Cheap Los Angeles - How to get by without spending a dime (well a lot of dimes) - Wolters World
video description
Date: 2022-02-04
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 10
Brian
I live very close to Manhattan Beach. I grew up in this area. MB has gotten much more expensive since a studio moved in here. Street parking, especially durinng the summer, has always been terrible. Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach are cheaper. By just going a little inland parking becomes easy and lodging much cheaper. The area is quite safe and we all have the advantage of beach weather, though parts of the year can be foggy. Our local diners and restaurants are good. For hime style food Joe's in Redondo Beach is a local tradition. When I was a kid John Wayne used to dock his boat in the local marina on some weekends and duck in there to grab a meal. They still serve his favorite special. I occasionally run into film and TV people in the area but don't expect to. The Kettle in Manhattan Beach, on the road running to the pier, is a 24 hour coffee shop with decent food that's also a local tradition. My favorite sushi place, assuming it's survived the insane pandemic restrictions here, is hidden away on the Manhattan Beach Pier. They even have excellent happy hour sushi. Never trust a sushi restaurant where the sushi chef isn't trained in Japan or trained by a Japanese sushi chef. If the menu is in Japanese, usually with an English translation, and the majority of the customers are Japanese, Japanese Americans or obvious locals then you should be golden. Some of our local Chinese restaurants are so tuned into Asia that new trends in Shanghai or Beijing restaurants appear here within weeks or months of their introduction in China. Our Thai restaurants are usually run by Thais. We have a sizable Vietnamese American population resident here for at keast a half century. Vietnamese food is becoming a staple here. Stip and eatat a pho (soup) restaurant and I think you'll like it. We have all kinds of good Mexican food. By eating outside of Hollyweird and the West Side you'll pay local prices, not tourist or rich people prices. Check out some of the exotic foods in our local groceries. We don't even realize they're exotic. Shop in a Latin or Asian supermarket. They cater to all the locals and things will also be in English. Many of our Japanese supermarkets are part of Japanese chains so it's like shopping in Japan, with Japanese goods at normal retail prices. One of mine has a good food court where I get extremely fresh and cheap packaged sushi and shashimi. I can combine it with a plate lunch of tempura and soup, or a ramen bowl, and tea from another food stall. I can get a Japanese dessert, like an adzuki bean stuffed waffle, from a third food stall to finnish the feast off. This only costs a few bucks, everybody in our family gets what they want, there are indoor tables to eat on and you get a huge restaurant quality meal for a fraction of the price. A lot of the customers are typically Japanese. You can do things like this a lot in LA. Unlike New York, where many immigrants are from Europe, we get a lot of people from all over the Pacific rim from Chile to Australia. Generally we're a friendly bunch, though we all prize politeness. Being rude like a New Yorker is a good way to get into trouble. Don't do it. In every public establishment I've ever been in my lifetime here English can always bee spoken and there's no need to be uncomfortable about it. The clientele are always going to be the normal mixture of locals and we all have to use English to get along with our lives.
