I'm thinking about using my two week vacation time to go to the west coast. Besides the obvious stuff, what are some places I need to hit up? Need suggestions. Thanks.

I cannot imagine there is any must see place in LA. They have rebuilt downtown quite a bit with some decent restaurants. There is this cool hotel call the Standard that has an interesting pool scene on the roof. And by interesting I mean, the boys are girls and the boys are girls. Looks like it is closed due to Covid.

https://www.standardhotels.com/la/prope ... owntown-la

I do not find SF to be a great tourist city. The wharf is decent to walk along. I would hit the wineries- Napa to the north and Monterey to the south. Personally I like the small Monterey wineries. Lots of quirky little places. Or Alcatraz and street cars…boring.

The thing about LA and all of SoCal is the weather and beaches are awesome. For all the flaws in that state, they have really protected the ocean and beaches. But LA is a traffic nightmare and really one big shithole.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Agreed.

If there is, I would love to hear about it.

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Downtown LA is pointless. My former employer had an office there and as a result I had about 15 trips there in the five or six years before COVID.

Personally, if you want urban and not having to rent a car for a bloody fortune for the entire trip, I would consider San Diego. Rent a car when you get there and spend a couple of days in La Jolla, Torrey Pines, Carlsbad. Then come back and drop off the car and take a cheap taxi/Uber to the Gaslamp District or Little Italy. Tour the USS Midway if it's open post-COVID. Coronado Island is great if you want laid back, and there's a ferry boat between there and the convention center area. There are also a ton of good microbreweries around SD if you are into that.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

San Diego is awesome. Personally, I love La Jolla. But the beaches up and down the coast are near perfect. You can keep downtown San Diego and its boring gaslight district. Stick to the different beaches. All free.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Del Mar!

Gaslight, Little Italy and Petco are worth an afternoon total. But hotel prices on Coronado are pricey so if one is trying to cut down on rental car expenses then one of the smaller hotels between Petco and the Grand Hyatt can be a good value.

Just avoid any hotels in Hotel Circle or near Sea World.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Ocean Beach is the fun one in San Diego, bars galore, junkie fights on the beach for free late night/early AM entertainment. there's a hotel right on the beach, might be called Ocean Beach hotel? 2 stars at best; but you can sleep with your windows open to the sound of the waves hitting the beach. Decent seafood restaurant with ginormous patio as well and nightly fireworks. Fireworks might not be officially sanctioned. Sand is ridiculously hot and water is ice-cold. You can rent a long-board and wet suit and piss off the locals by trying to surf and clogging up the waves. Good times.


For Hell Eh:

Ride the subway

Catch food-poisoning from a street vendor's bacon-wrapped hot dog

Walking tour of Watts

if you have a rental car, cruise for streetwalkers on Figueroa

Watch drunk chicks get tossed by the carny running the mechanical bull at the Saddle Ranch on sunset strip

One thing about LA (and NY) is most places offer unlimited Bloodies/Mimosas during weekend brunch.

LA has the worst Mexican food outside Mexico proper. LA's idea of Mexican dining is TGIFriday's version of Mexican.

LA really is a shithole, probably something to do with all the Ohio expats who move there to get into acting and end up doing porn

Koreatown's worth checking out and easy to get to from most anywhere, you'll drive by it everyday most likely.

Go to a Dodger's game in Chavez Ravine, make sure to wear the visiting team's gear for the full Dodger Stadium experience

I enjoyed the Coronado. A bit out of the way, but it is a hotel you can spend a few days at without feeling like you are missing anything. I prefer to get north and enjoy the beach towns.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Dodger Stadium is worth the experience. It is crazy the way it is built into that hill.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I'll be out there for 2 months in Sept./Oct. I always thought it was a better place to live than visit. If I didn't have family/friend connections I'm not sure how often I'd visit. I'll be in Santa Monica and Newport Beach most of the time.

SoCal is fine but the Bay Area is garbage IMO. The weather sucks. San Francisco is a dump. The homeless are dangerous. The weather sucks.

I would check out a Giants game.

Also, I heard that SF is a great place to get laid. Unlike Chicago/Midwest where the women are always lookin' for a relationship.
I heard in SF women are fine with casual fuckings. Just go on Bumble or some shit and hopefully u can slam a woman or two.

ALso I would check out SF over LA.

LA is a scrambled mess o' garbage. The only thing in LA I'd check out is Hollywood/Sunset Blvd and then up to Santa Monica and shit.

Of course, the drive between LA and SF is scenic but u need to time for that.

