Comin’ into Los Angeles

[Brian Cameron]

...But won’t be bringing in a couple of keys. My first visit to the city of angels.

Coming in from Canada for my high school buddy’s 60th (God how did we get old so fast) with my hot blonde wife so obviously a porsche rental is in order for get transportation. Party is in Calabasas which apparently is a bit in the boonies but looking for ideas on what else to do while in town for 3 or 4 days.

Thinking of taking my buddy to Porsche Experience as a birthday gift so that’s on the list. Wife will want to check out venice, malibu, rodeo drive etc of course. But what else is a must do while in the area? On google maps I see an intriguing looking highway 2 (Angeles crest hwy), is that worthwhile?

Angelinos, guide me!

[salayc]

Angeles crest is great, you can get to it a couple of ways from Calabasas as well. You could also head out to Ojai from the area via some back roads. If you're looking for a drive, head over to the Rock Store on Mulholland highway adjacent to Calabasas and then maybe up to the Saddle Peak Lodge on Piuma.
Having been in Montreal for the last few years (but from LA) I realized I missed Venice and Malibu, so those are worth a trip. You might as well head over to Beverly Hills while you're at it.

[nathanbs]

Angeles crest highway 2 or Big tujunga which I think is more enjoyable that can both end at the famous Newcombs Ranch is worth it. Can go up one and come down the other. Both start options are only about 8 miles apart so it’s just preference versus convenience. Experience center is a blast and a great restaurant. There will likely be 2-3 porsche meet-ups on any given weekend that you are here

[smadsen]

From Calabasas get over to Mulholland, take it to dead end at the Leo Carrillo State Beach, find the pirate cave on the beach, take picture. Oh yeah, you may have to divert at Decker Canyon (Hwy23) since a portion of Mulholland is still closed from flood/fire last year. In that case, Decker to beach, go north a few miles to Leo Carrillo. Then drive north for fried fish at Neptune's Net (look for the clump of motorcycles, driver's right). Then onward to Mugu Rock. You seen it in a million car commercials.

[Noah930]

Venice boardwalk, Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, and the adjacent San ta Monica Pier are good touristy things.to see. Even fun for native Angelenos. Then take PCH up north to Malibu. Getty Villa in Malibu is always a treat, but you have to make reservations in advance for the parking; it's different than the Getty Museum (also fantastic) over in the Sepulveda Pass by Bel Air. Shopping, restaurants,and beautiful oeople watching at Malibu Country Mart. Keep north on PCH to Neptune's Net, a biker/surfer seafood place. You can take any of a bunch of canyons to the Calabasas area from there: Decker, Encinal, Mulholland. But not Topanga Cyn, which is still closed from the fires.

Calabasas is swanky enough. The Kardashians live there, after all. I second the recommendation for Saddle Peak Lodge off Piuma as a great restaurant. There are more restaurants at the Calabasas Commons. There's also a Lambo dealership overlooking the 101; that place is always crowded with Ferraris and GT Porsches for sale, too.

The driving in the Malibu mountains is fantastic. Mulholland is the backbone of it, but it's heavily trafficked and there are plenty of LEOs and cyclists, too. I prefer th driving on all the little canyons off Mul, like Decker, Stunt/Piuma, Encinal, Little Sycamore, and the last bit of Mul before the beach. The Rock Store is packed with motorcycles on weekends, but closed on weekdays. Just west.of.it, along Mul to Kanan is a great little segment known as The Snake.

Angeles Crest is always great driving. Up to Newcomb's, as others have mentioned. Also.plenty of LEO. The corners are much more sweeping with better sightlines than in the Malibu hills, so speeds can be a lot higher. You hustle a car to get it going 30-60 mph in the canyons off Mul. In comparison, you go through corners at 60-80 mph up on Angeles Crest (eapecially the backside) and don't even break a sweat.

Other LA car things: Petersen Museum (and the close by Farmers Market/Grove for food/shopping. Friday night cruise night at Bob's in Toluca Lake. Cars and Coffee in Orange County on Sat morning. Supercar Sunday at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.on Sunday mornings. Every other weekend there's a Cars and Coffee in Malibu (close to Pepperdine) on Saturdays, I think.

[Brian Cameron]

Thanks for weighing in Noah, have enjoyed your posts for nearly two decades now.... Yah, wife already sussed out the Petersen (she’s a keeper). Thx for the food tips, hunger kills thousands daily. Also like the sound of the Snake. Have to keep parity with my brother who drove tail of the dragon when he lived in Tennessee.

[proporsche]

I have worked in Porsche ind.service in Calabasas back in the 1980 for 14 years..it was a great place to start living in the US of A for me...now is a little Beverly Hills in the Valley..but still nice. Don`t forget to see the biggest Rolex watch-clock on the city hall tower...and if still exist Sagebrush cantina...many LA Kings players used to live there those days;-) among other celebs..even met the great 99 W.G in the bar ..
Ivan

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Brian Cameron

with my hot blonde wife so obviously a porsche rental

I'm pleased it's not a case of bringing the Porsche and a rental blonde.



Driving Mulholland is a must.

[proporsche]

as Bill said, also Kanan road is perfect;-) or Las Virgenes Canyon..from Agoura Hills
Ivan

[4flyboy]

If you're 60 then you must make the pilgrimage to Bronson Cave in Griffith Park, it's the law

Better known as The Bat Cave. Adam West and Bert Ward blasting out of the weeds so many years ago.

