6 Overrated Southern California Activities and What to Do Instead

There are many activities you feel you must experience in Southern California in order to say you truly soaked up the local scene. However, many of those "must-have" experiences are simply overrated. Here is an insider's guide offering pointers on how to turn those good Southern California experiences into the best experiences.

1. Overrated: Hollywood Boulevard

Tacky, touristy, trashy and tough. Although the city of Hollywood has spent a great deal of money on the boulevard and improvements are evident, the street is still a trap. It is full of bad food, bad souvenirs and bad entertainment. Just about every establishment is geared to separating you from your money.

What To Do Instead: 3rd Street

Try 3rd Street, just south of Hollywood Boulevard. Between Doheny and La Brea on 3rd Street you will find one-of-a-kind boutiques, clever designers and innovative restaurants. It is a better flavor of Los Angeles. You will still see "characters," except on 3rd Street, they are the real deal and are probably not masquerading as Marilyn (either Monroe or Manson).

2. Overrated: The Crystal Cathedral, 12141 Lewis Street, Garden Grove

Commercial, crass, cold and corney. This is an over-the-top tribute to spirituality which started as a drive-in church. Actually, The Crystal Cathedral still accommodates worshipers who don't or won't exit their cars. The Cathedral produces extravagant Easter and Christmas pagents that make Busby Berkeley and the Ringling Brothers look like pikers.

What To Do Instead: The Wayfarers Chapel, 5755 Palos Verdes Drive South, Rancho Palos Verdes

The Wayfarers Chapel is not far geographically from The Crystal Cathedral, but it might as well be light years away. Often simply called The Glass Church, it is a sincerely spiritual place of worship. Designed by Lloyd Wright, this uplifting chapel has all glass walls and ceiling with an astonishing sweeping view of the Pacific Ocean. No pagents here, but plenty of beautiful weddings.

3. Overrated: Hard Rock Cafe

Noisy, nervous, notorious and needless. Most patrons hope to see a celebrity here. Not likely. Even if you could see over that mountain of french fries.

What To Do Instead: Rose Cafe & Market, 220 Rose Avenue, Venice

This is a laid-back, neighborhood style restaurant and bakery where your chances of seeing a celebrity are as good as your chances of getting sunburned while sipping a latte on the outdoor patio. Check out who's getting out of that new Prius.

4. Overrated: Universal Studios Tour and City Walk at Universal City

Expensive, excessive, exhausting and enervating. They put on a good show at Universal Studios. They'd better, for the hefty price of the admission. The amusement park gets a bit tiring when you realize that every attraction is tied into a promotion of a movie, video game or cartoon. It's like being injected into one continuous commercial. The City Walk becomes disenchanting when you realize everything is fake. This is not a real city sidewalk, it is a theme park.

What To Do Instead: Santa Monica Municipal Pier

Follow Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica to the far west end and then keep going. It takes you to the Santa Monica Pier, where the sand, the sea and the salty air are real. The rides at the amusement park on the Pier are bush league compared to Universal Studios, but they are nostalgically fun refreshingly free of promotional messages.

5. Overrated: Cruising Bel Air looking at mansions

You actually can't see many of the mansions in Bel Air because what is not hidden behind huge private gates is hidden behind huge private hedges. After a few minutes of rubber necking at 7 miles per hour, the neighborhood patrol keeps a sharp eye on you.

What To Do Instead: Cruise Hancock Park looking at mansions

Hancock Park is the district where the early movers and shakers of Los Angeles settled. It is loaded with knock-out mansions, most of which are gateless, hedgeless and perfectly visible from the streets. Try the area bordered on the west by Highland Avenue, on the east by Normandie Avenue, on the south by Wilshire Blvd., and on the north by Melrose Avenue.

6. Overrated: The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles

The live theaters in the Music Center complex in downtown Los Angeles are excellent, make no mistake about that. But if you don't want to fight urban traffic and you don't want to pay more for parking than you paid for your theater ticket, then there is an alternative.

What To Do Instead: Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City

The Kirk Douglas Theater in outlying Culver City is a satellite of the same Center Theater Group that operates the Ahmanson and Mark Taper theaters at the Music Center complex in downtown Los Angeles. It is a converted movie theater with excellent amenities. Productions offered here are top-notch. Traffic is not nearly the issue it is in the downtown venue and evening parking is free (yes, free) across the street from the theater at the impressive Culver City Hall.