California Dreamin’ Adventure Itinerary: Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, and Beverly Hills

Hi friends and welcome to my blog. After our recent adventures in California, I wanted to share our travel itinerary. I will be writing more detailed posts about specific days and places. Hopefully, some of you can find our experiences helpful for your future trips! Enjoy!

Thursday, October 21: Preparing for the Trip

10:30pm: Before our flight, we left for New Jersey to stay with my family . We left our car parked by my family’s home while we were out of town.

11:00pm-12:00am: Once we arrived, we made sure everything was packed, cuddled with Gracie, and slept before our early departure.

Cuddling with Gracie before the flight.

Friday, October 22: California Arrival and Wedding Night

4:30-5:00am: We both began packing our snacks and meals for our five hour flight. As soon as we were ready, my dad drove us to Newark airport.

A selection of snacks provided by my family

5:00-6:00am: Once we made it through a very crowded security checkpoint, we arrived at the gate, scarfed down half of our meals, and boarded the plane.

7:00-7:30am: Eventually, our flight took off after a small delay.

Made it on the plane! Time to nap!

10:00-12:00pm: As soon as we could, we grabbed our luggage, loaded our rental car, and started our one-hour drive to our hotel in Westlake Village.

On our way!

1:00pm-3:50pm: Upon our arrival in Westlake Village, we grabbed a quick bite, coffee, necessities from Target, checked into our hotel, dressed up and left for the wedding.

At In-N-Out Burger for the first time!

4:15-4:35pm: As soon as we arrived, we found our seats two minutes before the ceremony began.

5:00-11:00pm: After a lovely ceremony, we were able to relax at the wedding reception. We rewarded ourselves with quality food, music, and even a photo booth!

Photo booth pic!

Saturday, October 23: Hollywood and Horses

8:00-11-00am: We started our morning with a complimentary hotel breakfast.

Eggs, potatoes, scrambled eggs and salsa.

1:00-2:30pm: Later, we met with friends at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Picture on the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Blvd.

3:00-4:30pm: In advance, we booked a Skyline riding trail with LA Horse Rental.

Thank you to LA Horse Rentals for introducing us to Sam (left) and Pac-Man (right).

4:30-6:30pm: After our ride, we drove to Lake Hollywood Park for good views of the famed Hollywood Sign.

It is much closer than it appears in this pic!

7:00-8:00pm: After our first full vacation day, we rewarded ourselves with a good meal in our hotel room.

Food from Lure Fish House. Miso Glazed Sea Bass Bowl (top). Mexican Burrito Bowl (bottom). Free bread.

Sunday, Oct 24: Malibu and Santa Monica

8:00am: Somehow we managed to wake up early to go to the hotel fitness center.

Managed to complete 30mins of cardio.

9:00-11:00am: We had complimentary breakfast, packed and checked out of our hotel.

12:20-1:20pm: Our first stop was El Matador Beach. We were able to enjoy the rock formations and great Cali weather.

Picture taken by a Cali local.

2:00-2:45pm: The next stop was Point Dume, a popular lookout point in Malibu with amazing coastal views.

Trail along Point Dume

3:00-5:00pm: The third stop was the iconic Malibu Pier. We did some (window shopping), picture-taking, and soaked up some sun.

Portrait Mode of us on the Malibu Pier.

6:00-7:30pm: Our final stop on the way to our hotel was Santa Monica Pier. It was so lively and exciting. We managed to pick up some souvenirs.

This is us in front of Pacific Park. A nice group of tourists took our picture!

For more information on our visit to Malibu and Santa Monica, check out my separate post.

8:00-11:00pm: After dropping off our bags at our hotel in Downtown LA, we returned the car and ate ramen next to our hotel. Later, we went to sleep to get ready for the next day.

Ramen from Suehiro Cafe.

Monday, October 25: Warner Bros. Studio Tour and an Evening in Downtown LA

10:00am-5:00pm: The first activity of the day was the Warner Bros. Studio Tour. We saw several tv/movie sets on a guided tour and had the chance to explore by ourselves.

The start of our Warner Bros. Studio Tour. A nice staff member volunteered to take this for us!

6:30-8:00pm: Afterwards, we rested at our hotel and walked to Grand Central Market. I highly recommend coming earlier for a wider selection of food and snacks.

We arrived at 6:30 and a few vendors closed their stands. Thankfully we still got good meals.

8:00-9:00pm: Once we finished our meals, we cross the streets to the Angel’s Flight Railway. It is a historic 2ft 6 in railway, the world’s shortest railway.

This is where we arrived to board the cable car. It goes up to the California Plaza.

