live.

[intelfan11315]

Just some general advice from a guy from Miami, so many people come to Miami to see if they would want to move here, they come and do the tourist thing and see everything nice. They move here and realize that it isn't what they thought because what they experienced wasn't what they get on their daily routine and they didn't get the true feeling of the city. Then they end up coming on these forums and complaining how horrible of a city it is. Make sure that when you leave you know exactly what you are getting yourself into.

You don't state where you are coming from, but chances are you're going to be experiencing a culture shock unless you are coming from a major city.

[uptown_urbanist]

I agree that if you have the time you should definitely include a drive through Pasadena and some of the other areas of the San Gabriel Valley.