Anybody have good directions to get to Sam's Seafood?

I'll be in Los Angeles week after next and was planning on heading down there possibly from the Hollywood area early in the evening on a weeknight. I was considering taking PCH all the way down. Is that too much of a hike or should I take one of the freeways? Any info is appreciated. Aloha.

If you have the time, its cool to take PCH, or even the more costal streets, look at a real map if you want to do that. But plan on 4 hours or so to go from Malibu to Sam's Seafood.

If time is tight.
I'd go 405 south to Seal Beach Blvd south to PCH and turn Left.
gop over the Bridge from Seal Beach into sunset Beach. its about 1/4 of a mile or so on the left hand side. if you pass the giant water tower turned into a house, you've gone to far.

But it would be hard to miss the giant swordfish sign above the building.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2007-10-06 15:15, bigtikidude wrote:
If you have the time, its cool to take PCH, or even the more costal streets, look at a real map if you want to do that. But plan on 4 hours or so to go from Malibu to Sam's Seafood.

If time is tight.
I'd go 405 south

Wow, that much time eh? Is that based L.A. traffic, or is it just that far? If I took 405, how much time would that be? Also, based on the renovations and everything, is it still worth going there?

Thanks again for the info. :drink:

[ Edited by: donhonyc 2007-10-06 20:17 ]

405 south or pch south early evening on a non-holiday weekday =traffic

either way you go (and depending on where in LA you are coming from - we are a city as big as Rhode Island) you're going to hit traffic. if freeway and coming from downtown, I'd leave no later than 3:30 or 4:00(least likely to hit traffic, though 4:00 is pushing it and it is LA - we have traffic at 3am!) 110 south to 405 south, then follow jeff's directions. If you can't leave that early (or earlier) wait until 6:30 or so to miss the bulk of the rush hour traffic.

PCH will be jammed too, but this stretch of PCH (from venice to long beach) is not the pretty coastal drive PCH is known for in Central and Northern CA. the best stretch is marina del ray to manhattan beach, then it's through the beach cities. PCH turns inward to cut off Palos Verdes (which is a nice coastal drive) and goes through industrial/residential areas before it starts back up as a nice drive at Seal beach. So, the part of PCH you want to drive is the most built up, furthest from the ocean and congested especially at rush hour.

But then again, I have no idea where you're coming from. and looking at a map will give you the best idea of what you want to do.

go to sam's on Tuesday, half price appetizers and $5 mai tais and LIVE ukulele music!

Also, based on the renovations and everything, is it still worth going there?

yes. Just don't expect trader vics or tiki ti. 'cause it's not. But do ask if you can check out the hidden village and poke around at Danny's awesome work. It is a tiki place with loads of history.

Go on Tuesday - the music and atmosphere is more in tune with "tiki" than other nights. The food is great and the drinks are strong. Just go with an open mind.

Being that I'm only going to be in LA for 4-5 days, I will not be there on a Tuesday, so I'll be missing out on the stuff you mentioned. I'll also be driving, so the strength of the drinks, unfortunately, is a non-issue for obvious reasons. Maybe I'll just have to settle with visiting Tiki Ti and maybe the Trader Vic's lounge, and that will be my personal little Tiki crawl unless some of you have other suggestions. In a perfect world I would have had dinner at Trader Vic's and not had to worry about looking for other places, but NOOOO-OOoooo, they had to close the joint. I did get to go there once about....somewhere in 1994, I can barely remember what the interior looked like, it was fun though. I think I had a Samoan Fog Cutter at he bar. Sucks that the restaurant isn't there anymore.

I'll most likely be staying in downtown LA. I know from what I've heard and what I've seen on the trips I've made out there over the years, that it's not the most exciting part of town, but I think we may be getting a deal on a room at one of the nicer hotels.

[ Edited by: donhonyc 2007-10-06 22:21 ]

The new Trader Vic's Lounge has the same Tiki-rrific Drinks and the food is good too :) You might want to check it out. Sam's is not that far away. I think it would be worth the drive. There's also Damon's which is in Glendale & The Purple Orchid.

[ Edited by: WooHooWahine 2007-10-06 23:04 ]

On 2007-10-06 22:16, donhonyc wrote:
...Maybe I'll just have to settle with visiting Tiki Ti and maybe the Trader Vic's lounge, and that will be my personal little Tiki crawl unless some of you have other suggestions...I'll most likely be staying in downtown LA.