9:00-10:30pm: On the way back to our hotel, we found the 2nd Street Tunnel, a filming location of several several movies, including The Terminator.

2nd Street Tunnel in Bunker Hill.

Tuesday, October 26: Chinatown, Hollywood, Murals, and Beverly Hills

8:00-9:00am: On our way to a breakfast spot, we stumbled upon the Old Plaza Firehouse, the oldest fire station in LA.

In front of the Old Plaza Firehouse by Olvera Street.

9:00-10:00am: We reached Philippe’s The Original restaurant for a famous French dip sandwich. Of course we also grabbed some coffee.

Tuna Salad Sandwich on sourdough bread and a Dry Beef French Dip Sandwich from Philippe’s.

11:00am-12:00pm: As if we didn’t eat enough, our next stop was the “Rush Hour Restaurant”. We ordered food to take pictures of the interior.

The Foo Chow Restaurant is not shy about their reputation.

1:00-2:00pm: It turned out that Chinatown was across the street. We bought some souvenirs and even befriended store owners from Hong Kong.

Chinatown LA is generally less crowded than other Chinatowns. That means there’s more fun for us!

2:30-4:00pm: We went back to the Hollywood Walk of Fame for more souvenirs and to find more Hollywood stars.

Keanu Reeves is the only celebrity who we would love to meet.

4:30-5:15: After finishing our time at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, we took the bus to Melrose Avenue to find some murals. They were more beautiful than I imagined!

The Pink Wall!

6:00-8:30pm: The final stop for the day was Beverly Hills. Once we found the Beverly Hills Sign, we walked around Rodeo Drive. We didn’t spend much money but we had a good time.

Rodeo Drive, pronounced “Ro-DAY-OH Drive.”

10:00pm: When we returned to our hotel, we watched Rush Hour and went to bed after an exhausting but fulfilling day.

Wednesday, October 27: LA Views and Venice Beach

10:00am-2:00pm: In order to find amazing views of Los Angeles, we went to The Getty Center. The views were magnificent and the museum was worth walking through as well.

Panorama from The Getty Center.

2:30-8:30pm: The rest of our day was spent exploring Venice Beach. We saw the Venice Canals, murals, Muscle Beach, an amazing sunset and met up with some local friends of ours!

Panorama of Venice Beach sunset with the Pride Lifeguard Tower.

9:00pm: We went back to our hotel room to relax and get some rest after another busy day.

Thursday, October 28: Downtown LA Adventures

10:00am-12:30pm: Our first stop was the Los Angeles Police Museum. The museum had old vehicles, artifacts and history of the LAPD.

This is a LAPD Car from the North Hollywood Shootout. It has several holes where bullets entered.

1:15-2:00pm: As fans of the Worth It series on YouTube, we stopped by to eat at Pasta Sisters. It was a great meal to have after walking around.

Pappardelle with salmon (left), Pappardelle with black truffle (right).

2:30-4:00pm: We walked around Koreatown and discovered the Koreatown Plaza.

In the Koreatown Plaza. We mainly heard Korean spoken.

4:00-5:00pm: We took the LA Metro back to DTLA to see The Last Bookstore. Not only was it a cute place for pictures but we found four books for the price of $17 total.

The circular arrangement of books in the store. This is located on the second floor.

5:30-7:30pm: After resting in our room, we walked across the street to explore the Japanese Village Plaza in Little Tokyo. There were good restaurants and stores with cute souvenirs.

A tourist from Colorado took this picture for us.

8:00-9:00pm: We headed back to Olvera Street for Day of the Dead celebrations. Several families gathered to pay respects and papel picado (perforated paper) were put up.

Olvera Street decorated for Day of the Dead.

Friday, October 29: Photoshoots, Universal Studios and Halloween Nights

8:00-10:00am: Before leaving, we wanted to take some classy, old school pictures. So we dressed up, crossed the street and did our own DIY photoshoot.

Couple picture in the Japanese Village Plaza.

11:00-1:00am: We arrived at Universal Studios and went to the Wizarding World, Town of Springfield, Jurassic World, and even stayed for the Halloween Nights.

Ready for our fun at Universal Studios. A nice mother took this picture of us after we took the same pic for her family.

One of the Haunted Mazes at Universal Studios!

Saturday, October 30: Return Home

8:30am: After buying snacks from a bakery across the street, we headed to the airport for our 12:24pm flight.

Piano placed in the LAX airport.

Although our flight was delayed for two hours, we eventually made it home and were so grateful to have had a successful vacation and finally back in NYC.

Thank you for taking the time to read. Stay tuned for more tales of our adventures!