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Unique things to do in Las Vegas? (and Los Angeles)
My parents live in Los Angeles so I'm there often, but I feel like I've always done the big things that everyone's done (Hollywood Sign, Disneyland/Universal, Sunset Blvd (not worth it imo)) and eaten the popular foods (Leo's Tacos, Din Tai Fung, etc) so I'm wondering what other things I can do the next time I'm out there! I'm going out there for a bachelor party with a couple of friends in May, if that helps :)
A similar thing with Vegas, we'll be stopping by there for a couple of days after LA, and I know of all the popular things to do, mainly some gambling, buffets and shows, but is there anything outside of that that are considered -must do's- that we could check out?
I've never personally been, but I have friends who have visited the Omega Mart in Las Vegas and said it was one of the coolest experiences of their life. Described as an 'immersive art exhibit', it's basically an extremely trippy, labyrinthine homage to the uniquely American conception of the supermarket.
The Omega Mart commercials are some of my favorite things on youtube. If I ever get out to Last Vegas, I am definitely going.
I went to the Meow Wolf installation in New Mexico (House of Eternal Return, iirc), and I would 100% recommend doing this if it's anywhere close to as good.
I don’t know when your friends went but they have expanded it somewhat with an optional ARG a while back. They have a huge amount of world building and immersive/emergent storytelling. It’s actually pretty cheap for how good the experience is, believe it or not.
You can also buy many of the products in the market, which is fun (though very expensive).
OOOH I forgot about this one, I think I'd go through there while inebriated, I might actually die but it'll be worth it.
Yes, this one is worth the price. I'm hoping to check out the other Meow Wolf locations in the future!
I have been to Vegas once so far. I'm not a gambler, so I invested time on the Vegas subreddit looking for things to do and where to eat.
In May it is going to be starting to get hot, so if you hike be careful. But there are some beautiful state parks nearby. I would go early and carry water.
The Ethel M Chocolate factory does tastings and has an interesting history. It also has an attached cactus garden that is beautiful and interesting.
Vegas has a number of museums, including a pinball museum. I went to the one about the development of nuclear power.
From Los Angeles, you could do a day trip to Seqoiah or Kings Canyon national parks. You might have visited the academy awards museum already, but that really impressed me for thorough experience and for nostalgia and insight into film making. The Getty is world class.
You could look for comedy shows or music.
The Pinball museum is the best thing in the world for me. It’s worth the trip for Vegas just to do that. I’m sure that’s just me though. And I’ll definately second the Ethel M factory.
Oooh the chocolate factory looks really cool! And I've heard about the pinball museum, I'll have to see if the bachelor would be into that.
I do really love the Academy Awards Museum a lot! I think my friends aren't as into movies so they might not enjoy it as much, depends on the current exhibit!
Thank you for your suggestions :) I'll look into some of it more!
The pinball museum is less a traditional museum, more several hundred playable tables in a warehouse - which as far as I’m concerned is goddamn perfect and by far the best entertainment you can get for $10 of quarters in Vegas, but how much that appeals will definitely depend on your group!
At the other end of the spectrum, taking a helicopter tour into the grand canyon was truly incredible and fully worth splashing out on in my opinion, but $400 is a lot to spend whichever way you slice it.
Rethinking my suggestions in light of bachelor lol.
Vegas has gun ranges that cater to tourists who want to shoot big guns.
Medieval Times in LA is something I've thought I might try sometime but haven't.
I'm sure both Vegas and LA have escape rooms.
If you check Viator or Get your guide, there are touristy excursions like helicopter over the Grand Canyon, or atv into the Mojave desert.
Medieval Times would be interesting if we didn't have one in Jersey already, I don't know if they're any different. I definitely will look into gun ranges though! also ATV's in the Mojave might be super cool too, thank you!
My husband has been working a handful of miles from the Mideval Times for about a decade but we still have not gone there. I think he even gets a discount from his employer.
But it’s kind of hard to get excited about it because Pirates Dinner Adventure is basically right next door, it’s notably less expensive, and might even be a better show.
Here's a gun range in Jersey for those interested as well.
The Vegas ones have more options. I do recall something about being able to drive a tank at one place.
i've been to one in PA! It's pretty fun, I'd probably look at the Vegas ones though
Don't forget to check tours from Palm springs.
The chocolate factory tasting really is a cool experience.
I would add the Neon Museum to the Vegas list. It's a bit expensive for what it is, but they do a show where they overlay some of the signs with lights to make it look like you're surrounded by all of them if they were turned on. Worth doing once.
Depending on who you're going with, the Erotic Heritage Museum is also interesting. (Used a Groupon when I went.) It makes you realize how much art (including a lot of very old art!) isn't shown in museums due to the depictions of sex, etc. It's a very sex-positive place which is cool.
