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Continental Airlines Flights from Santa Barbara (SBA) to Los Angeles (LAX)
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on Continental Airlines, which operates 6 regularly scheduled daily non-stop flights from Santa Barbara (SBA) to Los Angeles (LAX), departing between 6:50am and 6:06pm. Usually a Saab SF340A/B is flown for this route. The average travel time from Santa Barbara, CA to Los Angeles, CA is 52 minutes.*
* Some flights must connect with additional service on this airline.
During your Los Angeles vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
The "Hollywood" Sign
These famous 50-foot-high white sheet-metal letters have come to symbolize the movie industry and the city itself. The sign was erected on Mount Lee in 1923 for $21,000 as an advertisement for a real-estate development. The full text originally read HOLLYWOODLAND and was lined with thousands of 20-watt bulbs around the letters (changed periodically by a caretaker who lived in a small house behind the sign). The sign gained dubious notoriety when actress Peg Entwistle leapt to her death from the "H" in 1932. The LAND section was damaged by a landslide, and the entire sign fell into major disrepair until the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce spearheaded a campaign to repair it (Hugh Hefner, Alice Cooper, Gene Autry, and Andy Williams were all major contributors). Officially completed in 1978, the 450-foot-long installation is now protected by a fence and motion detectors. The best view is from down below, at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Bronson Avenue. Tip: It may look like it on a map, but Beachwood Drive does not lead to the sign. If you want to reach the sign on foot, it requires a rather arduous 5-mile round-trip hike on the Brush Canyon Trail in Griffith Park -- the trail head is at the end of Canyon Drive. For more information call the Griffith Park headquarters at tel. 323/913-4688.
Griffith Park
Mining tycoon Col. Griffith J. Griffith donated these 4,107 acres to the city in 1896 as a Christmas gift. Today Griffith Park is the largest urban park in America. There's a lot to do here, including 53 miles of hiking trails (the prettiest is the Fern Dell trail near the Western Ave. entrance, a shady hideaway cooled by waterfalls and ferns), horseback riding, golfing, swimming, biking, and picnicking (see "Golf, Hiking & Other Fun in the Warm California Sun," later in this chapter). For a general overview of the park, drive the mountainous loop road that winds from the top of Western Avenue, past Griffith Observatory, and down to Vermont Avenue. For a more extensive foray, turn north at the loop road's midsection, onto Mt. Hollywood Drive. To reach the golf courses, the Museum of the American West, or Los Angeles Zoo, take Los Feliz Boulevard to Riverside Drive, which runs along the park's western edge.Near the zoo, in a particularly dusty corner of the park, you can find the Travel Town Transportation Museum, 5200 Zoo Dr. (tel. 323/662-5874), a little-known outdoor museum with a small collection of vintage locomotives and old airplanes. Kids love the miniature train ride that circles the perimeter of the museum. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10am to 4pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm; admission is free. Griffith Park entrances are along Los Feliz Boulevard, at Riverside Drive, Vermont Avenue, and Western Avenue (Hollywood; tel. 323/913-4688; www.laparks.org/grifmet/griffith.htm). Park admission is free.
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
This is one of the world's great movie palaces and one of Hollywood's finest landmarks. The theater was opened in 1927 by impresario Sid Grauman, a brilliant promoter who's credited with originating the idea of the paparazzi-packed movie "premiere." Outrageously conceived, with both authentic and simulated Chinese embellishments, Grauman's theater was designed to impress. Original Chinese heavenly doves top the facade, and two of the theater's columns once propped up a Ming dynasty temple.Visitors by the millions flock to the theater for its famous entry court, where stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Ginger Rogers, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, and about 160 others set their signatures and hand-/footprints in concrete (a tradition started when actress Norma Talmadge accidentally stepped in wet cement during the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings). It's not always hands and feet: Betty Grable's shapely leg; the hoofprints of Gene Autry's horse, Champion; Jimmy Durante's and Bob Hope's trademark noses; Whoopi Goldberg's dreadlocks, George Burns's cigar, and even R2D2's wheels.
Make your reservations for discount hotel rooms in the
Los Angeles area, including:
Elan Hotel Modern
Frou-frou name aside, this is one of L.A.'s best boutique-style hotels -- and one of the city's best values. Rebuilt from the bones of a 1969 retirement home, the ultramodern structure uses design elements from the original 1969 facade to set the stage for 21st-century style. Inside, a mod, loungey lobby leads to mid-20th-century-inspired guest rooms done in serene celadon and natural hues. The design merges form and function beautifully, resulting in amenity-laden and surprisingly luxurious accommodations, considering the price. The standard rooms aren't huge, but extrahigh ceilings and thoughtfully designed custom blond-wood furnishings create the luxury of space, while plush textured fabrics (mohair, chenille), beautifully made beds -- with cushioned headboards, goose-down comforters, 250-thread-count Egyptian cotton linens, and turndown service -- VCRs, and bathrooms with cotton robes and the thickest, plushest bath sheets in town elevate comforts well beyond the moderate price point. On the downside, there's no view and no pool, and this stretch of Beverly Boulevard isn't exactly the hippest strip in town. But double-paned glass ensures that even Beverly-facing rooms are quiet, and the location is central to everything (shoppers will love the walking-distance proximity to the Beverly Center).
Marriott Los Angeles Airport
This huge 18-story Marriott is a good airport choice, designed for travelers on the fly. Rooms are decorated in standard chain-hotel style; some have balconies, and a select few are designed expressly for business travelers.Facilities: 2 restaurants; coffee shop; sports bar; outdoor heated pool; exercise room; whirlpool; sauna; concierge; Hertz car-rental desk; free airport shuttle; business center; secretarial services; 24-hr. room service; coin-op laundry; laundry service; dry-cleaning service.
The Hotel California
Situated on enviable real estate along Ocean Avenue -- right next door to the behemoth Loews -- this welcoming hacienda-style beachfront motel embodies the surfer/sun-worshiper ambience you'd expect from a Santa Monica lodging. The well-tended complex sits above and across an alley from the beach but offers excellent views and direct access to the sand via a stepped path. The inn offers small, comfortable rooms with modern furnishings -- including beds with down comforters and surfboard headboards -- hardwood floors, and tiled bathrooms. Five one-bedroom suites also have kitchenettes and pullout sofas that make them great for families or longer stays; all rooms have minifridges and ceiling fans. A handful of rooms have showers only in the bathrooms, so be sure to request a room with a tub from the friendly front-desk staff if it matters to you. Tip: Pay a few bucks extra for a courtyard view, as the cheapest rooms face the parking lot and noisy Ocean Avenue.
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