If you want to explore around California without having to spend the night out, these are some options you might want to choose for your adventure:
Visit San Diego. This city is one of the most European-like cities I have visited around California. The Little Italy neighborhood, the world-famous San Diego zoo (you can purchase your discounted tickets at UCIrvine), Balboa Park (especially where the botanical gardens are is very beautiful), the USS Midway Museum (discounted tickets for students), Old Town San Diego (feel like a cowboy there). You can also cross the bridge that brings you to Coronado Island and visit the Coronado Island hotel and see San Diego landscape views from Coronado’s Island beach (highly recommendable, specially at sunset).
Santa Monica. Santa Monica is quite famous for their pier, where there is a fair with a carrousel and a Ferris wheel amongst others, and a lot of artist around painting and busking. The Route 66 finishes at the pier, and that explains why there is a lot of souvenirs shops related to it. Also, if you are hungry or interested in shopping, you might want to walk to the Promenade (3rd Street) in Santa Monica. Considered also part of Santa Monica, you can visit the Getty Museum, which has a beautiful garden designed by a UCI alumni and a great art collection (when I went it was entrance free and you only had to pay for parking, flat rate $10).
Downtown LA. There is plenty to visit in Downtown Los Angeles. From the Arts District (where hipster shops and breweries are), to Little Tokyo (Japanese style neighborhood), Chinatown (especially cool during Chinese New Year’s celebrations) and Puebla (where L.A was originated, with a Mexican/Latino flavor). I highly recommend you to visit The Broad (contemporary art museum, there is a line for free entrance but you can also book your free tickets in advanced if you do not want to wait). You can also check the “secret” garden going upstairs from one of the sides of Walt Disney Concert Hall. Moreover, if you are visiting during a weekday, you might want to go up to the terrace of the City Hall and check the views of Downtown LA from there (it is free). If you like space-related things, you should visit the California Science Center with the Endeavour Space Shuttle (price: $2).
Hollywood. A lot of people share the opinion that it is a little bit disappointing compared with movies but visiting the Chinese Dolby Theater and the Walk of Fame is a must. The red carpet stairs (without carpet) are placed just next to the Chinese Theater, and you can see in the columns at both sides of the venue the names of the movies that won the Oscar every year since the price exists. On the other hand, you might also want to hike to the Hollywood sign, but you should know that it is prohibited to touch the sign and the hike passes behind it. You should also consider to visit the Griffith Observatory (free entrance), from where you can also see the Hollywood sign at your right when facing the Observatory.
Venice Beach. Get lost in the water channels (the reason of its name) and check the walk next to the beach. There is a big and famous skate park by the beach with amazing skaters, if you are curious or you are into that. Advice: I have never had any problem, but I have heard that it is not so safe to walk around the beach at night. Try to avoid it.
Long Beach. Here you can visit the Aquarium of the Pacific, The Queen Mary ocean liner-turned-hotel and the submarine next to The Queen Mary. Plenty of places to eat and have fun at night. I recommend you to check the view of the night pier lights from the lighthouse.
Visit Salton City and Salvation Mountain. This one day road-trip is not one of my favorite ones, but it is very interesting. Salton City is an abandoned tourist town where the beaches are covered with skeleton remains of dead fish and in general, all kinds of tourist related services are shot down. That’s because Salton City was a great vacation spot since 1905 due to the fact that the Salton Sea (the largest lake in California) was created from a flooding caused by the Colorado River. However, since the lake does not have the proper drainage system in place or an ecosystem of its own to keep it healthy, hydrogen sulfide gas was produced and it killed birds and fishes in the lake, as well as kept tourist from going back because of the air smelled and tasted like gas. (I should say that when we were there, it only smelled bad because of the dead fish that were everywhere on the beach). On the other hand, Salvation Mountain is an on-going project by Leonard Knight. There are the words “God is Love” everywhere. Leonard Knight constructed this place piece by piece using cement, paint and adobe that was buying with the donations since he died in 2014. However, supporters still donate paint and carry on with the work and restoration.
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Claudia-Francisca Lopez CamaraHome Country: SpainThe Henry Samueli School of EngineeringEnvironmental Engineering, Ph.D. |