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I’m in San Francisco as I write this. We just spent 10 days in the area and it was great. The homeless issue mentioned in an earlier post is over-hyped (unless you’ve never been to a big city). Everyone told us how bad it is but it really wasn’t a big deal (DC was much worse). Also, the weather has been great. 60s and 70s every day near the ocean. Much warmer when you go inland though. We went south to Monterey and continued past Big Sur to Morro Bay. Awesome scenery the whole way. Headed to Yosemite from there and again it’s incredible. Spent 3 days in SF proper and loved it. It’s a beautiful, interesting (and certainly overpriced) city. It’s a truly unique place and well worth a visit. Food is fantastic. The areas north of SF are also beautiful (coast through Mendocino, Avenue of the Giants for redwoods, wine country). I’d highly recommend this part of your proposed trip. (We didn’t go that far south but I’m sure L.A. to S.F. is awesome if you stick to the Pacific Coast Highway).

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

how was the pussy there?

compared to say, Chicago?

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If you find yourself in SF you should hit up House of Nanking. You might have to wait for a table but it's worth it.

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"Now comes good sailing. Moose. Indian."

Sounds like you hit the right spots. Ya the human feces on the streets is annoying but if you're a tourist you won't be going to those areas. Just like someone visiting Chicago. No tourist is going to the 2-3 bad neighborhoods every U.S. city has.



blackhawksfan - been living back in SF with my son and his gf for a year and a half now due to Covid. I moved here in the mid 90s before relocating to the islands but my kids have stayed here since then. Being back I can give you some good tips and PM me if you want to meet up.

Take HWY 1 down to Santa Cruz and spend a day at the Boardwalk. Beach is real nice there and nice places to eat. If you are traveling with little kids they'll love it.

Also go to a Giants game. You can get tickets cheap last minute on stubhub. Like for 3 - 10 bucks each , depending on when you buy them (and the Dodgers are not in town). That's what my son and I do all the time. This has been a magical season for the Giants. It's awesome to go there because of well they are playing. But regardless of how the season is going, the ballpark is the best , not one bad seat in the house.

Look for THESE upper deck seats right before the game starts in these sections - 315 (this one is priority), 314, or 317. They're right behind home plate but not very high. You get a great view of the entire field, ballpark, and the bay. If you are going to a day game, bring some sun screen. If you are going to a night game, bring your winter jacket from Chicago!

And do all the touristy things too.

I like L.A. a lot too. Like Satan said earlier in this post, the beaches are really nice there. But I don't like L.A. proper though, I much prefer Orange County and San Diego.

Dodger stadium is eh. The only cool thing is when you walk in the ballpark, you realize its buried into the ground. It's like the street is where the upper deck starts and you walk downhill.

Have a fun trip!

LA: http://www.ilovemole.com/#restaurant-section

Thanks, guys.

Agreed 100%.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

santa monica is fantastic. the pier/beach is pretty crowded right now but it's still a lot of fun. there are some great places to eat/drink around there, too.

I should note that if Yosemite is on your agenda and you’re driving, you need to make a reservation. Check the online calendar but when I booked they released admission tickets 7 days in advance at 10:00 am CST.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

I'm going to guess you stayed right by Fisherman's Wharf. We stayed there the first time and barely noticed the homeless issue about 5 years ago. We stayed closer to the Convention Center 3 years ago and it was the complete opposite experience. They were everywhere. I walked outside the hotel to see a cop having a discussion with a homeless person with his hand on his pepper spray. Stepped in human feces walking through a park. We were used to homeless walking around in New York but they seemed more aggressive. Lot of people having to cross the street to give some guy yelling space and these were people walking to and from work and not scared tourists.

All the tourist attractions are pretty awesome though but I don't think we'll be returning there again. The second trip wasn't nearly as enjoyable.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

There is a huge difference between women from the midwest and Cali. Cali women will fool you with their fake kindness. Rest assured, the second you turn around they are talking behind your back. It is a state with a lot of fakeness in their personalities (and often their body parts).

Midwestern people tend to be more straightforward.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

You should experience LA's skid row. Make sure you walk alone at night and are wearing an expensive watch.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Venice Beach is full of homeless. Use to be a fun place to visit in L.A. but now it's dangerous.

It's ridiculous to say that the homeless in LA and San Francisco are no different than in any major city. People are laying on the sidewalk staking claims for a spot for the night as soon as the sun starts going down. You have to walk over people laying on the ground or around tents. I saw a homeless woman wearing an apron take a shit on the steps of the San Francisco Mint at around 9 in the morning as someone was power washing the steps at the top.

It's not the same as other cities. Go to wine country.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

This is correct. I don't think human deification on the streets is allowed in other cities. I have only seen it in SF. But SF has had decades of homelessness problems. Even back in the 80s when most of the country did not.

And I'm not even talking about the drug addicts. I've never had to walk in a CTA station and physically avoid all the drugged out people and their needles laying on the floors like I have to do with BART.

If you need weed, the homeless have it! Plus, you can see the beginning of a Reality Kings video being taped. Venice Beach is awesome.