I wandered into the Neon Museum pretty much just on the basis that I'd seen one or two cool and vaguely apocalyptic looking photos from there, and ended up having an amazing hour long chat with one of the staff. My answer to "let me know if you have any questions" was something like "I honestly don't even have enough context to know what to ask - what do you think is most interesting here?" and she just lit up, talked me through the historical context, the engineering, the weird social circumstances that led to huge fucking neon signs being a key part of the local culture, everything. Pure good luck to catch the right person in the right mood on a quiet afternoon, but it was a great experience!
Caveat that I've not actually been, but as somebody that's generally not interested in a lot of what LA presents in popular culture, I think the La Brea Tar Pits is a super cool thing to check out. It's decently famous, but often overlooked.
La Brea Tar Pits is actually right near the LACMA! I've been there a couple of times, it's always cool but smelly haha
The Neon Museum in Vegas comes to mind.
And I'll always shill for going to see Penn and Teller.
a Penn and Teller show would be a great suggestion for my friend actually, I'll definitely run that by him!
Also highly reccomend Blue Man Group, especially if you need a family-friendly option.
For LA:
Getty museum (and Villa, but definitely the museum).
All the beach cities' beaches/piers. They each have a different vibe. From Malibu all the way down to Rancho PV. Each pier/beach can be a differently flavored outing.
Visit and dine all the ethnic mini towns. Little Ethiopia. Thai town. Go get some dim sum in Rowland Heights. K-town. Sawtelle strip and Gardena for Japanese food. Or find a hipster bakery in Echo Park. It's a long list.
Griffith Park, LA Zoo. Fun museum there too. Long beach aquarium while you're at it.
See if you can catch a standup comic at Largo or find an improv show.
Museum of Jurassic Technology if you wanna just have a weird day. Two bit circus , too, maybe.
Summertime? Catch a Hollywood Bowl show.
Got wheels? Drive out to Jtree for a night of stargazing, or swoop down to San Diego and check out any one of twenty things in the park, from the zoo to the Spanish village.
The key to LA is to understand that LA is not a monolithic city. It's a bunch of clustered places that often (not always) have specific ethnic and cultural makeups -- and it's also near other regions that themselves are distinct and interesting. That variance provides great possibilities for exploration and discovery.
A long list indeed. A great place to start is The LA Times 101 Best Restaurants. I've been working my way through the list and, yeah, they're really good.
LA offers a lot of different things to many types of people, so my broadest suggestion is to look the many different live music/comedy/sports venues and see if anyone you care about is in town, then pick a couple restaurants from the list and enjoy.
I do love all the ethnic mini towns in LA a lot. Your comment reminded me of going to see UCB improv, I'll try to get them to see another show haha. I've actually never heard of the Museum of Jurassic Technology though, that looks pretty cool, I might have to go to that myself even if my friends aren't into it haha.
If you're into cars or motorsports at all, check out SpeedVegas! It's a track about 15-20 minutes drive south of the strip where you can hot lap some supercars! I drove a Ferrari 488, Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and an Audi R8 when I was there. You can drive like 10 laps in something cheaper like a Cayman for a few hundred dollars, but the faster cars tend to get pretty pricey and it can add up if you're driving multiple cars, so it's probably only worth it if you're really into cars and racing, but as someone who is into cars and racing, it was basically the best day of my life, so I recommend it.
I also had a great time at the Mob museum, the Pinball Hall of Fame (which has dozens of pinball and other arcade machines to play) , and I went to a magic show! If you're into cards, you could look into a fixed buy-in poker tournament. I played one at Horseshoe when I was there for $75. I despise gambling, so that was a good way for me to experience playing a poker tournament without actually gambling money (you pay $75 to enter and nothing more and you just play until you're out of chips).
There are a ton of great restaurants around the strip as well, but beware that many of them charge WAY more than they're worth, especially ones that have celebrity chef's names attached. I ate at Hell's Kitchen to try it and while it was good (the sticky toffee pudding was mind blowing, though), I think I paid $200 for the meal (appetizer, main, dessert) with wine pairings and $100 would have been a fair price for the quality of food I got, a lot of the markup at these places is just because of the chef's name (Gordon Ramsay in this case).
Oooh actually a friend mentioned SpeedVegas to me the other day, might be a bit pricey but it would be really cool actually! Thanks for the reminder!
I'm honestly not the biggest gambler either, but my friend wanted to go to Vegas so I'm just gathering good suggestions since I doubt we should be gambling for 3 days straight lol.
I'm looking forwards to some of the buffets and restaurants! I feel like Gordon would be the only guy I'd pay for there (in terms of celebrity chefs at least) so that does sound interesting.
I've been to Vegas plenty; not for gambling, but because my folks live out there, along some relatives. Checking out Fremont Street is a neat experience. It's a bit wild, and it's still centered around "the sins," but you don't have to do any of that. The canopy-long digital screen is cool to look at. There's usually some live music, too. And of course just people-watching! Though I suppose Fremont Street falls in the "must-do" list.
