If you visit LA, you are going to need a car!
I just recently got back from a business trip from Los Angeles and I had one of the best times in my life! After a pretty standard conference I planned it so that I would have a couple of days to do some sight seeing and boy did I ever. However, the one thing that I would highly recomment to anyone who is visiting Los Angeles is to just go ahead and hit up the one of the airport car rental shops in the Los Angeles Airport before you do anything. If you are going to be cruising around the city then you should cut out the middle man and get yourself a rental car instead of mucking around with the cabs and other public transportation in the city, you will seriously be happy that you did!
When I came into LAX for the first time there are literally more than a dozen different airport car rental services that you can choose from in LAX. Personally I went with Enterprise Rental and I was pretty happy with the Toyota Camry that they gave me. It was really clean, pretty much brand new, and ran like a dream. I usually drive a 87 Volvo station wagon so it was a nice change!
One of my most memorable moments from the trip was when I took my rental car up on Mulholland Drive and saw a really incredible view of both Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. That sight alone was totally worth the trip, but there are literally thousands of awesome sites to see all over the city that cater to all tastes, so if you are going to hit up the city, you should really rent a car, you won’t regret it!