Take a car. Otherwise, you are stuck.

The public transportation is very poor in this mega city.
The best advice is rent a car from the airport!
There is a good Mexican restaurant at Hermosa Beach and you can eat great fish at the pier at Santa Monica Boulevard.

Fun thing to do is to see Russian Submarine, Scorpio. Take shuttle bus form Santa Monica Aquarium to Queen Marry.

If you visit the Universal Studios, you should take a front of the line ticket. With it you have no waitingtime, but it's a little more expensive.

Best Hot Dog ever: Pinks, Hollywood!

If you go to Los Angeles, you have to go to the Universalstudios

It'S A great city to do shopping. Macy's is by far almost always the cheapest place to go shopping, look for the sales. The beach is fantastic when it's sunny, there are a lot of good beaches in Malibu. Go eat at Cheesecake factory in Marina Del rey, it's so pretty and the food is delicious. I've stayed at Mariott in Downtown which is pretty good, but located a bit too far from beverly hills in my opinion. The Beverly hilton is fantastic, and is cheap sometimes.

Drive around in the hills to the north of L.A. and take a look at the houses perched precariously on the edges of the cliffs. Some of them are held up by little more than poles! Scary...

Rose Bowl - United States College Football. Plenty of places to tailgate before the game, not many places to go after it (within walking distance anyways).

Avoid the heavy traffic times, particularly on the larger roads.