Need a scenic drive in LA, CA

I will be in Los Angeles on business with a rental car and have a half-day to kill. I will be based in Brea/Anaheim area. Last trips I have done Petersen Auto Museum, Beverly Hills, Disney. Looking to do a little scenic drive this time. Can anyone recommend how far or what to see on Hwy 1? Any other auto-related recommendations for a half-day goof off?

Thanks, Ron

Google Neptune's Net. Its a restaurant on 1. Its a long way, but you'll see all the neat LA beach towns along the way. Lots of neat canyon drives from Neptune's Net back across into the valley to the east.

If you don't want to go that far, go as far as Santa Monica/Malibu area.

If you want the nature route, check out Anza Borrego state park. Kinda desert-ish, but a neat piece of CA countryside.

If your trip happens to be on a Friday, go to the Big Boy restaurant in Burbank at around 7pm. Nice cruise-in every Friday.

For a good listing of car stuff, go here: http://www.socalcarculture.com/

There's always Tijuana, too :)

wow this time of year everything inland is pretty well dried up and dead ,

take the 55 freeway south till it ends in Costa Mesa , turn right on 17th street and in the next couple blocks are a bunch of vintage car places , a old Mini and Lotus place....cruise around that area a bit and you will find many car shops.....

once you are finished keep heading south to Pacfic Coast Highway- PCH and take a trip south to San Clemente , nice beach drive

once you are in san Clemente you can go 20 miles south on the 5 freeway to Oceanside past Camp Penelton or if you need to get back get on the 5 freeway and head north.....

anyway thats what I would do.....

but I like the ocean....

My favorite memory of the trip I took to LA at New Years was driving my rented beat-to-hell '99 Miata north up CA 1 from Venice at sunset with the top down until I decided it was time to turn around 30 or 40 miles later. I think I actually enjoyed that more than Cars and Coffee. I HIGHLY recommend renting a 'vert if at all possible out there. I would love to do it again someday in MY Miata, or better yet on a bike. I couldn't believe how empty that road got once you got past Malibu. Just seeing the way the road and cities are built into the cliffs was fascinating as well.

This random blog post I just found really makes me want to get back out there some day. I also started my day hanging around in Venice (I landed in LA around 2pm). I rented a bike in Venice and rode up past Santa Monica Pier and back on the path along the beach, then went exploring in the car. Wish I'd had time to all the way up to Monterey.

http://youngsroadtrip.blogspot.com/2008/06/venice-beach-and-pacific-coast-highway.html

Malibu and Venice are great but not when you start from Brea/Anaheim area ,

I guess it also matters which airport you are flying home from , travel around that area so you will not be late.....

Thanks for the help so far. Company is buying the rental, so a vert won't happen. Best I can hope for is the sad base Mustang auto (rental is a full-size class, so won't even score a Mazda 3). Unfortunately this tour will be about the sights and not the driving experience. Don't have to arrange this around flying. In Tuesday night, Wednesday morning phone calls, got Wed from lunch on to myself, then meetings Thursday and back to the east coast of Friday.

Well the sights are a whole lot more impressive with the top down, of course :). If you haven't already rented the car, I was pretty impressed with these guys:

http://www.deluxerentacar.com/

I had the Miata from hell for a weekend (long story), and a PT Cruiser from Deluxe for another 5 days. I paid more per day on the Miata than the whole 5 days of the Cruiser.

PCH? All though I think the best parts of the Pacific Coast Highway are farther north.

Anaslime and Brea are not too far from PCH so head down towards Newport Beach, go to the Balboa Island for dinner then take PCH north to Huntington Beach it has similar hussle bussel like Venice, different crowd though. If you keep driving north another area where you can get good food and people watch is Seal Beach, further along up is Long Beach and Belmont Shores near Cal State Long Beach. Belmont Shores has the famous 2nd street if you want to park and walk...eat etc. You can also take 2nd to Ocean and go up to Queen Mary and the Long Beach Acquarium...this is where the Champ cars used to race the 'GrandPrix of Long Beach' just be street smart there, while they've cleaned up that area a lot it's still downtown Long Beach. Basically you have beaches and nice cruise on PCH for miles and miles up or down.

If you want a twisty curvy drive through the mountains take the Ortega Highway which is not that far either, though you'll be heading south instead...just be careful don't get tempted to drive fast, there are blind curves and no retaining walls...I wouldn't recommend doing this after sunset.

Speaking of which, if you're doing meetings till 5pm and want to do stuff afterwards you'll soon find out why the traffic here is one of the worst in the world so plan your destination carefully if you don't want to be stuck in traffic.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Mulholland Drive. I try to take it whenever I'm in the L.A. area. Beautiful road, with amazing scenery. It is a great place, especially at sunset.

Mulholland Dr is a sweet drive.

Other than that, go north on PCH and when you see a small road crawling into the hills/mountains w/o any houses around - take it for a while. Turn back around if you don't like it and drive a while to another one.

Mulholland Dr is about 45-50 miles from Anacrime but very nice indeed...in fact if you go up that far go down to PCH and drive around Malibu and Santa Monica... :)

i wonder how populare the chevy malibu is in Malibu, CA?

lol, when you see a malibu in Malibu, CA you know they're tourists

I can't remember the last time i saw a Malibu anywhere in LA. There might be a few rentals somewhere.

Mulholland is cool but there are a lot of idiots, dog walkers, cyclists and other assorted moving hazards and it's a rather tight road. Probably not the best choice if you want to watch the scenery. Up the coast is a better bet.

Same goes for angeles crest highway - there are great views up there.

Don't go anywhere between 7 and 11 am or between 3 and 8 pm in OC or LA county.

maps.google.com will be your friend. search on "San Gabriel Reservoir, CA". It looks like about 30 miles due North from Anaheim. Take the Orange Freeway North until it ends at the 210. there are some excellent roads up there -- Glendora Ridge is one of my favorites. put some air in those rental car tires, and make sure you've got a full tank, because you won't want to come down until you've made about 10 runs each way.

I am not sure where you live , but LA this time of year is brown, dead grass and bushs and ugly....

well driving to Vegas is worse.....

BUT If you are here in March after the rains it is a whole new world , green hills , native flowers etc

I think there is a car show Wednesday Afternoons at the NHRA Museum at Pomona fairgrounds

whatever you do please report back to us.....