Los Angeles wasn’t a part of our original road trip plan, but we added it last minute. We figured, it’ll be cheaper to see it while we were already in California than it ever will be again. We only had one day to see the city and tried to keep our costs low as possible!
When I say we added it last minute, I mean we literally searched “things to do in LA” the night before. I had about 30 minutes to read the best ins and outs to visiting the country’s second largest city.
Normally we try not to visit big cities with a car. Between driving on crowded freeways and the nightmare of finding parking, it just isn’t worth it. We even opted to skip a stop driving through Las Vegas because we didn’t want to have to worry about parking and leaving our car that has just about everything that we own in it!
To our surprise, though the town was easy enough to navigate, we dealt with very little traffic, and parking was a breeze (spoiler alert: it was cheap, too!). I never once felt unsafe or worried about walking away from our car.
City Hall
To start our morning, we drove straight in to City Hall and arrived at about 9 am. It’s free to enter and go up to the 27th floor to the open air observation deck. We parked across the street on 1st Street, in front of the Los Angeles Police Department building. It was not only free, but had no time limit on it. Plus, we felt pretty sure no one would bother our car while it was parked there, and we could see it from one side of the observation deck!
We had a great 360 degree view of LA in just a few minutes! There are plaques on each side of the deck to let you know what buildings and neighborhoods you’re seeing. The Hollywood sign was a barely visible smudge through the city smog that morning, but we spent about an hour here watching the city and taking pictures. The sky started to clear up a little bit, but I don’t imagine you can ever really see the sign too clearly from the observation deck. City Hall is, of course, a government building so be prepared for airport-like security with shorter lines.
Grand Central Market
From City Hall we took a short walk to the Grand Central Market for an early lunch. This warehouse market has food for everyone! Whatever you’re in the mood for, you’ll find it here. We had some Mongolian beef and lo mein which ran us about $15 for lunch, but the portion was big enough for both of us. However, if you’re there solo or on a tighter budget, a couple of the Mexican vendors offered $4 tacos that seemed to be pretty popular and looked delicious! We had planned on ordering some before we left, but we were far too full! The Market won’t take too much of your time, if you’re a quick decision maker when it comes to ordering food.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
When we were done, we headed to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one of the most famous attractions in LA. It was getting a little crowded around midday so we opted to pay for the parking directly on the path so that we wouldn’t lose the spot we saw. I’m sure you could find street parking a few blocks over and walk. To our surprise, though, we only paid $4.50 at the metered parking to get our fill of the Walk of Fame.
Before you go, be sure to check the website and see if they’re going to be having an event. We were there a few days ahead of Seth MacFarlane’s induction ceremony. While we didn’t see any celebrities, we did get to see the installation of the star itself. The website also has a star finder feature you can explore before or during your trip if there’s a particular celeb’s star that you want to see.
Great Wall of Los Angeles
Next we drove to the Great Wall of Los Angeles. This short mural wall depicts the history of California and LA, beginning in 20,000 B.C. We found nearby street parking here, too, so this was another free site to see. The mural is beautiful, but it is somewhat awkwardly placed. It’s on an inner retaining wall of a fenced off area. There are several trees that block the view of the mural from the sidewalk, but it’s pretty easy to see around them.
In-N-Out Burger
For dinner we headed to the nearest In-N-Out Burger drive through, which set us back $16.43. It was the first visit for either of us, so we wanted to try this west coast tradition while we were in LA.
Hollywood Sign
Here’s where we hit our only snag for the day. What little research I did led us to Griffith Park Observatory to see the Hollywood sign. When we got there, parking was completely full, not to mention $10 an hour! And it’s supposed to be something like a 2-3 hour hike to get a good view of the sign. The path to the observatory was closed off. The only way to access it was by a shuttle ride, and surprise, it cost extra. (It was a small fee. I think it was only 50 cents, but still yet after paying that much for parking, it’s crazy!)
We weren’t about to pay that much for parking, so we left the park. Derek pulled over and looked for other options. He found a tip recommended by locals that one of the best places to see the sign was from the nearby Home Depot upper level parking. We gave it a shot and the view we had was pretty good! This option was completely free and we didn’t have to fight through the crowded parking lots at Griffith Park. Win-win. It seemed like a more direct view of the sign, but since we didn’t take the hike, I can’t say for sure.
All in all, we spent less than $40 on parking and food for our day in LA. All of the attractions we saw were free! We were pretty happy with that total, but if you’re on a tighter budget, you could easily do it for free! Take snacks, plenty to drink, and comfortable walking shoes and you’re all set!
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