I arrived in LA after flying from Detroit and changing at Chicago and got to the Cadillac Hotel on Venice beach http://www.hostelworld.com where I met up with Paula and Ragan.
The hotel/hostel is right on the beach and I have to say that it is one of the best beaches I have seen since starting my travels with hardly anyone on them all week, at the weekends the beach is supposed to be really busy but not the weekend I was there.
I did not really go out of the beach area as everything I needed was here.