Like someone else said, if state/national parks are more your thing, there's plenty that are close by. My parents like to hike a lot and there are a good number of trails in the surrounding mountains. Of course, you'll need a car to get out there.
There's The Mob Museum, too. I've never been, but I've heard good things about it.
Some of my cousins have gone out to the desert to those shooting gunrange things. Where you can fire a machine gun mounted on like an SUV. Not my thing, never done it, but it's definitely something different.
If you go to Fremont street you should go to The D and in an upstairs alcove they have a vintage mechanical horse betting machine that I found very fun. But just like actual horse betting you should prepare to lose any money you put in it.
Thanks for the suggestions! We'll be driving from LA to Vegas so we'll definitely have a car, though idk if it'll be mega hot in early May.
There's a really cool area called the LV Arts District a short walk from Fremont St. Lots of good cocktail bars, hip restaurant scene, and mini galleries. Good tacos at Letty's cucina (beef cube taco is really good). We accidentally stayed at Circa for CES and ended up wandering around that area and it was a hidden gem for locals (since none of our group gambles). My favorite restaurant is Lotus of Siam - their northern Thai dishes are amazing and if you have a car, Spring Valley has good Chinese / Japanese restaurants, and Zion National Park is not a far drive either. As Canadians we were amazed at the selection at Total Wine (ridiculous selection of scotch and whiskey). Convertibles are fun to drive around the area. Happy trails.
oooh nice thanks for the tips! I like all those things, I'd consider going to Zion if our trip wasn't so short, I do miss that area a LOT
Las Vegas is always hot. It’s in the middle of a desert. Nightlife is a matter of practicality.
LOL fair enough!
To be fair. I am exaggerating a little. It does get cold for a short while in Winter. I’ve lived there for about 15 years or so, and in that time I have seen brief snows (never enough to really accumulate over an inch) probably two or three times. But I’ve also had probably 5-7 years where I never needed to wear a jacket. It’s also been a while so climate change might affect things.
It's been awhile (10ish years), but last time I was at Fremont Street, the El Cortez still had $3 roulette tables. A great way to slowly lose money instead of quickly lose money.
Ellis Island has the cheapest tables now. I had a good time playing roulette there, actually the only time I've played at a table.
For vegas on stuff I haven't seen mentioned:
Things to do:
Places to eat:
There's a bunch of others. Vegas pretty much has any kind of food you want at various price ranges. Good dim sum, Korean bbq, Peruvian, Ethiopian, Persian, Bulgarian, Greek, a boatload of sushi (although that does matter more on where you go), etc.
If you've got any requests it could help narrow it down. Tried to stick to vegas specific things rather than chains like Brewsters/In and Out/etc
Oh and saw the bachelor party thing.
Bluntly, if you're considering the strip club thing, Palomino Club is one of "the" spots since it's grandfathered into allowing full nude and the serving of alcohol. Not my thing personally but i've been to several bachelor parties there.
Bars:
The Laundry Room - Speakeasy bar hidden inside another bar/club. You need to text a hidden number (just google it) and request a time so do it early if you're planning on several people. Pricey ($15 a cocktail) but good and much quieter.
The area around that- From The Gold Spike down to Atomic liquor is kinda the "locals" drinking/clubbing area. No $500 bottle service nonsense. Can get a little rowdy/rough and it has been awhile since i've been, but basically don't start shit and don't go off the beaten path and you'll be fine.
Re: strip clubs.
Also Little Darlings, tallest poles in Vegas. Genuinely good pole dancing. Twas a highlight of my wedding, getting drunk with my wife, best man, and Katie the stripper who had one of the whales come early so she just shot the shit with us instead of working the floor.
Oooh thank you so much for the places to eat list! Vegas has some wild and interesting food spots and everything is probably crazy expensive but I'm kinda into that haha. As long as it tastes good ya know!
I'm not too sure about the fully nude thing lol, I don't think we're those kinds of guys, tbh. Dang the Laundry Room seems pretty cool though.
On the food nothing I mentioned is in the $100+ a person category (i'm ignoring drinks in this calculation). I know "crazy expensive" varies from person to person, but in this town I can still recommend good steak at $110 a person, and then you get into the $150+ meals that I think I've yet to find anything I think is actually worth that kind of money.
The steak/fancy places are $60-90 range mostly, and the rest range from quite cheap ($10-20) to mid range (20-60). If there's a specific price range you're looking for I've got some recommendations there too.
Oh speaking of though, while I've never been, Bacchanal Buffet in caesars is THE buffet, supposedly. I don't know if it justifies the price and you will need reservations (last time i tried to get in they put us on the list, didn't update it at all, and we eventually got a text 4 hours later that there was a table ready. We had of course gone somewhere else by that point).
