Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
36
Tips
Hogging the Roads, Harley Style
Instead of renting a boring ol' car to cruise Sunset Strip, why not rent a motorcy-
cle? Even better, why not rent a Harley?
EagleRider
(11860 S. La Cienega Blvd.;
&
800/501-8687
or 310/536-6777; www.eaglerider.com), the world's largest
motorcycle rental and tour company, will rent you a mild-mannered Sportster
883cc for about $80 per day. Leather chaps are optional, but a motorcycle license
is required. Other quality L.A.-based Harley motorcycle-rental companies include
Route 66 Riders
(4161 Lincoln Blvd. in Marina Del Rey;
&
888/434-4473
or
310/578-0112; www.route66riders.com) and
Ride Free Motorcycle Tours
(4848
W. 136th St., Hawthorne;
&
310/487-1047;
www.ridefree.com). Keep the rubber
side down.
Lamborghini, or H ummer, the places to
call ar e either
Budget Beverly H ills C ar
Collection,
9815 Wilshire Blvd. (
&
800/
227-7117
or 310/881-2335; www.budget
beverlyhills.com); or
Beverly Hills Rent-
A-Car,
9732 Little S anta M onica B lvd.,
Beverly H ills (
&
800/479-5996
or
310/337-1400; www .bhrentacar.com).
Both car-rental companies have additional
locations in S anta Monica, L AX, Orange
County, and N ewport B each, and both
offer complimentar y deliv ery to local
hotels or pickup service at LAX.
and schedules ar e av ailable at ev ery ar ea
visitor center.
By Bus
Spread-out stops, sluggish ser vice, and
frequent transfers make extensiv e touring
by bus impractical. F or shor t hops and
occasional jaunts, ho wever, buses ar e eco-
nomical and envir onmentally corr ect.
However, I don't recommend riding buses
late at night.
The basic bus far e is $1.25 for all local
lines, with transfers costing 25¢. A M etro
Day Pass is $5 and gives you unlimited bus
and rail rides all day long; these can be
purchased while boar ding any M etro Bus
(exact change is needed) or at the self-ser-
vice v ending machines at the M etro Rail
stations.
Note:
Up to two kids age 4 and
under may trav el free with each far e-pay-
ing adult.
The
Downtown Ar ea S hort H op
(DASH)
shuttle system operates buses
throughout D owntown, H ollywood, and
the Westside of L.A. S ervice runs every 5
to 20 minutes, depending on the time of
day, and costs just 25¢. Contact the
3
By Public Transportation
There ar e visitors who successfully tour
Los Angeles entirely by public transporta-
tion (I' ve met them both), but w e can 't
honestly r ecommend that plan for most
readers. L.A. is a metr opolis that's grown
up around—and is best traversed by—the
automobile, and many ar eas are inaccessi-
ble without one. As a r esult, an o ver-
whelming number of visitors rent a car for
their stay. Still, if you're in the city for only
a short time, are on a very tight budget, or
don't expect to be mo ving ar ound a lot,
public transport might be for you.
The city's trains and buses ar e operated
by the
Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transit A uthority (MTA)
(
&
213/922-
2000;
www.mta.net), and MTA brochures
Department of Transportation (
&
213/
808-2273;
www .ladottransit.com) for
schedules and route information (it's pretty
confusing—you'll definitely need a w eek-
day
and
weekend map).
