Hey, I never noticed those hotels! Good, I'm glad there's something close in that area [img]smile.gif[/img] . I guess that's what happens when you live nearby. My parents always stay in the Burbank area, and it usually takes them fifteen or twenty minutes on the freeway. Maybe they speed [img]wink.gif[/img]

I was thinking that if I ever do this again I may look into train options to see if anything was available from the Disney area as the long ride was not too much fun! - Meg B.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There is a train station in downtown LA and a train that goes through the South Central/Torrance/Hawthorn area. I don't think those will get you close enough to the Grove to make it worthwhile. You'd have to take the train, then catch a bus to the Grove and I think all in all it would take you a lot longer. Not to mention the buses can get incredibly crowded during rush hour. Then again, the one and only time I took the bus, I had a totally surreal experience. I took the dash into downtown, but they were filming some chase scene through downtown LA. Everything was totally rerouted, I got dropped off at the wrong stop and wound up lost because none of the buses were picking people up. I only got a bus because the driver needed to borrow my cell phone to call central. Then, right as I was getting dropped off, we stopped in front of a group of men that were in a big fight. They tried taking the fight onto the bus, so the driver grabbed me, pulled me back inside, and drove two blocks off of her route in order to drop me off somewhere safer. One of the strangest experiences of my life.

As for the question regarding Torrance, I'd say it's a good half hour to forty minutes from the Grove. It is near a decent beach, though - either Manhattan or Hermosa, I can't remember. You can google maps it and see. I think the suggestions other members had of the Farmer's Daughter hotel is a good one. From there, you can take La Brea down to the 10 W to have access to the beaches, or Santa Monica/Beverly west to get to Santa Monica via city streets. There are also lots of restaurants nearby.