You may want to visit the Bahooka. Still a little drive from downtown LA but much much closer than Sam's Seafood.

http://www.geocities.com/bahookarestaurant/welcome.htm

Thanks for the info, people. Very helpful. Yeah...look at that. Bahooka isn't that far away and it looks really cool on the website. The food photos look a little..um...unappetizing though. But it looks like it may be worth a visit anyway. The only reason I would visit TV's Lounge would be to have one of those Mai Tais that I haven't had since I visited the Atlanta TV's like three or four years ago. Once I get one of those I'm probably gonna turn into a junkie getting his first fix after failing rehab. One thing I'll tell you that I'm definitely doing is going to Tiki Ti. That's definitely going to happen.

I'll see how the schedule pans out as far as Sam's goes. If I left downtown LA during non-rush hour times do you think it would be a faster ride down there?

Having just moved from Long beach, I understand the rush hour problem, but having commuted regularly up to Hollywood for work, I strongly disagree with the 4 hour drive on PCH, PCH gets real dodgy around LAX and it simply isn't worth the effort to me... and if you leave on a non- commute time like 1pm or somethin and return after 8pm you should be able to make the drive from downtown Los Angeles in 35 to 45 minutes. Sure the biggest lockups occur around the 405 and LAX...AVOID That area if possible, of course if you are driving from Malibu you cant avoid it. A drive on the 405 from Malibu to Seal Beach can take up to 2 hours (and I'm sure there are many horror stories of longer drive times)

From downtown... as stated.... 110 to the 405 to Seal Beach Boulevard. West to PCH, bang a left (south) on PCH and you're practically there!(1 1/4 miles) It's easy! 35 to 45 mins.

Good Luck! Have Fun!

On 2007-10-06 23:24, donhonyc wrote:
Thanks for the info, people. Very helpful. Yeah...look at that. Bahooka isn't that far away and it looks really cool on the website. The food photos look a little..um...unappetizing though. But it looks like it may be worth a visit anyway.

Having been to both Sam's and the Bahooka, If only able to visit one, I would choose the Bahooka. However, as far as the food at the Bahooka goes, stick with the ribs. They are the same recipe as the ribs from Kelbos.

The Bahooka also serves flaming drinks. A very rare sight in public bars these days.

Having been to both Sam's and the Bahooka, If only able to visit one, I would choose the Bahooka.

That's good to hear because it cuts out a whole commute for me to leave time for other stuff. So thus far it looks like I'll be hitting Tiki Ti for sure, Trader Vic's, and Bahooka. The whole drawback is driving, so I really can't knock em back like I can here in NYC, the land of automobile NON-ownership. I'll be out there with someone, but she's never been to LA and not sure how comfy she would be driving around. We'll see how it all pans out. Thanks again for all of the info!

I'd also choose the Bahooka over Sam's. Granted, I'd actually walk across hot coals for a pile o' ribs at Bahooka, so I'm a little biased.

If you want a flaming drink at Bahooka, they'll light anything on fire for you if you ask them to. Diet coke, a glass of milk, etc.

On 2007-10-07 16:51, Tiki-Kate wrote:

If you want a flaming drink at Bahooka, they'll light anything on fire for you if you ask them to. Diet coke, a glass of milk, etc.

Wow, I'll have to ask if they serve a flaming soy milk in a tiki mug.

Somebody mentioned Damon's in an earlier post, and I just checked out the website. That place looks pretty cool too. Anybody got any dirt on that place?

I just got back from having dinner at Damon's. Tiki-rrific Food, service, & drinks. The decor takes you back to The Good Old Tiki Days. I highly recommend you plan to visit Damon's :)

http://www.damonsglendale.com

[ Edited by: WooHooWahine 2007-10-07 19:25 ]

On 2007-10-07 19:17, WooHooWahine wrote:
I just got back from having dinner at Damon's. Tiki-rrific Food, service, & drinks. The decor takes you back to The Good Old Tiki Days. I highly recommend you plan to visit Damon's :)

Agreed on Damon's!
Great bartenders to chat with & We also talked with the owner last time we were there - she's great & so enthusiastic about the place, which is wonderful to see.

And.....she has a secret stash of their anniversary MaiTaI glasses :) :)