These days I'm really not sure what other buffet's are good and still open. I go to the Marketplace Buffet in the Rampart sometimes, and when it's good it's quite good, but not "amazing must go". Still probably much cheaper than Bacchanal.
I definitely feel like we're gonna try and get a good steak, so I'll definitely put Cleaver on the list!
Yeah it defintiely feels like there's a lot of really expensive places might just be for show vs good food. I do remember going to the Caesar's buffet when I was really young, and I'd be down to go again haha.
If you are going to Las Vegas to eat, you should also consider the Bacchanal buffet at Cesar’s Palace. It’s the best worst recommendation you will find. Best because it’s a huge buffet filled with really good food items that are constantly rotating and amazingly good service. Worst because you basically have to eat a ton which is horrible for your health and it’s crazy expensive (though I wouldn’t call it overpriced for what you get). It’s absolutely something you should do once but never again.
We are leaving for Vegas this morning, and should be in town for about 5pm or so. I will be watching this thread like a hawk. We have decided to tie the knot while we are there, and managed to find a chapel that will do the whole thing for $150, but that's not til Thursday. Until then we will be throwing caution to the wind 😁
omggggg congratulations!!! hope you enjoy and hopfully this thread is helpful to you!!!!!
Thank you so much! And thank you for posting this topic on the perfect day!
I will endeavour to catalog the trip with pics and post some reviews when we get home. Should make an awesome blog post lol!
Let us know your favorite places if you can!
Congratulations!
Thank you!
I don't know if it is the only excellent view in town, but there is a view at the top of the Strat and a bar.
While I may be inclined to take in that view, my fiancée has a serious problem with heights. Awesome suggestion though!
I'll second the praise for the pinball museum, but my favorite offbeat Vegas attraction is The Mob Museum. It's a fascinating little museum about the history of organized crime in the US and there's a speakeasy in the basement.
Go to the fashion district in LA on a weekday morning. It's gorgeous to walk through, there's so many different fabrics everywhere, even if you don't have much of an interest in fashion it's just like walking through an ocean of color. One of my favorite experiences from living there.
I haven’t been to Vegas, but these are two of the items on my list for when I do go:
What kinds of things do you and your friends like to do (and eat)?
we're pretty open to anything! In general though they're more Asian than American, so we're definitely gonna stop by ktown a couple of times! Normally not too rowdy and just kinda wanna chill though, maybe a club for one night and Disney/Universal for another day or two, but otherwise I don't wanna plan too hard either.
Okay, so my club recs are from back in the day (4+ years ago 💀). Take these with a grain of salt! Terra Cotta in ktown was fun. There were more asians and mix of bright-eyed 20 year olds and 30+ crowd. I remember Seven Grand (whiskey bar) and Library Bar in DTLA being more chill. The club I liked in Vegas closed years ago, so sorry can't help you there! I found XS boring though.
I recommend checking out @ itshelenmelon on IG for ktown food recs, since I haven't eaten in the area recently. I'm also not willing to wait 2-3 hours to be seated. The last time I was there, I had lunch at 10:30am. 🤣
Before I throw out some random ideas below, you may be interested in signing up for LAist's Best Things to Do newsletter before your trip. There are always different limited time events happening across the county.
Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra and Giant Robot in Sawtelle usually have an indie art exhibit going on. They are smaller venues; I would check their website to see if there is anything of interest coming up.
In Anaheim, you could also check out the Packing District if you haven't been yet. It's basically a giant food hall with indoor and outdoor seating.
If anyone in your group loves plants, Roger's Gardens near Newport Beach is cool. My friends and I slowly browsed the nursery and trinkets for almost 2 hours.
Oh, Skechers (the shoe brand) apparently has a food court in Gardena that rivals Costco food court. I haven't been there yet, but it might be fun to check out.
Oooh thanks for the insta handle, I'm definitely more of a visual person so that's super helpful. Also a good idea for the newsletter just in general! Even without this trip I should probably visit my parents more haha and that'll help me with that.
I've actually been to the packing district before! It's crazy nice haha, hopefully it's still similar after COVID
Hmmm a sketchers food court sounds a bit.... Sketchy? LOL
You might also want to follow @ discoverla on IG. It's run by the LA Tourism & Convention Board, but it looks hip lol.
Anaheim Packing District has a unique vibe (mega hipster 😆). Off the top of my head, the Anti-Lab in Costa Mesa is similar. It's also across the street from The Camp, which has a Boba Guys and Folks (great pizza plus natural wines and Basque cheesecake). People bring their dogs to the outside patio. 🤩 I haven't been to the OG Kagura (katsu) yet, but they opened a new location ~10 min walk from The Camp.
Hope you guys have a blast and congrats to your friend!