Help with 1st trip to California

[rubybpc]

My DH and I are planning a 3 day trip to surprise our 8yr old son for his 9th Birthday in late August to Universal for the Mario World. After doing a search on this thread I came across several things I now have questions about.
1st one is quite alarming to me. What are the safest areas to rent a hotel/ motel in Los Angeles?
2nd transportation. Should we rent a car? Seems like parking in California is difficult.
3rd Does Universal have resorts like in Florida?

TIA!!

 

[bcla]

Location and safety are a very specific thing. LA is a big place and you can find yourself just two blocks and it’s very different. I’d generally look up reviews on a particular location to get a better idea about the neighborhood.

That being said, I remember staying at a motel last year while on a tight budget for an LA trip. I couldn’t exactly pick the location because it was an opaque Hotwire booking. When I found out what I got, the reviews of the place were horrible and the neighborhood sounded sketchy. We had no problems though, even at night, but the typical issue with motels (other than a general sense of budget accommodations) are the quality of other guests.

Parking isn’t particularly difficult depending on where you’re going. Free parking is another matter. Touristy spots are going have paid parking. Many hotels will charge for parking. But free parking is everywhere else. Southern California car culture relies on free parking. I’ve managed to spend entire trips where I never got into a private car (not even a taxi or Uber) and managed to get around, but I considered it a challenge to overcome.

Universal Studios Hollywood has a single theme park and a working movie/TV studio. No resorts. But NBC moved its Southern California operations there from a Burbank. They’ve got two hotels on property.

 

[sjmac42]

There are plenty of safe areas to stay in LA. Like any large city there are areas you want to avoid and wandering down dark alleyways at night is asking for trouble anywhere.
I like staying in the Beverly Grove/Fairfax district. It has many attractions in the neighbourhood, plenty of good dining options and is safe to walk around day or night. But other areas are perfectly safe, including Hollywood itself although it can get a bit “gritty“ at night. Stay around the Ovation Hollywood Mall and it’s perfectly fine. You could stay near Universal but that area is really only close to Universal and a bit dull been on the edge of the city. West Hollywood and Santa Monica are other good areas to stay although West Hollywood is a bit more nightlife oriented.
I‘d always get a car in LA, at least for a day or 2 of your visit, just makes things so much easier as public transport can take time to get from place to place.

 

[bennifer]

If your only LA goal is Universal, I would look at The Garland. It's a lovey hotel with a great restaurant and a very nice pool. It has a shuttle to Universal. Plus it's within walking distance to the Brady Bunch house! Ok, that las thing might not be a big deal to some people, but it was very exciting for me.

 

[mdmost]

We did a 3 day weekend trip to Universal Hollywood at the end of April. We did not rent a car. We stayed at the Hilton Universal City which is maybe a 10 minute walk to security and ti was great. Nice pool and a great view of either the park or the Hollywood Hills. We did two park days at Universal but went to the Warner Bros Studio Tour on the 2nd afternoon. It was great. You can Uber or Lyft to anywhere you want to go. DD13 wanted to go to Amoeba Records off Hollywood Blvd which we just took an Uber to after the WB Studio Tour.