reply
I live very close to Manhattan Beach. I grew up in this area. MB has gotten much more expensive since a studio moved in here. Street parking, especially durinng the summer, has always been terrible. Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach are cheaper. By just going a little inland parking becomes easy and lodging much cheaper. The area is quite safe and we all have the advantage of beach weather, though parts of the year can be foggy. Our local diners and restaurants are good. For hime style food Joe's in Redondo Beach is a local tradition. When I was a kid John Wayne used to dock his boat in the local marina on some weekends and duck in there to grab a meal. They still serve his favorite special. I occasionally run into film and TV people in the area but don't expect to. The Kettle in Manhattan Beach, on the road running to the pier, is a 24 hour coffee shop with decent food that's also a local tradition. My favorite sushi place, assuming it's survived the insane pandemic restrictions here, is hidden away on the Manhattan Beach Pier. They even have excellent happy hour sushi. Never trust a sushi restaurant where the sushi chef isn't trained in Japan or trained by a Japanese sushi chef. If the menu is in Japanese, usually with an English translation, and the majority of the customers are Japanese, Japanese Americans or obvious locals then you should be golden. Some of our local Chinese restaurants are so tuned into Asia that new trends in Shanghai or Beijing restaurants appear here within weeks or months of their introduction in China. Our Thai restaurants are usually run by Thais. We have a sizable Vietnamese American population resident here for at keast a half century. Vietnamese food is becoming a staple here. Stip and eatat a pho (soup) restaurant and I think you'll like it. We have all kinds of good Mexican food. By eating outside of Hollyweird and the West Side you'll pay local prices, not tourist or rich people prices. Check out some of the exotic foods in our local groceries. We don't even realize they're exotic. Shop in a Latin or Asian supermarket. They cater to all the locals and things will also be in English. Many of our Japanese supermarkets are part of Japanese chains so it's like shopping in Japan, with Japanese goods at normal retail prices. One of mine has a good food court where I get extremely fresh and cheap packaged sushi and shashimi. I can combine it with a plate lunch of tempura and soup, or a ramen bowl, and tea from another food stall. I can get a Japanese dessert, like an adzuki bean stuffed waffle, from a third food stall to finnish the feast off. This only costs a few bucks, everybody in our family gets what they want, there are indoor tables to eat on and you get a huge restaurant quality meal for a fraction of the price. A lot of the customers are typically Japanese. You can do things like this a lot in LA. Unlike New York, where many immigrants are from Europe, we get a lot of people from all over the Pacific rim from Chile to Australia. Generally we're a friendly bunch, though we all prize politeness. Being rude like a New Yorker is a good way to get into trouble. Don't do it. In every public establishment I've ever been in my lifetime here English can always bee spoken and there's no need to be uncomfortable about it. The clientele are always going to be the normal mixture of locals and we all have to use English to get along with our lives.
reply
Scott
Local here. Love your videos - been watching for years. Have to disagree on renting a car. DO RENT A CAR. You don't want to be waiting around for expensive ubers. Driver shortage right now. Pubic transit? It goes very few places and is slow, dirty, and dangerous. Good advice on picking a spot and doing things nearby. People don't realize how spread out it is.
Best places to visit to do what locals do: Hollywood Bowl, Greek Theater, Dodger Stadium, Getty, In N Out, South Bay beaches and bike trail, the drive up PCH through Malibu. Hiking, also, is a religion here. Places locals don't go: Santa Monica Pier and Promenade, Venice, Hollywood other than the Bowl, Walk of Fame, Beverly Hills (boring, Downtown LA (dangerous post-pandemic.
reply
Local here. Love your videos - been watching for years. Have to disagree on renting a car. DO RENT A CAR. You don't want to be waiting around for expensive ubers. Driver shortage right now. Pubic transit? It goes very few places and is slow, dirty, and dangerous. Good advice on picking a spot and doing things nearby. People don't realize how spread out it is.
Best places to visit to do what locals do: Hollywood Bowl, Greek Theater, Dodger Stadium, Getty, In N Out, South Bay beaches and bike trail, the drive up PCH through Malibu. Hiking, also, is a religion here. Places locals don't go: Santa Monica Pier and Promenade, Venice, Hollywood other than the Bowl, Walk of Fame, Beverly Hills (boring, Downtown LA (dangerous post-pandemic.
reply
travel
Another shocker for some tourist is that they generalize everything as Los Angeles and they dont realize their in another city. It is because you can drive 10 to 15 minutes in any direction and be in another city. Can be much sooner than that depending where you are. If youre on the freeway in Southern California, in general you can almost guarantee every 3 to 4 freeway exit is another city. The freeway exits in most cases are no more than 3-5 miles apart. So you can imagine how many different cities you are driving by. Southern California is very dense with a lot of things to do.
reply
Another shocker for some tourist is that they generalize everything as Los Angeles and they dont realize their in another city. It is because you can drive 10 to 15 minutes in any direction and be in another city. Can be much sooner than that depending where you are. If youre on the freeway in Southern California, in general you can almost guarantee every 3 to 4 freeway exit is another city. The freeway exits in most cases are no more than 3-5 miles apart. So you can imagine how many different cities you are driving by. Southern California is very dense with a lot of things to do.
