Santa Monica Beach .... January 2, 2011
Hardly anyone out and about and if you did see a big crowd, guarantee it was tourists and not locals. And yes California does see rain.
Hardly anyone out and about and if you did see a big crowd, guarantee it was tourists and not locals. And yes California does see rain.
It did not rain one day when I was back in Los Angeles in the summer, it was beautiful and HOT every day. Now this is the LA everyone enjoys and loves. Not the January season.
As you can tell from the different pictures, July the beach is a lot more crowded and the parking lot is packed full that you can not find a parking spot. I know this for a fact because, Brooke and I went to Newport Beach for our beach day but unfortunately it took us forever to find a parking lot we did not have enough time to have a beach day. Instead we found a place to have lunch and walked around. Newport Beach is lovely. But again going back to Santa Monica Beach was not very exciting probably because I had been there before back in January 2, 2011 so therefore i saw everything once before, I ended being the "Contiki" tour guide in our small group.
Tip for anyone visiting Los Angeles in the summer, DO NOT PACK JEANS. I made a mistake of wearing jeans one morning because it looked and started out being chilly but it warmed up FAST. And we had to make a pit stop at Sears department store so i could buy a skirt and change.
Although the nice thing about visiting Santa Monica in January is the less crowds. Sure there is still crowds but not has huge as they were in July. Less people shopping on Third Street so that was nice.
The fact that I did not like was the fact I arrived into Santa Monica after dark because the train got delayed because of a tree bush was on the tracks and they had to go clear it and then my bus delayed and not at the station in Van Nuys. As by then it was getting quite dark out at 5pm - I got out my phone and texted EVERYONE back home to see if anyone was near a computer to get me a number for a taxi. funny enough i had two people respond, my mother of course and my boss. That is another thing I got to see in January the rush hour traffic.
So i knew that when i returned back to Los Angeles (which I did not know it would have been six months, it just worked out that way) I did not want to arrive after dark, so i made sure my flights arrived in the morning/afternoon. And i would advise the same for anyone traveling to Los Angeles. It is a different city after dark.
I had rented a car when i went back in July and the Traffic on the Freeways were not as bad as that one night in January. The only worst driving I found to be stressful and not fun was LOS ANGELES DOWNTOWN. but the Freeways were peaceful at times except for when you get into the carpool lane and your GPS tells you to take the next right, merging over to the far Right was not easy because drivers in LA is not as polite as drivers back home in Canada. When in Canada we need to switch lanes we put on our blinker and start moving over and the driver behind us let us in. Nope not in LA you have literally PUSH your car in front of the other car for them to back off. It is almost like free for all.
I will tell you this, Driving in Edmonton, Alberta used to be very stressful for me... well few days ago i was driving in the city to meet a friend for coffee and i did not feel any stress. Los Angeles Traffic/Driving has done it for me, I am not sure what it has done but it has done something major and I am thankful for it.
Differences between the "seasons" - Traffic is heavier in January and lighter in July.
Beaches are EMPTY in January and CROWDED in July.
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