I have a business trip to SoCal in mid-June. My wife and 18 year old son are going to join me. It is sort of a high school graduation present for him so I'm looking to piece together a car-related itinerary for us. So far, the only thing I've come up with is a visit to the Petersen. Please help me fill out our dance card! Below is the high level travel plan.
Saturday - Fly into Orange county airport, stay in OC through Weds early AM
Wednesday - Drive up to LA, stay there until departure on Saturday
Petersen Auto Museum
Malibu/Santa Monica where you're likely to see some old cars cruising the beach.
Hollywood Hot Rods (not really public, but they have a storefront so you can go in)
Plan B motors, responsible for lots of movie cars -F&F, green hornet, Herbie the love bug (the new one). Also not public but you might be able to call and get a wee tour.
I know your time is limited, but all of my friends who came to visit me in LA wanted to do a taping of Price is Right. It's neat, but takes a lot of time.
232 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Los Angeles - Atlas Obscura
I would say check out what is going on at the California Speedway (a bit to the east), but I think that will be done by then and being bulldozed to replace the 2 mile track with a 1/2 mile oval [gaging sound].
Irwindale Speedway is still there (for now?): https://irwindalespeedway.com/events/
Check out Pomona (drag strip) also. The swap meet might be going on then also(?) Now sponsored by In-N-Out: https://www.dailybulletin.com/2022/11/01/in-n-out-burger-taking-over-as-pomona-fairplex-dragstrips-new-sponsor/ Not sure where their website is.
Do certainly look for some local Cars & Coffee events. Not sure how to find those. Always a chance for some interesting cars showing up in SoCal. The one in Malibu (at bit of a drive for you) has some predictably exotic cars at it I am told, maybe look for one in one of the beach cities.
If near Newport or Laguna Beach notice all the Porsche's and Benz's. It's crazy all you see.
Sign up for the Vault tour at the Peterson. It's aimed a little more at tourists than gearheads (celebrity ownership gets a little more emphasis than I would prefer) but it's a great tour. Looks like they've made it more of a display than it was when I was there.
June 11 th is Long Beach Hi performance swap meet ,
VW Bug in , drag races , car show and swap meet is June 18 at Irwindale
Pomona swap meet on the 25th ,
lots of cars and coffee meets
Thanks for the ideas so far!
@Keith - We'll definitely include the vault portion! :)
Adams Motorsports Park in Riverside will probably have a weekend race
Fly into Orange County and drive north; you're in LA. Drive south and you are in San Diego.
I once wrote a recommended one day trip starting in San Diego and heading north to OC. You might try the trip in the reverse direction.
Any more specific where in OC you will be for the first half? Are you working the first half or the second half? Does this work leave the wife and kid on their own to find things to fill the afternoon?
Here is a calander of many car shows in SoCal for any given day. Pick a day and plot some locations on a map to see what you are near.
http://www.socalcarculture.com/events.html
Will this be anyone's first time in LA? I ask because I find an interesting phenomena. Upon your first visit to LA/SoCal everything looks vaguely familiar. Why? Because it looks like how you have been seeing it in movies and TV all your life.
Thanks John! We haven't booked flights yet, so we could theoretically spend almost the entire week in LA, flying in/out of LAX. Or we could fly into OC and then transit to LA. I have to work on Tuesday all day (company HQ is in Santa Ana), but that's it. So wife and son will be on their own in OC that day.
One option I'm strongly considering is something fun at the Porsche Experience Center in Carson. Has anyone done a PEC class they found especially enjoyable?
https://www.porschedriving.com/los-angeles
In reply to dyintorace :
I used to work for a company HQ'ed in Irvine and when I had to be out there I would usually extend my trips at least through a weekend. Sometimes the weekend before and the weekend after. My activities were usually sailboat related. Do you like water?
If yes, I recommend Newport Beach. A pretty cool area. I'd recommend renting a Duffy Electric Boat for a few hours which run about $85 per hour. These are called Picnic Boats and that's exactly what to do on them. Comfortable for up to about 8 if you can bring some co-workers. Spacious for just the 3 of you.
Newport Harbor is protected from the Ocean wave, so always calm. With the island in the middle, the harbor becomes a giant circle route.
The Harborside Restaurant is a local landmark and easy to find. There is a Duffy Boat rental company right on the restaurant grounds.
We'll be in LA from the 12 to the 18th of June
dyintorace said:
One option I'm strongly considering is something fun at the Porsche Experience Center in Carson. Has anyone done a PEC class they found especially enjoyable?
https://www.porschedriving.com/los-angeles
Porsche Experience Center in Carson is about 20 miles up the 405 Freeway from John Wayne / OC airport and 10 miles South of LAX ,
Its free to go inside , there are a few cool race cars and of course a gift shop and you can go to the Cafe and watch the Porsches driving the course .
Its across the Freeway from the Goodyear Blimp :)
Watch out for the June gloom!
In reply to dyintorace :
Bummer will miss you my friend! I will be in Novia Scotia + Iceland June and July.
If you need anything while here - text/email me.
Hope you have a nice time
John Welsh said:
Will this be anyone's first time in LA? I ask because I find an interesting phenomena. Upon your first visit to LA/SoCal everything looks vaguely familiar. Why? Because it looks like how you have been seeing it in movies and TV all your life.
That's interesting, I had the opposite experience. Once I'd been to LA, I started spotting things I'd seen. But I was mostly working and the only tourist thing I did was walk from Manhattan Beach to Venice along with a visit to the Peterson. I don't usually stay in LA but prefer Lancaster or Mohave. Since I usually meet journalists on Angeles Crest, that keeps me out of the traffic morass.
Peterson vault tour is a must
Malibu is kind of a nightmare on the weekends but the cars and coffee events are a good time. Get there early if you go. Gets too rowdy as the day goes on.
If you can do a Mulholland drive (it's the backbone for much better roads, use Google, you'll figure it out) it's worth it I think. It's def the best consolidation of good roads in the area IMO. Neptunes net has some good fish's and chips too.
Get an in n out burger. It's the best fast food burger. All other opinions are wrong.
I think I want to move back to southern California.
Maybe something from this Classic Motorsports story will help with your plans: Road tripping from L.A. to Monterey Car Week.
Thanks for the continued suggestions! Grabbing burgers at In-n-Out is a definite. My wife and I have been there, but our son hasn't. And I really want to hit a cars and coffee but it looks like the Malibu version is canceled again so we'll have to look for a different one.
In reply to dyintorace :
The Orange county C&C is every Saturday and it's the best in the country.
there is also a Cars and Coffee for Hot rods at Derelict donuts in Huntington beach Saturday mornings
