Visiting Los Angeles and Vancouver in August! What should I do? Stores, sights, nightlife,...

Where to start? I've visited (and love) Vancouver BC, but am not qualified to give recommendations. But I'm a LA native. If you want art and museums, the Getty is an obvious destination. So are the Norton Simon, MOCA, the museums in Exposition Park, the Huntington Gardens, and Descanso Gardens. For nature and wandering around, visit Malibu and Palos Verdes. The South Bay is pretty wonderful, too.

I'm not much up on the club scene, but if you want to visit some interesting bars, let me know. Especially if you might want to enjoy a cigar inside. I know places where that's permitted, if not legal.

Let me know what kind of food you like and I'll give you a list of places to visit.

Feel free to drop me a PM, too. I'm a third generation LA native and would be happy to help you find anything you want. Let me know.

Buy an umbrella!

 

I love Vancouver, great town but every now and then a huge fireball in the sky shows itself...oh right, that would be the sun.

You should go to go the both the Ghetty's in LA, the museum and the Villa in Malibu. 

as for record stores, Amoeba is worth a visit. and to take pix, head north on the PCH = 1 away from LA traffic if you can for a bit. as for vegetarian food, you'll have endless options. your hotel might make nearby recommendations, and so do websites like LAweekly.com 

If you are willing to travel a bit on one day of those 2 weeks in L.A., I suggest taking a trip north to the Sequoia Park. Lovely place, since you enjoy photography, plus, it's gonna let you see a good bunch of the valley, which is beautiful too!

 

It's about a 4 hours drive from Hollywood, tho!

Some veggie restaurants in vancouver. 

The Naam- Old school hippie vegetarian establishment. 

East is East- A restaurant that seems to be designed by Hobbits but with a staff of wood nymhs

Nuba- Good Lebanese food

Hons- A big Chinese restaurant downtown famous for their "pot stickers" has a separate Veg menu and kitchen

Gorilla Food- It's a raw restaurant so nothing is cooked.

Banditas - a vegan and vegi taco place on commercial drive good beer on tap.

 

For a short sharp drink-http://www.irishheather.com/gallery.php?id=shebeen .

The Alibi room is close and probably has one of the best beer selections in the City.

Check Steamworks and Dix as well for beer (The city isn't that good compared to many US cities for craft beers)

 

I don't know about must sees but do make the effort to check out the Anthropology Museum at UBC a very cool building and collection. 

 

Lots of places to hike and take pictures I would suggest taking the bus out to lighthouse park in West Van or Deep Cove on the North Shore they are pretty close to the city center but may take up most of your day. 

There are a billion of places to hike around but they may take a bit to get to. 

Stanley park is pretty much right downtown and very accessible. 

Deepcove hike-http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/quarry-rock/

Lighthouse park-http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/lighthouse-park/

 

 

Edited by JadeEast - 7/22/10 at 9:16pm

The public transportation in LA is alright. Hopefully, you'll be close to the Metro. You should look into buying a couple of weekly passes - the MTA will sell you a card for about $15 a week that gives you unlimited access to the light rail/subway and buses. Which reminds me, you should take it to Downtown LA. There's lots to see and photograph there. A real favorite is the Bradbury Building. Nondescript outside, but inside is one of the most beautiful buildings anywhere. You'll recognize the open cage elevators from Blade Runner and many TV shows, commercials and movies. Same with the Second Street tunnel. In the US, at least, every car commercial seems to be partially shot in there. Ride the Angel's Flight funicular, visit Grand Central Market, the Central Library, and give yourself several hours to wander. Casey's is my favorite bar down there and the Yorkshire Grill is my favorite place to eat - they will have vegetarian meals, too. Another great restaurant is Engine Company No. 28, and be sure to drop in at the Biltmore and Bonaventure Hotels.

You can also take the Metro to Long Beach. Pine Street has wonderful boutiques and restaurants. For real local color, visit Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles - at least have a waffle there. From Long Beach, you can catch a boat over to Catalina Island. It's slightly touristy, but stunningly beautiful. A tour of the art deco Casino is a must and you might want to take a trip to the inside of the island to see the buffalo colony. Though not as easy to get to, you can arrange a trip to the Channel Islands. They're uninhabited nature preserves and just stunning.

If you want to venture a little further, a night out in Death Valley would be fun. There's a ton of interesting stuff out there, from the salt flats, the Rhyolite ghost town, Pupfish (very unique), Scotty's Castle, and much else. Other day or overnight trips that are worthwhile are visiting Santa Barbara or San Diego, each roughly two hours out.

The rough parts of town are generally inland from the coast. Most are OK during daylight hours and most people aren't aggressive. A friendly, "hi, how are you?" with a smile will get you by. You'll also find a lot of sheriffs on the Metro, too. Don't be afraid to wander into the Jewelry District downtown. It's not as gentrified as other parts, but there's usually a ton of people on the streets and I've spent many a lunch hour wandering there. Oh, and if you go a bit east of there, there's an artist district and a few galleries in the old warehouses. A cousin lives down there and I occasionally hit the shows. I would not walk there at night, but a cab can get you to and from downtown for a few dollars. It's worth seeing.

Death Valley in August?  It's an extremely interesting place, for sure, but not really at its' best in summer (unless our OP wants to try feeling like a pizza topping).  If 120F/50C+ temperatures are his idea of fun, then mark it down.  But I'd save Death Valley for a winter/sping trip, for the chance to see things like snow on the Panamint Range rising 10,000ft above the valley, or the great early spring wildflowers.

 

I'd recommend tripping as far up the California coast as he can.  Spectacular beauty, great food/wine, and this time of the year, nice cool weather.  If he has the time, a trip up through the desert to the east side of the Sierra would be incredibly scenic as well, although a little sparse as it comes to accommodations.  Unfortunately, most of the nice areas in the San Gabriel Mountains above LA are closed, due to last year's fire and mudslide damages.

Well, you're right. Death Valley might not be such a great idea in August. I'm in Yuma at the moment - must be acclimating to the 110 degree days a little too much. :)

I just remembered a "- curiosa/knick knack antique stores? " in Vancouver.

Salmagundi- 321 Cordova Street.

 

 

DXC in Culver City is a good head-fi type shop: http://dxcstore.com/