Los Angeles

We now live in Los Angeles, so we don't have to fill up our time between post-operation appointments with Dr. Lewin with sight seeing.  However, for those of you who are looking for great kid-friendly, non-water-filled, non-roller coaster-filled activities, we can share some of our favorite things to do in Los Angeles.  Besides the regular tourist attractions (sidewalk stars on Hollywood Blvd., Disneyland, Universal Studios, etc.), LA has wonderful activities to offer for kids, including a number of "free days" at the museums.  Other highly recommended activities include (and a full day can be dedicated to each):

ON THE WESTSIDE
  • the Santa Monica Pier (though the rides are incredibly expensive) and the Santa Monica Beach
  • the Getty Museum in Bel Air/Brentwood is simply amazing and has a fantastic collection of Impressionist paintings as well as a huge, wonderful garden that kids would love to run around in (admission is free but there is a fee for parking; there is a very good and affordable cafeteria also) - allow a leisurely pace and don't try to cover too much and you'll have fun
  • the Skirball Cultural Center (close to the Getty in Bel Air) is an interactive educational museum with a great Noah's Ark that the kids can play in and around
IN BEVERLY HILLS AND CENTURY CITY
  • the Century City Westfield mall is a nice, outdoor, family-friendly upscale shopping mall
  • the Farmer's Market in Beverly Hills on Sunday mornings by the Civic Center is quite nice and usually has pony rides and/or a small area for petting animals
  • Roxbury Park in Beverly Hills is one of my favorite medium sized local parks with areas for children to play, lots of parking, tennis courts and fields for soccer and baseball.
IN THE MID-WILSHIRE AND WEST HOLLYWOOD AREAS CLOSE TO DR. LEWIN'S
  • the Zimmer Children's Museum (which is in Mid Wilshire and has free parking!) is a terrific indoor "discovery" interactive museum best for children in the 3-8 age range
  • the Petersen Automotive Museum nearby and also in Mid-Wilshire is a little stuffy and "don't touch"-y, but it has an amazing collection of cars and is a major hit especially with boys
  • the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits is pretty academic showing visitors the process of cleaning and inventorying bones found at the site.  (Probably only a quick stop for young kids; and only worth it if getting in for free through Natural History Museum tickets or other memberships.)  The Tar Pits site is a nice park that is fun to walk around in and imagine how dinosaurs roamed around there millions of years ago.
  • More "adult-ish" museums in the Mid-Wilshire area are the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) which went through a big expansion in 2010 and the Craft and Folk Art Museum; both are very nice and right by the Page
  • the Grove upscale outdoor mall (which is also nearby and borders the east side of West Hollywood and has a calendar of kid's events) and has a double-decker trolley (free) running through it, a good sized Barnes & Noble and a terrific Farmers Market adjoining
SOUTH OF THE 10 BETWEEN DOWNTOWN AND FAIRFAX
  • the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park is a good place to take kids with the regular fare: gems and minerals, dinosaur bones, ancient Latin American art, taxidermied mammals and birds, butterflies and spiders...
  • There are also other good museums and centers in the Exposition Park area
IN AND NEAR GRIFFITH PARK
  • the Los Angeles Zoo is a nice zoo with koalas, kangaroos, alligators, lions, giraffes, monkeys, gorillas and the new terrific elephant exhibit
  • the Griffith Park Train Travel Town has old trains the kids can climb in as well as a real train the kids can ride and pony rides
  • Also in Griffith Park - Shane's Inspiration is a wonderful playground that was specially built for children with disabilities but is super fun for kids of all abilities
IN PASADENA
STROLLING
Other fun places to check out and walk around in with or without the kids are downtown Culver City, Manhattan Beach, the Venice Beach Boardwalk (the actual boardwalk can be pretty gritty and "full of characters" but it makes for good people watching - a skate park, a good sized children's playground and a cool gymnasium-style muscle beach) and Malibu (check out the beach, people watching at the Country Mart or drive around up in the mountains and check out the houses).  Also along the coast between Santa Monica and Malibu is the Getty Villa on the Pacific Coast Highway which is spectacular as well.

SHOPPING


If mom and dad have a chance to be alone and do a little "window shopping," the following are fun streets / areas: 3rd Street and Melrose in West Hollywood, 3rd Street Promenade and Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Drive and Little Santa Monica Blvd. (just north of Wilshire) in Beverly Hills, Abbot Kinney in Venice, Colorado in Old Town Pasadena.  For the mall experience, there are: the Grove and Century City Westfield (in LA and previously mentioned), the Beverly Center is right by the surgery and Cedar Sinai area but can be a little busy and South Coast Plaza if you're up for a drive.

WHERE TO STAY

You probably have lots of ideas, but if I were doing this and had to choose, I'd pick an Airbnb home on the Westside (Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills) and camp out in LA for a month or so...
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