STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

You will definitely need a car - impossible to get around without one.  I will take a stab at what you should do.....unfortunately a lot of what I can think of has to do with shopping....that kinda depresses me and makes it look like all I do is shop....

I would recommend checking out:

Melrose - great stretch of alternative-y shops, cafes

Venice Beach - kinda touristy, but has great areas like Main Street and Abbott Kinney...great if you are into any kind of athletic activity like biking, roller blading, tennis, etc.

Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade - very touristy, but if you are from an area that doesn't have an outdoor mall, this place is a must.  When I first moved to LA (from the east coast) I could not get over the fact that there was a mall without ceilings and such

The Grove / Farmer's Market - another outdoors mall....but the Farmer's Market is pretty cool.  They have great food there....I forget the name of the Mexican Restaurant in the Farmer's Market, but they have a GREAT Chicken Mole Burrito

Beverly Center - large mall that some say celebs hang out at, but I have never seen any.  It is on 3rd Street, which also has a lot of great restaurants to check out

Chinatown - touristy, great food, fun to walk around

In the Farmer's Market, there's a yummy Brazilian place where you get food by the pound called Pampas (I think anyways...)...the meat is sooo yummmy...

On Melrose, Albano's Pizza has the best NY Pizza outside of New York. I'm a native New Yorker and this is one of the few places that get the NY pizza almost perfect. Another good pizza place is Village Pizzeria in Larchmont Village. And yet another literal hole-in-the-wall with really good pizza and rolls is Stefano's Two brothers From Italy, which is on Hollywood Blvd, somewhere between Highland and Vine.

Lala's is Argentinian and the food is so amazing there. They may have the best chicken sandwich ever. Once, my BF and I drove all the way across town to have the chicken sandwiches for lunch two days in a row.

Mel's Diner is at Hollywood and Highland, and that's good ol' fashioned diner food, really yummy and good for late-nights.

There's also a great Persian place that my BF and I frequent, which is a bit out of the way in West LA called Canary Chicken House. The owner is absolutely amazing and he'll do anything for his customers. And you must have the pomegranate juice...so delicious....

You should visit the Getty museum. Even if you don't like art, because it is apparently the most gorgeous place in LA.

If you've never been, Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills are fun to go to.

Robertson Blvd. in Beverly Hills is fun, and you might just be able to throw something at Partis Hilton for us all since she seems to be shopping there all the time.

I've been in a number of boutiques, and my favorite BY FAR is Yellow on La Brea one block south of Melrose. They have literally the sweetest salespeople in the whole world. And they tell you the truth about how things look on you.

If you read US Weekly or People all the time and you see the plug for the store Intuition, the store is out here. The B&M store is about a million time better than the website as far as variety of items, although I wiull be the first to admit that it won't win any presentation awards for amazing store decor or anything.

Tara, I have never seen any celebs at the Beverly Center, although I was at the Bloomie's fragrance counter and the SAs were all gossiping about the fact that Omarosa had been there that day (it was last April). And Carrot Top apparently shops at Abercrombie, because I saw him in the Santa Monica one in the summer of '02.

carrot top is the scariest-looking man alive--i have had the misfortune of seeing him several times right up close (i think he was following me all around town for a while! i kept bumping into him everywhere!).  he appears to have been previously a woman.  seriously, dude looks like a lady.  SO much makeup at all times--heavy pancake base, freaky over-tweezed eyebrows, LIPGLOSS.  scary.  plus, the ubiquitous tight pants, which only add to my hypothesis. 

ok.  so melrose is a good idea.  lots of fun shopping and places to eat (if you like argentinean, i recommend carlito's gardel, and there is also caffe luna, which is a cute twinkly-light courtyard italian place, quite inexpensive).  good vintage shopping, too--i like slow and wasteland, which are right near each other on the south side of the street.

i also second the venice beach suggestion--if you can, go on a weekend day for the optimum people-watching.  there is a full-tilt 1970s outdoor roller disco at the south end of the boardwalk--you can sit out on the grass and watch people roller-boogie.  it's so awesome and you will think that you have been transported to 1975.  from there you can also go over to abbott kinney and walk around--there are many good restaurants and bars, and some cute places to shop.  main street in santa monica is also close to there and also good for the same types of things.  i personally do not care for third street promenade, but lots of people do. 

if you are wanting to see celebrities, you should go walk around the grove.  i've never been there and not seen someone.  the mexican food place someone mentioned that is in the farmer's market is loteria grill and it is fantastic--get the chilaquiles--so awesome. 

don't worry so much--you will be fine! the only thing that would make you stand out like a sore thumb is if you wear shorts.  out-of-towners who have seen too much tv seem to come here and expect that it is sunny and beachy 365 days a year and are wearing their belted jean shorts and tank tops with sneakers walking around in beverly hills. 

you are totally fashionable based on what you post here, so i am positive this fate will not befall you! just wear your normal cute casual clothes and you will be fine!