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1. Cahuenga Blvd. (Between Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset Blvd.) The number 1 place for you to party in Los Angeles is the Cahuenga Strip. With over 10 bars and clubs on a single block, you will have enough entertainment to last you all night and then some. The once seedy Cahuenga strip has become a hotbed of entertainment, right in the heart of hollywood. In the dark and sexy Burgundy Room and character-filled Beauty Bar, a few dollars will carry you a long way, well into the night. The Green Door, Vice and Play are three of the hottest clubs in Hollywood where celebrities are not shy about showing their faces. These are of course highlights of this amazing strip, the rest you will have to uncover for yourself.

The Beauty Bar

The Green Door

The Burgundy Room

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2. Sunset Blvd. (Between Echo Park Blvd, and Quintero St.)The number 2 spot you absolutely must visit when backpacking in Los Angeles is the “other” Sunset Strip. Take away all the glitz, glamor, price and snobby attitude of the original sunset strip and you have this wonderful oasis hidden away on the east side of Los Angeles. Close to Downtown, you will find this place to be a hidden gem. It’s a quick 10 minute straight shot from Hollywood. It may feel a little grungy at first, but the free-wheeling hipster spirit is very much alive here. The Gold Room Bar has amazing drink specials, serves free tacos and free peanuts all night. The Shortstop Bar and Dance Club plays incredible music and is jam-packed almost every night of the week with foot stomping and hair swaying party gods. And of course the Little Joy Bar is low-key with cheap drinks and ragged pool tables! Be careful who you play for money here, the talent level can be pretty high. Professional pool jockeys are are known to frequent. If you’re looking for the typical Hollywood playplace, you will not find it here. But what you will find is an artsy atmosphere, interesting people, cheap drinks and a free-wheeling good time!

The Short Stop

The Little Joy

The Gold Room

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3. Hillhurst and Vermont (Between Franklin and Hollywood) This magical little section of Silverlake is my personal favorite! Everything you could possibly want for an entire evening out on the town is right here! Hillhurst and Vermont are parallel to each other, and most of the action is centered between Franklin and Hollywood. Vermont is a bit livelier than Hillhurst with an energy that is both fun and welcoming. Coffee shops, eateries, and restaurants galore, you will most likely start the night here. The Dresden Bar on Vermont is a Hollywood Classic and was featured in many movies not the least of which is Swingers. It is a very interesting place with a retro cool Hollywood crowd, and oh the music!The band that plays there has been doing so for about 50 years, and is beloved by all! It’s always packed so get there early. Walk a block down Hollywood towards Hillhurst and you will find the Good Luck Bar. It has an amazing atmosphere, really cool people and very reasonably priced drinks. The Drawing room is just up Hillhurst if you’re ready to mellow out a bit and half a block down Hollywood is the Tiki Ti bar. The Tiki Ti is a really interesting place, especially if you’re in the mood for a one-of-a-kind tropical cocktail because that’s all they serve there. It is a Hollywood institution and must not be missed on your excursion. Once you’ve had just about enough to drink, head back towards Vermont and find Fred 62. It’s a hipster diner open ‘tll 4:00AM. Eat a basket of greasy fries, have a mouthwatering burger or indulge in some late night pancakes, it’s all good there!

