Need more info, if you are just stuck at the LAX for a few hours my favorite hangout is Gladstone's fish in terminal 3, always busy and a little pricey but great bar and good food with a nice view of the landing strip.
If you are staying over the night there are fun places to eat/drink close by in El Segundo, Marina Del Ray, Manhattan beach.
When my wife and I were doing the long distance relationship thing I often just went down to Dockweiler State beach (adjacent to LAX), walked on the beach, checked out the waves and watched the planes come in.
Oh and there is the famous round restaurant right in the middle of LAX, never tried it but it is on my bucket list.

We'll be staying overnight, since we have 24 hours we don't necessarily have to stay anywhere near LAX.

LAX for a flight around noon, you'll want to be there two hours ahead of departure. I'd book an airport area hotel and rent a car the day you arrive and drive through Beverly Hills or something. Not much to see in Downtown LA.

If you want a tour of the Disney studios in Burbank, let me know. We aren't open to the public for tours.

If you can connect with Hugh for a tour of the studio that would be by far the coolest thing you could do in one day. I did some the contract work at the studio and got to dink around there a bit.

A Disney studio tour would be awesome. I was also hoping we could check out either the Venice boardwalk or Santa Monica Pier. Just how bad are the crazies in those areas these days?

I don't think there are many large airports that I would want to leave for only having a 3 hr layover. That's what you bring a Kindle for....to sit there patiently and read a book, or play a game, not to grab a cab, find a place to eat, and get the cab back to the airport without any problems.

a little bit of the crazies are still there (the body builders and the guys dancing on skates, but the bad ones are gone and it is pretty pricy living areas now. I know about your concern, Venice was a dump when I was a kid. You will have no issues in terms of safety visiting. NOW, parking is a btich at both places. Santa Monica has the boardwalk and fun to people watch but really no place to eat and relax to have a beer. There's Third Street Promenade Third Street Promenade - Santa Monica - Reviews of Third Street Promenade - TripAdvisor Drive south for another 30 min to Manhattan or Hermosa beach. The pace is much slower there (I am bias, because I hung out there lots as a kid). Walk on the sand, find a place to eat and stroll through downtown, go out on the pier (nothing on it really but a few people fishing) and get you guys out on top of the ocean. Parking is still not too much fun to find but better then Santa Monica. That's close by, then there's Rodeo Drive in BH so you can spend money shopping at the porsche store. If you want to see more freaks, come on up to West Hollywood and have lunch or dinner at many of the fine restaurants. All the men are great looking, every corner you turn (according to my wife) but they are mostly gay. the Griffith Observatory is a great place to visit and kill 3-4 hours. You see all of LA from the hill top. Stroll down to Hollywood in 10 minutes and hang out there and walk around. Plenty to see and do.

Never mind. Rennsport Reunion rescheduled, cost me $300 to rebook our flights, but now we have a direct flight home, no layover at LAX.

Sucks.