Jeff's happy place! Downtown Los Angeles. It's like a massive, incredible food court with independently owned food shops of all cuisines, plus coffee and also a bar -- don't forget to stop down stairs and visit the independent venders selling homemade and hand crafted items!
BALBOA ISLAND! One of our favorite places for an easy and fun time! Take the ferry to the Island (but first, make sure you ride the Ferris wheel, get a hot dog or some ice cream!) Once on the island, go for a walk, enjoy the houses, or grab some food and do some shopping in their awesome downtown area!
If you can make the drive to San Diego, it is an awesome Day trip for the family -- a colonial type district with specialty shops and workers dressed from the 1800s, Old Town, San Diego is one of our favorite places to visit for the day -- awesome shops, great food, and historical houses and landmarks that are a blast to see -- visit the tobacco shop, candy shop, candle shop, or get your photo taken by a camera from the 1800s!
Santa Monica Pier is a terrific place for tourists -- a little amusement park, good food, drinks, an arcade, and good views! Would like to warn ya'll though -- the Pandemic was not kind to this area and being so close to Venice Beach, the homeless situation may be quite substantial. But, I guess that sort of goes for all of Socal, so...