Fred 62 Restaurant

Tiki Ti Bar

The Dresden Bar and Restaurant

1. PLAN AHEAD. I know, I know, backpacking is usually a spur-of-the moment thing. You decide where to go when the wind decides to blow that way. But there are some things you can plan ahead for. For instance when you know you’ll be flying from Sidney to Singapore in the near future, make that reservation and live out the rest of your days in Sydney with a good bye party every night for two weeks! Talk about living your life to the fullest. Not a bad way to ride into the sunset!
2. BE FLEXIBLE WITH YOUR TRAVEL DATES AND TIMES. This one’s a gimme! But believe it or not, it may save you even more money than planning ahead. If you’re not an early bird, then I guess you’ll just have to bite the bullet and take a flight or tow hung over. Crack-of-dawn flights are usually the cheapest. Some people insist on specific times to fly, saying “ there is no possible way” I could get to the airport by 6AM. In the end It’s your choice, but personally, I’d rather have two hundred bucks in my pocket than two extra hours of sleep! Besides not sleeping at all the night before will give a chance to catch up on it, because lets face it, there’s not much else to do when you’re stuck in a seat for a few hours.
3. SHOP AROUND. Don’t you ever, and I mean ever take the first price on any form of travel! I realize that you may not know all the local resources for flights, trains and buses, but it’s worth it go online and read some blogs before you book. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve spoken to fellow travelers who paid 200 even 300 bucks more for a ticket than I did. It just pisses me off! I feel it’s completely wrong for these companies to take advantage of travelers who are already strapped for cash! I mean this is precious beer money we’re talking about! Another piece of advice is to call a travel agency. Call three. All will give you a quote for free, and travel agents have access to consolidator tickets that you and your laptop do not. Most people assume that the web has the cheapest rates, but in my experience, a good travel agent will beat the online rate about 1/3 of the time, especially for international flights.
4. CLEAR YOUR COOKIES. This one you probably didn’t know, but the websites you visit remember your browsing history and actually jack up the price if you keep checking it. You see that the rate has gone up and think, “uh-oh, I better book it now!” This is 100% true and is one of the despicable tactics that are used on unsuspecting travelers. Don’t fall prey to it and erase your cookies often and regularly! Click Here for step-by-step instructions to erase those pesky cookies.
5. BOOK DIRECT. Third-party booking companies like hostels.com or kayak.com almost always will be more expensive. How do you think they became so rich? Booking fees that’s how! Additionally when you reserve a flight on these websites, you don’t actually purchase your ticket when “buy now.” They relay your request and only several hours later do the companies actually get your request. This means there is a chance you could actually lose your price and have to start over. They’re great for checking what’s available, but not for booking!  I realize hostels are your first choice but after months of travel you’ll want a hotel room just to feel human. Same story, book direct! If you booked through a third party and your hotel is overbooked, you get bumped first. You will also get the crappiest room.
6. GO LOCAL. Renting a car or campervan in Australia or New Zealand? Local rental companies’ rates are almost always lower, and it is easy to book online. Remember, Google knows best! Going local also applies to saving money on the ground once you arrive. Local brands of groceries, beer and toiletries are less expensive and much more fun! And don’t book a package deal unless you absolutely have to! 9 times out of 10 breaking up your itinerary and booking separately will work out to half the price if not less! For instance if you’re going to Angkor Wat from Bangkok, don’t book hotel and transport as a package. Your hotel will probably be very nice, but you will pay double for one of the same quality! My advice is to book the transportation and decide where to stay once you get there! It’s more fun this way and much cheaper! One last piece of advice about going local is to book a hotel or hostel in a new destination for no more than 1 or 2 nights unless you have to! For instance if you’re going to Brazil for Carnival, then most hostels will have 4 or 5 night minimums. But any other  time of year, book for 1 or 2 nights because you will probably find something much less expensive and better quality when you’re there. And if the place you booked is amazing and you want to stay, let them know right away, they will not throw you out! Make the hostel earn your business, don’t just give it to them!
7. TRAVEL IN THE OFF-SEASON. Air tickets to Europe or anywhere else in winter (excluding the holiday season) can be 1/3 to 1/4 the price of a peak summertime ticket. Hotel rooms and hostel beds are cheaper, tourist sites are not crowded, and your hosts will be less burned-out. Remember: there is no bad weather, only a bad mind set. One thing you might be worried about is what if it rains the entire time or what if I can’t find other travelers to hang with? In all  my years of travel, what I have found is that inconveniences make traveling more fun! I know it’s counter-intuitive, but once you get back home, you’ll remember the time you got stuck in a typhoon in Hong Kong and had to run into a crowded bar and eded up having the most amazing time. Again, there is no such thing as bad weather, only a bad mind-set
8. FLY ON WEEK DAYS for international travel especially. Weekdays are usually considered by the airlines to be Monday through Thursday. You will save a great deal of money by avoiding the airlines’ weekend surcharge on both ends.
9. BE SMART WITH YOUR MONEY. Getting around a new city may be difficult. You don’t know the local bus routes, subway stops, etc..But with the help of Google Maps, all that info, once available to a select few, is now at your fingertips. Unless you’re coming home from a night on the town or you have several friends to share the costs of the taxi, and certain other exceptions, it is usually best to use public transit. Besides it’s so much more fun as you will seldom have a better opportunity to meet locals and truly feel like you’re part of the city. Several other tips are try not to buy food or drinks at airports, buy groceries and make your own meals as most hostels have kitchens, visit tourist traps but don’t buy anything there, especially food and souvenirs. Use every opportunity to trade books as many hostels have libraries that run on the barter system. And lastly, withdraw cash in sums large enough to last you one to two weeks. Although we don’t recommend carrying large amount of cash, ATM charges can add up in a big way so be smart with your withdrawals and don’t use credit cards.
10. TALK TO THE EXPERTS. Travel agents spend every day analyzing flight routes, learning airline rules, reading maps of train stations, negotiating car rental prices, and sorting through the computer reservation systems of the airlines, systems that predate the Internet. Not only will they be able to help you make the reservation at the best possible rate, but will also be able to assist you on the best places in town to stay.

What you need to do now is rent, borrow or beg for a bicycle if you don’t have one as this event is a true rarity. I say that because not only do you gain free access to the art but also to amazing live music, mouthwatering food, an incredibly fun atmosphere, but best of all, you get to watch a Pee Wee Herman movie! I mean does it get any better?!? So maybe Pee Wee Herman is not the main draw of this thing,  but I promise you won’t be bored! So just to recap, free art, free live music, free movies, cool people and free food! Ummmm, yes please! Did I also mention that there will be a valet service for you bike…you heard me, bike valet! So gather your mates from the hostel, get those chevrolegs warmed up and start pedaling boys and girls, this will be a night to remember in Los Angeles!

Event details

Time: Thursday, April 8 2010 @ 7:00pm

Address: 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Ángeles, CA 90024.

Fun in Los Angeles

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This is not an alternative form of budget lodging! This  is a true hostel for the global backpackers who are looking to have a great time and make amazing memories in Hollywood! I hope you will like and connect with what we are trying to do! Stay tuned as we will soon be open!