Why not visit the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas instead of here, which honestly is nothing to write home about..

Anyhow, arriving at LAX you can take a shuttle bus to yoru hotel, depending on how many people, it is about $20/person. If you are 3 or more peole a taxi would come cheaper as it would be around $40/50 by taxi to get to your hotel

Hollywood is a good hour from Venice Beach, you can either take a bus there or of course a taxi which will be costly.

The things you want to do are all over the place(Hard Rock is by Universal e.t.c.) Why not just reant a car for the day from the airport. That way you dont have to pay for taxis and a shuttle and also can easily navigate around L.A., visi Venice and hit up Universal for Hard Rock

Hard Rock Vegas already visited and glass bought there the same as Athens, London, Barcelona, Madrid, Gran Canaria, Sharm El Sheikh etc etc some people buy a t shirt we buy Hard Rock glasses.

Thanks anyway. A bit of research I see Starline tours does a round trip of sights hop on hop off with the H Rock at the Beverley Centre being one of them. We don`t fancy a car as we`re from the UK and to adapt to the driving just for a day is not really an option I fancy.

Cheers for the prices there are two of us so a taxi me thinks from the airport.

Is Venice Beach THE beach to see or do you suggest otherwise for the daytime ? It`s not for sunbathing but to say we`ve been there really.

I think the Hard Rock at the Beverly Center closed down(it was a shock to me) But maybe someone on here who is closer to area has better information

If it is closed, your option would be to head to Universal City Walk which is only one subwaystop from your hotel(5 minutes, subwaystop is across the street from your hotel on Hollywood/Highland)

The Hop on Off tour is a great way to see the area, just be adviced that the bus only comes every 30 something minutes and the actual metro/bussystem runs way more frequently like that and for a $ 5 all day buspass it is a lot cheaper

Venice Beach, nobody goes there to sunbath,lol. You go there for fun, drinks, people watching. It is one of the biggest tourist draws in the state, especially on the weekends. Definatly worth to check it out(From your hotel you can take either the # 212 or # 217 bus from Hollywood/Highland to Venice Blvd and transfer to the # 33 going west on Venice)

A better way would be to just walk 2 blks towards Santa Monica Blvd(and Highland) and take the # 704 all the way to the beach, that was you could take in Santa Monica aswell, which is a more classy beach area compared to Venice with great shopping and dining along third street promenade, a beautiful pier that even has a rollercoaster \.

From there you can either walk to Venice(3 miles along the beach) or rent a bike(could be fun) or catch the Tide Shuttle Bus for 25 cents that runs between Santa Monica and Venice (info/schedule @

http://www.bigbluebus.com/miniblue/tide.html )

Now that`s helpful Alex, thankyou very much.

A quick search shows you are right Alex, thankyou again that could have been a wasted few hours with a big disappointment, cheers the link I spotted from your advice is below. Two new HR locations being built.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/413467

Will you stay at the Hard Rock in Vegas? I did so last month. The rooms are very nice and the poolarea is outstanding. Plus there is a Hofbreuhouse across the street(exact replica of the Munich Version, very strange for a german like myself to see but enjoyed it a lot)

As for the Hard Rock at the Beverly Center, i guess the time catched up with it. It was the first Hard Rock in the United States. It is sad to see it go but guess with Hard Rock Cafe's all over the place now the novelty of the original one was gone. I will miss it

We will be staying for two weeks at The Imperial Palace. 4 weeks tomorrow we set off and 5 weeks tomorrow LA for a break inbetween.

Gutted to miss The Sex Pistols at the Hard Rock the week before we arrive but do have tickets for George Michael at the MGM. Can`t wait.

Following your advice we`ve decided as we arrive in LA around lunchtime Sunday from LV we`ll get checked in and dine at the HR on Sunday night. That leaves Monday to do as you say.