Two days in LA what would be your must dos

[ginforall]

I've been to LA before and didn't love it, but we're flying into there in Oct before a mini Southern California road trip and it makes sense to spend a couple of nights there. We'll have an 11 yr old and 6 yr old, any must do things or things that I can do to make me fall in love with the place?

We've just got back from our 2 week Californian trip and I really loved San Diego. It may not have big sights as such but the city has a lovely vibe, people were lovely and most tourists seemed to be other Americans. We spent a week there and didn't hear British accent once. Coronado island was very charming.

We also spent four nights at Santa Monica, in the Shore hotel right near the pier. The amount of homeless people milling about did suprise me a bit though. For instance Venice beach had a large number of little tent cities as well as just bodies passed out, scattered along the beach. They weren't accosting us at all but it's not somewhere where you want be out at night. This wasn't the case in San Diego, maybe it was beginners luck but vagrants weren't a regular feature there.

Restaurant called Gladstones along the PCH-1 towards Malibu was a lovely lunch spot btw.

Universal, 💯
Basketball game at the Staples Center (if there's one on when you're there!)

Disneyland!