<p>Downtown Los Angeles: LA Live. Staples Center. This is the home of the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. We LOVE our sports teams.</p>
<p>Protip: great view of the Hollywood sign from outside staircase at LA County Museum of Art. Plus you have the La Brea Tar Pits next door and your choice of lunch from more than a dozen gourmet food trucks. Agree that you should never underestimate LA traffic.</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot to recommend Kindle’s Donuts. It’s an easy ride from LAX, just take Century Blvd east instead of the 105. Look for the giant donut on your right a few miles down the road. Their glazed buttermilk loaf is the stuff of fantasies. Just don’t go at night.</p>
<p>Randy’s donuts. On the corner of Manchester Blvd and La Cienega Blvd. It is close to LAX. Open I think 24 hours. Great place to head to on the way to the airport especially if you have an early flight. It has the big donut on the roof of the small building selling the donuts. I am sure you have seen it in a lot of movies!</p>
<p>Donuts?! 
Best donuts: Stans (in Westwood) and the donut place in the Farmer’s Market. Don’t know that name but it is next to Ben Bennets ice cream and the pizza. Excellent…</p>
<p>Yes Randy’s donuts! Which disaster movie showed the giant doughnut bouncing away?</p>
<p>As a note, Kindle’s is the other surviving donut joint with a giant one on the roof. :)</p>
<p>I think my favorite donut experience here in LA was going into a place which had been recommended by a few friends. I ask the guy what’s freshest. He goes, “None of them.” He was right, the donuts sucked, lol.</p>
<p>I thought of this thread today because we have indeed been enjoying beach weather this week in So Cal, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 70s and just enough Santa Ana winds to make for crystal clear ocean views and breathtaking sunsets. I sure hope busyparent is enjoying her time here!</p>
<p>That’s one of the things I enjoy most about not living in Southern California any more, the ability to buy and actually use a Christmas sweater ;)</p>
<p>Hey somemom—ugly christmas sweater parties are all the rage in So Cal. We actually do buy, make, and wear them!!</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.google.com/search?q=bad+christmas+sweater+party&client=firefox-a&hs=qZK&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=_9y9Uur-KcaGoQSRnoGgCA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=796[/url]”>https://www.google.com/search?q=bad+christmas+sweater+party&client=firefox-a&hs=qZK&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=_9y9Uur-KcaGoQSRnoGgCA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=796</a></p>
<p>When I was younger, I used to want those pretty angora “not ugly” sweaters, oh, and the gloves and coats and scarves I saw on Seventeen Magazine. Every year it seemed like it was just too hot to wear the pretty sweater I had purchased.</p>
<p>Angora sweaters, now there’s a blast from the past! I was traumatized as a young teen when my super-soft, blush pink angora sweater with faux pearl buttons accidentally was put in the dryer and came out just the right size for a 2-year-old. </p>
<p>It’s usually cool enough at night for sweaters, and DH has a great collection of Reyn Spooner Christmas shirts which are pretty festive. Every few years, we head out of town to have a white Christmas, but this year I am very happy we stayed home. We only have weather this good at Christmas every 3-4 years, and DS is getting good use of his new Christmas wetsuit (and I don’t have to spend any extra money entertaining him since he is at the beach all day).</p>
<p>I really am glad for the OP that she picked a great time to visit. I always feel bad when vacationers come to CA and the weather doesn’t cooperate.</p>
<p>I have driven past Randy’s Donuts hundreds of times. At least. Never once eaten one. </p>
<p>It is a cool landmark, though.</p>