Visiting Los Angeles in the winter

I once stayed "in" the smogline.

December through February is a great time to visit. Crisp air after the rains -- great for hiking and exploring the outlying San Gabriel mountains.

Gray and dreary. You realize how cheap looking everything is.

OP, that view is from the Baldwin Hills overlook, looking out northeastward, past downtown LA, into the San Gabriel mountains. It is rare that you get such a perfectly clear view like that though.

How cold does it get?

Rain.

[quote] December through February is a great time to visit. Crisp air after the rains -- great for hiking and exploring the outlying San Gabriel mountains.

Except for the annual mudslides.

[quote] Rain.

It's raining all weekend in LA and I love it!

I-5 over the Grapevine is closed due to snow right now.

Where I live (northeast of downtown), the forecast high for today is only 47. But that's unusually cold for us. This time of year, 60s is normal. Lows in the high 30s/low 40s. It rarely gets below freezing in the non-mountain areas.

Never OP. Never.

If you must just cut to the chase and book a flight to Mumbai. .

R9, I hate driving through the Grapevine. Be careful out there -- accidents galore.

There is a speed trap just as you are descending from Tejon Pass on the Grapevine. Beware!

Winter is usually a good time to visit, however, now it is raining. LA wet season usually runs from November to April, but most days are clear and sunny. The best time to visit really is in early spring, after the rains. The temperature is cool, the skies are blue, the hills are green, wildflowers are in bloom, etc.

It's the one time of the year some Angelenos get to wear over-the-top coats, jackets, scarves, as if we're suffering through a mid-winter freeze in the Alps.

LA is pleasant in Spring (before the June gloom hits the coastal areas) and like most places in the US is nice in the fall. Summer is nice near the ocean, but can suck in the valleys. There's no guarantee that you won't encounter smog, throughout the year.

Is the end of January any different than the end of February in terms of weather?

R17, end of February is starting to warm up.

I've lived here all my life and I have NEVER seen snow capped mountains like that

Really? There was quite a bit of snow on the mountains last winter (when we had all that rain down below.)

R19, there is almost always snow in the San Gabriel Mountains during winter, especially in the Wrightwood-Mt. Baldy area. However, those mountain ranges are so far away that you don't see them from the basin except on a clear day and on higher elevation. The picture in OP's link, however, is a forced perspective illusion, making those mountains seem a lot closer.

R21 is right on.

That view is a photographic illusion.

Angelenos who want to visit snow for the weekend, usually head out to Big Bear, Idyllwild, Wrightwood and rent a cabin. Families with kids take them up the Angeles Crest into the San Gabriels for snow play for a day -- that was the first place I ever saw snow. Crystal Lake has snow, though it's a long drive up Hwy 39.

Stay home, it's too cold.

It’s a “forced perspective” in that the picture was taken from far away with a telephoto lens: it compresses planes compared to an imagined “real life” view and makes the background images appear bigger than seen with naked eye.

It’s the opposite of a close up, wide angled lens pic, that makes the foreground image (a cock shot) look larger than life.

I was there last January and it was rainy and chilly most of the time. So rainy, in fact, that on the last day of my visit, parts of the PCH were closed due to flooding and mudslides.

R13, Isn't that part of the Grapevine whee a skateboarder got a speeding ticket? Made the international news.

Is it a good or bad idea to visit over Oscar weekend?

IMO, the only bad time to visit Los Angeles is when it's hot, i.e., summer and into September, sometimes.

Even summers are not totally terrible, as long as you're not out in direct heat and summer evenings in LA are lovely. I can think of worse places to be in the summer.

I was in Thousand Oaks this morning and I lookEd to the north and the mountains had snow on them! It was really cool. I think those mountains are north of Moorpark/ Simi Valley.

After a few steady days of cold rain, snow up in the San Gabriels is not unusual.

There's a LOT of snow up there now. I was driving east on the 210 yesterday and was surprised at how much there was already.

Mt. Wilson is filled with snow right now.

Mountain High actually closed for a day amid heavy snowfall.

Crystal Lake finally got some snow.

Crystal Lake is only about 25 miles from me, but it would take nearly an hour to get there on the mountain roads.

R38, yep. Highway 39 is a very curvy, mountainous road; even moreso, the closer you get to Crystal Lake. It's a shame that CalTrans decided not to finish paving the last seven miles of that road -- that would have connected it to Angeles Crest and Wrightwood.

I believe they've done it a few times, but it keeps getting destroyed by slides, etc. Mother Nature just isn't having it. I lived nearby for 32 years, and I think it was only open for a few years in the '90s. And apparently there's a "bridge to nowhere" out there in the back country.

I would normally say go in late February/early March, in case the snows have a late start, and because February is our wettest month. But as you've heard, we've gotten a lot of snow, so it might be good to go as early as possible, in the event that things turn warm and dry.

R40, the Bridge to Nowhere is one of my favorite hikes in the San Gabriels. It's along the east fork of Highway 39 and has many river crossings, so it's refreshing for a hot, early summer hike.

Yeah, I don't see those last seven miles of the highway opening up either. Too many rockslides and too much money required to maintain a stretch of highway that wouldn't see too much traffic anyway. That's too bad for Adam, the guy who runs the Crystal Lake cabins and general store -- he's been the one advocating for years to open up the road. It would definitely help his business.