reply
evancortez2
When I'm in LA I like to rent cars from the local LA companies and not the national chain ones like Enterprise or Hertz - they're a lot cheaper but of course they don't have some things that the national chains have like an airport shuttle or a wide selection of cars. There's this one I use a lot, can't remember the name of it at this moment but it's just outside LAX, like a mile or two somewhere in Inglewood, and it's run by this really friendly guy who really goes out of his way to help his customers
reply
When I'm in LA I like to rent cars from the local LA companies and not the national chain ones like Enterprise or Hertz - they're a lot cheaper but of course they don't have some things that the national chains have like an airport shuttle or a wide selection of cars. There's this one I use a lot, can't remember the name of it at this moment but it's just outside LAX, like a mile or two somewhere in Inglewood, and it's run by this really friendly guy who really goes out of his way to help his customers
reply
paintkiller93
As a local, you pretty much nailed it. I do have a few things to add though:
Another free outdoor activity which is popular here is hiking.
The metro rail system is slowly but surely expanding. Soon more places will be accessible by rail that might be of interest to tourists including LACMA, the Academy Museum, Peterson, La Brea Tar Pits, and LAX (via people mover)
reply
As a local, you pretty much nailed it. I do have a few things to add though:
Another free outdoor activity which is popular here is hiking.
The metro rail system is slowly but surely expanding. Soon more places will be accessible by rail that might be of interest to tourists including LACMA, the Academy Museum, Peterson, La Brea Tar Pits, and LAX (via people mover)
reply
Juan
It always helps to know a local wherever you go, but after living in LA in for 3 years I do think it's essential. There's a lot of charm in LA in many of its neighborhoods and cities, but a lot of the tourist stuff is spread out. Having a local show you around does help. Also the food here is not that expensive, but there are mark ups around the popular and touristy areas.
reply
It always helps to know a local wherever you go, but after living in LA in for 3 years I do think it's essential. There's a lot of charm in LA in many of its neighborhoods and cities, but a lot of the tourist stuff is spread out. Having a local show you around does help. Also the food here is not that expensive, but there are mark ups around the popular and touristy areas.
reply
Zandra
I live here in LA. The museums that have their once a month free days put those tickets go online for one day a month before and they are gone in about an hour. So if you want to take advantage of those free tickets you have to plan ahead! also because of covid they are limiting entry. So keep that in mind. Also there are no walk up's for free days.
reply
I live here in LA. The museums that have their once a month free days put those tickets go online for one day a month before and they are gone in about an hour. So if you want to take advantage of those free tickets you have to plan ahead! also because of covid they are limiting entry. So keep that in mind. Also there are no walk up's for free days.
reply
Kay
My family moved to LA in 1924 (before me, haha) so I know the place. Since LA is not one city, people should think of it as visiting several cities and plan accordingly. Your tip about splitting up hotels or rental houses into different places is good, but it needs to be emphasized that Disneyland is not in LA.
reply
My family moved to LA in 1924 (before me, haha) so I know the place. Since LA is not one city, people should think of it as visiting several cities and plan accordingly. Your tip about splitting up hotels or rental houses into different places is good, but it needs to be emphasized that Disneyland is not in LA.
reply
Zandra
I live in LA. There are a lot of Free (not free) things in LA. Almost everywhere that is free to enter is not free to park. Parking examples for free places. The Getty $20, The Broad $17, The orginal farmers market, The Grove, Hollywood walk of fame, all of these are expensive to park, so keep in mind.
reply
I live in LA. There are a lot of Free (not free) things in LA. Almost everywhere that is free to enter is not free to park. Parking examples for free places. The Getty $20, The Broad $17, The orginal farmers market, The Grove, Hollywood walk of fame, all of these are expensive to park, so keep in mind.
reply
Bucket
good point about weighing up the travel cost vs the accommodation cost. we're travelling up the east coast of the US using public transport at the moment and we were surprised at how spread out everything is. sometimes it's worth it to pay a bit extra to be closer to where you need to be.
reply
good point about weighing up the travel cost vs the accommodation cost. we're travelling up the east coast of the US using public transport at the moment and we were surprised at how spread out everything is. sometimes it's worth it to pay a bit extra to be closer to where you need to be.
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