Put Bronson Cave into your Google Maps search bar and enjoy a ride down Hollywood blvd and up into Griffith Park......free parking and short easy walk to the cave and clear view of the Hollywood sign.....

[Noah930]

If you head over to Griffith Park, don't miss the Observatory. And if going to the Observatory on a weekend, go earlier for parking at the lot next to it. Tons of hiking around there, too, including a couple to see and take you to the Hollywood sign. Griffith Park is a little bit like alA's version of Central Park. The zoo is there, hiking trails, jogging/biking, golf course, pony rides, kiddie train rides, train museum (more geared towards kids), carousel, Gene Autry Museum (western theme). Most of it is so-so, but the Observatory is cool. And free, unless you watch one of the movies in the planetarium.

Another place to (kinda) see the Hollywood Sign (but mostly for the view of beautiful people types and Hollywood/LA) is Runyon Canyon. It's a park/hike that stretches from roughly Hollywood Blvd, up the hill to Mulholland. Maybe 1-2 hours round trip. Parking is much easier at the bottom, along Franklin and Hollywood. There is a smallish dirt parking lot at the top, off Mulholland, but that is hit or miss, and they tow if parked along Mulholland illegally (check signs, but there are only a few legal street spots).

Speaking of Mul, please realize that there is Mulholland Dr (from the Cahuenga Pass in Hollywood, going west to Encino), and Mulholland Highway (from Calabasas/Woodland Hills, out west to PCH/Pacific Ocean). In between is technically a fire road, so you can't drive from Hollywood all the way to the ocean on Mul.

[Alansglide]

There's always Super Car Sunday in Woodland Hills. That's about 10 minutes from Calabasas. Sunday mornings from 7-10 AM. www.Supercarsunday.com

[Brian Cameron]

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas and sorry for going dark for so long, was dealing with a kidney stone while this thread was active and i guess i forgot to come back after all that fun.

So the wife and i just landed at LAX and are heading over to the Turo valet lot to pick up a 718 Boxster to get around in. We will try to fit in what we can but it sounds like we need a month to do LA justice, not just a few days.

First stop is the Petersen, thought we should do that before we head to the hotel in Santa Monica. Then check out the pier, say hi to the pacific ocean and wander around to find some food.

Buddy’s surprise 60th is tomorrow evening, thinking of taking the old Topanga highway up to their place in Calabasas. i noticed Google maps says some of the roads in the area are “restricted access”, does just that mean i can’t take semi truck in there, or will I encounter gates and armed guards ?

Sunday we hope to do Supercars C&C at woodlands, then back to Calabasas for a pool party and visiting. Monday we do a sightseeing tour so we can see the usual tourist stuff and somebody else can deal with traffic and parking.

Weds i am taking my buddy to PEC to try out a couple of 911s, and other than that we are pretty much just unstructured time and will enjoy the weather with the top down. Last weekend we got a foot of snow in Calgary so we picked a good time to be gone.

[4flyboy]

Brian,

You'll want to want the 3rd street Promenade on the way to or from the pier.....the promenade stretches 6-8 blocks north/south between Pico and Wiltshire. Full of restaurants and shops and strange street entertainers doing all sorts of things.

A morning walk trip up to Montana for breakfast is also a treat, have fun and watch for parking tickets. They're efficiently evil.

[proporsche]

Hi Brian..enjoy Santa Monica ..i have lived there for over 14 years...right at the Pier..;-) i do not think the Topanga is a problem road unless there were some floods...
here was my beach app at the beach...........
second arrow ..where i parked my 911 for 14 years

[Peter Zimmermann]

Brian, as you have probably already experienced, traffic, traffic, traffic! Allow an hour longer than planned to get from point A to point B. If you drive in the Malibu Hills beware of motorcycles. There are many and they are mostly crazy! Malibu Canyon was my drive for many years between home (in Agoura/Newbury Park) and Red Line Service (in Santa Monica). A hidden gem is Corral Canyon, which is about 3 miles northwest of Malibu Canyon/Pacific Coast Highway. It's a dead end road, not sure if it had fire closures, but the views are spectacular. Also, Latigo Canyon is another great drive with less traffic than you will run across in the other canyon roads mentioned. Broad Beach Rd, a couple miles north of Zuma Beach, and Malibu Colony Drive, entered across PCH from Malibu Canyon, are all houses worth millions of dollars. Have fun, and watch that traffic!

[proporsche]

+10000 as Petr said.....

[ian c2]

Huntington Beach airshow this weekend .

Puerto Rico international show was cancelled , so a lot of planes decided they’d go buzz surf-city’s beach instead

More military jets at this show this weekend than any other show in USA .

We’ve been getting buzzed by military jets at work the last couple of days .

Seen some pretty cool stuff ...
9 Canadian Air Force planes flying in formation , 10 Brit Air Force planes flying in formation etc.

http://afthunderbirds.com/site/2019/09/12/thunderbirds-announce-return-to-the-great-pacific-air-show/
https://ktla.com/2019/10/02/royal-air-force-red-arrows-aerobatic-team-to-fly-past-hollywood-sign-on-wednesday/amp/

[MIK911]

Welcome to LaLa Land!

PEC's monthly cars/coffee Oct 5
https://www.facebook.com/pg/PorscheExperienceCenterLosAngeles/events/?ref=page_internal

Supercar Sunday Oct 6--just your luck. It's Porsche marque day!
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=supercarsunday&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[86 911 Targa]

Try to stop by 90266.

Nice town.

Been here for 50 years.

Best,

Gerry