Possibily visiting Irvine, Corona, Riverside, and LA, what sights do you recommend?

My sister has a business trip to Irvine, CA next week and several days of vacation to use up, and my mom and I are thinking of making it into a family vacation.

Are there any other sights in that area of California anyone could recommend? We'd like to remain in the area of Riverside, the ocean, and LA. Interesting and beautiful sights of any kind are what we're interested in. Anything automotive that I would be kicking myself for not visiting would be great too!
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There's nothing in Riverside but heat and smog. Go to Newport Beach and spend the extra week there.

 

Riverside is where an aunt lives, so that's the reason for that location. Thanks for the advice on newport beach.

 

I would go on freeway 91 about 7am and get over to the far left lane and go about 50mph that should get you stuck there for a while,then at noon time go on 5 and have all the windows down with no air and listen to the radio on a station you not like,this should make your trip rememberable

 

Go to Cars & Coffee, held every Saturday morning, 7AM - 9AM at the Ford Motor Co's HQ near the Irvine Spectrum. On the map, it's "inside the vee" of the 5 & 405 FWY junction. You won't be disappointed, as there is always a fun mix of exotics & custom/classic cars, and no admission charge.

Definitely want to avoid the activities listed above unless you want to see what SoCal gridlock is like.

Newport Beach is nice. You don't say your age, but you will definitely appreciate the SoCal beach scene, even if only for a day.

John

 

is the QM still at long beach? I know the spruce is gone.

 

whats wrong with visting mickey mouse,or knotts?

 

Riverside?? I would probably be great if there was an actual river there. My suggestion, head straight to the beach then follow 1 north until you run out of gas.

 

+1; i always make time to attend Cars & Coffee when i'm out in CA. Already in my plans for my upcoming trip in September!!

 

Only automotive-oriented sight I can think of in Riverside:

http://riversideinternational.org/index.htm

http://www.maserati-alfieri.co.uk/alfieri228.htm

Haven't actually been to it, however, so I don't know how good the museum is.

+1 for Cars & Coffee and the Newport Beach scene.

 

+1

 

If you can get over to the Riverside International Automotive Museum I would definatly recommend it. Its more of a private collection made avaliable for public viewing with very knowledgeable people to tell you every detail about every single car you are looking at. Its a $5 donation to get in. When I went one day after Cars & Coffee it was just me and the three people I went with being shown around by the curator of the place. From what they told us it has the largest collection of Maseratis in the country. Quite a remarkable collection I learned a lot from my trip down there and I need to go back one day just to soak in more information.

Of course if possible you should try to get over to Cars & Coffee. I haven't gone in awhile but I highly recommend getting out there. If your up for it get there between 6:45 and 7 earlier if you want to watch the cars come roaring, in you wont need coffee to wake you up after experiencing some of them come rumbling in. The address is in the sticky So Cal Events Thread.

 

When they made it free about 20 years ago and it instantly became La Reina Maria!

Bring your maracas!

 

Go to Catalina for a day. I own the boat out of Newport Beach www.catalinainfo.com

 

no,you got to be kidding they did that?

 

Disneyland
Universal Studios
Hollywood, Grauman's Chinese, but beware, Hollywood can be not so much like the postcards, especially at night.
Buy a map of the stars.
Main Street and PCH in Huntington Beach,
Santa Monica Pier-for 1 hour or just skip it.
Gladstones in Malibu

Riverside is good place to be from even though I go there almost every day.

 

These are great suggestions! We're still in stage 1 of the planning, and unless we end up canceling the ideas, I have already gotten a grudgingly accepted "Okay... we can go there" pass for a visit to Callaway Cars' shop in Corona.

I may have to bargain heavily for C&C--is it near anything spectacular to the extent I can say "Hey, let's wake up at 7 and go to this, and then afterwards we'll go to [insert something a 25 year old girl and 58 year old mother would find fun to do that you can't do in Dallas] nearby."? Any suggestions???

The Maserati museum would be incredible, but the likelihood I can get my sister to agree to more than 1 automotive excursion is very slim. Me throwing automotive events into the mix when we have a ton of them in Dallas is getting some frowns from the other two vacationers...

Is Vector still in southern California? I have ALWAYS wanted to see the Vector WX-3 concept cars from the 90's. Perhaps my sister's and mother's knowledge of this fact could get me the collective thumbs up...

It sounds like Newport Beach will have to be on the list of places to go for sure. It's very likely we'll visit Universal Studios and get tickets to see the Tonight Show with Conan. Other than that, I'm still very open to ideas. None of us have ever been on vacation in California.

 

first time in california? you should be going south not L.A. like S.D.,your going to go home with a sour taste of L.A.

 

Cars & Coffee is a can't miss, and as it is in Orange County, it is (reasonably) close to both Disneyland and Newport Beach.

 

There is a large popular shopping mall across the street from cars & coffee but that early in the morning there's basically nothing going on. There is no guarantee but Vector shows up there quite often. If I could only have one automotive stop I'd probably choose cars and coffee because of the diversity of cars you will see there but it's up to you.

 

Best deal is to turn on I 15 South then I 8 West and you will collide with Sea World. If you have never seen it, you will never forget it. I moved here from LA in 81, it was like dying and going to heaven.

Have a safe trip.

Rob

 

Yeah, it's free.

 

don't forget S.D. zoo,wild animal park,baboa park,oh you need to go to Blacks Beach,during the week is best thats when the strippers go to get their tan,I KNOW THIS,like I said I lived there for over 15 years and b4 that Iwas born there

 

Any places to eat I really HAVE TO visit while there? I heard something about In and Out Burger or something like that being very good.

Let's keep the prices reasonably low. No $20+/each minimums please, but I'd be interested in hearing about what your favorite restaurants are in the Irvine, Newport Beach, and Riverside areas. Only leave off sushi, Indian, French, and Greek restaurants.

Thanks guys!

 

In N Out burgers are everywhere. Lots of other "Legendary" eateries in LA. Down there? Not so much.

Burgerwise, Try Tommy's too!

http://www.originaltommys.com/tommys_location_riverside.php