So I will be there at the end of next month.

Which is the better hill to climb, Griffith Park Observatory, Hollywood sign or Runyon Canyon?

It's the Griffith Observatory, not the Griffith Park Observatory.

Sometimes I watch Tommy Cam, at USC. The camera is live 24/7 and faces north from just south of downtown LA. The hills in the background are the Santa Monica mountains.

R44 Thank you for correcting me, you dried up tube of cuntpaste.

You're probably one of those morons who calls it "The Macy's Day Parade."

It's a perfect time to break out the furs!

January can be a beautiful month--sometimes as high as 80s, but I think average temp is 60s daytime, mostly sunny, 50 to high 40s at night. February is not that different but it tends to rain more. The last few years have been unpredictable. If you live in a cold place LA is nice in Jan/Feb. If you live in LA, it's the same as always except maybe when it's usually hotter n September and October.

R43, Runyon Canyon has more eye candy. Griffith Observatory hike from Fern Dell is a jaunt up a fire road, but the Observatory itself is cool if you've never been there. I've never actually done the hike up to the Hollywood sign, but I've heard that the end vantage point you end up at is underwhelming. I'd go with Griffith Observatory.

Best time to visit? Never. Save your money and go to Walmart and look at the trash there.

If it gets too cold in LA, you can always take day trip out to the desert.

Glad to see lots of fellow Angelenos on here. It's going to be in the low to mid 60s probably all month here in December during the day. Drops down to high 40s to mid 50s at night. It is the rainy season especially in Jan-Feb-March. April can bring some rain but is usually nice.

I would love to go see Joshua Tree, but to rent a car for the day and drive out there & back for four hours seems like such a hassle.

R54, you could stay in Palm Springs for the night.

Weather right now where I'm at in LA is lightly drizzling. It rained a few days ago and the greenest grass has sprouted in my backyard, making it look like a grassy patch of Ireland. I love when it rains in LA.

I follow someone on Instagram who lives in a high rise. Sierra something? Cher is/was his neighbour. Anyway, he often posts the view from his window and I have have seen those snow capped mountains way, way off in the distance and thought they were pretty.

I love LA. Lived there in the past and love to visit now. The lifestyle was perfect for me. Im an outdoorsman and I was able to ski, surf, hike,camp, visit wineries, swim, be outdoors year round basically. Loved weekend trips to Palm Springs and Santa Barbara. I had a core group of good friends and couldn’t care less about being in any cliques so I never had bad experiences with trashy people or vapid people.

Its so clear in this video. It looks like it was filmed in January.

I don't care from what vantage point that photo is situated, the mountains do not look that close. They are far fucking away from the paltry LA city skyline and there is almost always a thick band of smog across any view of pictured mountains. The clearest views are when the horrible Santa Ana winds have been blowing, but without added smoke from brushfires fucking up the sky. If there's been a rain storm and wind has blown it all away, just sometimes there is a tiny, fleeting, cool, clear TING! when one gazes in that direction. But again, I promise, those mountains in the OP pic have been zoomed!

Stay out of the SFV if you don't want smog. If you can stay in Santa Monica or beach area (not Malibu - too far from the good stuff unless you just want to stay in Malibu).

Which is better to visit, the Broad or the two MOCA branches downtown?

MOCA

Op, I used to regularly visit LA in the winter and had a great time. Fewer tourists and lots to do. Sometimes it's rainy or cold, but it's much nicer than where I live nonetheless.

Do people still go on the Universal Studios tour? Is that still a thing?

R64, the tour still gets some riders, but mainly people go for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter now.

OMG!

R68, nice! There is snow galore on the San Gabriel mountains right now. Even some of the front peaks that don't usually get any.

To get back to OP's question, April is usually a good time to be in LA.

It can be quite hot in April for a week or two, depending on the year. February is usually the rainiest month but with climate change there is no "usually any more." The next few weeks look like they're going to be sunny and in the 60s daytime.

I'm fascinated with you LA people that think 80 degrees is hot.

Those are some gorgeous photos! I wish I could learn how to take some like that.

If I go to the Broad on a weekday morning will there be a line?

Also is there anything worth seeing in the south end of Downtown in the new complexes along Figueroa and Hope?

Also what is a nice little cute dark bar in downtown that I can hide out for for a few hours?

Is the Beverly Center still under construction?

We'll be doing a whole tour (self driven) of Southern California next month, including Santa Barbara, LA, San Diego and eventually Palm Springs.

[quote]Summer is nice near the ocean, but can suck in the valleys.

Not "can", DOES. There's not much to do in the Valleys, anyway, so don't bother coming here in the summer, unless113F and smog are your ideal vacation conditions.

R81, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Woodland Hills, Toluca Lake disagree with you.

[quote] Also what is a nice little cute dark bar in downtown that I can hide out for for a few hours?

My favorite little gay bar in downtown is gone now -- Mattachine Bar-- but Cole's is cute and dark and they serve drinks there. It is one of the oldest restaurants in LA, so there is some LA historical importance there.

OMG