I would recommend to stay in Marina Del Rey, from there you can go to all the typical and not so typical tourist destinations. Its a lovely area and can get to downtown in 20min, or to Disneyland in 40min, to Santa Monica 3rd street Promenade in 10min.

One thing about LA is public transport sucks, so you need to rent a car and get ready for alot of traffic on the 16 lane freeways and 8lane main roads.

Dont stay in any hotels in Hollywood, you will not like.

For hotels, LAX Marriot Courtyard hotels is always good but if you like comparable but with Marina view, try out in ebookers.ch and search for 'Hotels' in Santa Monica or Marina Del rey. Avoid any 'Motels'

Maybe you can find a combined deal for flight, hotel, rental car. Check with a few travel agents and compare with your own research. I could say to start with a good estimate flight $1,200 + Hotel $750- + car rental $300 = $2200 per person

Some of the nice things too do :

Santa Monica Pier & 3rd Street Promenade & Shopping center

Hollywood Blvd/Mann Chinese Theater and Star Walk (but thre are scammers everywhere so be very careful with your money and dont take photos with the weirdos or they will beg for money)

Universal Studios and City Walk

LA Zoo (one of the best I been too)

China Town

Little Tokyo

Korea Town

Huntington Beach or Newport beach is nice strolls on beach and Yaght piers/shopping, etc.

Griffith Park & the Observatory (must see)

Baseball game at Dodgers Stadium or at Angels Stadium

Basket ball game of Los Angeles Lakers

American foodball Game with LA Raiders

a bit south is the Safari Park, close to San Diego

I could also recommend driving from LA/Santa Monica direction north for a bit over an hour, and go to Downtown Ventura. Enjoy the small and pretty beach side. Or just another 30minutes your in Santa Barbara

Im not sure if your into Amusement parks but the best are Disneyland, California Adventures, Magic Mountain, Lego Land, Knotts Berry Farm, Raging Waters, etc.

Bonne voyage

No NFL football team in LA. The Raiders are back in Oakland for more than 15 years now...

Unless you really mean "foodball"... which I would love to discover myself...

Wow Dave - thanks heaps , this is very detailed and very helpful indeed....many thnx again.

Hancock Park with La Brea Tar Pits and the Page museum is one of my favorite places in LA. The museum has excellent exhibits not just on the tar pits, but also on the development of the area as an urban center and the city of Los Angeles. Hancock Park is right next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art which is hold world class pieces and is so worth a visit.

I love Los Angeles! Yes, rent a car; no, don't be scared of the freeways. I have never been in an area with more courteous drivers. No one wants an accident, traffic is already slow enough! Be aware that the parking at your hotel likely borders on extortionate if you're staying remotely downtown.

Hotel Cafe is a great place for live music. Fashion District (just watch for pickpockets) is so much fun to walk through, even if you're not into fashion.

Enjoy! Have an In-n-Out burger for me!