Originally Posted by Moto-Velo
To the OP, L.A. is HUGE. There is way too much to see in one day. I suggest you break it up over a couple of days to get to really appreciate everything.
If you want to see the beaches, riding down The Strand is a good idea. It's a 22 mile MUP that goes from just north of Santa Monica down to Torrance.
I don't know Bel Air all that well as it's a hilly mess of big houses that you can probably get pretty easily lost in. However, I do advise against riding on Sunset Blvd. west of... say... Fairfax all the way to the coast. Way too many crazy drivers going through way too many blind turns.
East-west roads I would suggest would be Santa Monica Blvd. from the coast to... I dunno, I guess Highland. The streets are pretty crappy east of that. I would highly suggest riding Wilshire from the coast to downtown. That gives a very good overview of the city's diversity, plus downtown is one of my favorite places to just ride around and appreciate the atmosphere and history, especially at night. Though if you're there at night, be careful east of 4th street. That's skid row.
As for riding in "the hood", I don't know any good routes, but do know that it isn't as bad as some people seem to think. That being said, its reputation isn't entirely undeserved so I would definitely advise you to stay smart. Definitely worth checking out is Watts Tower.
Another thing to try would be riding around Griffith Park up to the observatory. Or, if you want a really long day of climbing and twisty roads, try Mulholland all the way to the coast.
The bikepath and continuing on South through Palos Verdes (and back) is a full day, at least if you stop to see stuff. I previously posted a bit on it. A few streets to add. You start on Palos Verdes West, which becomes Palos Verdes South and then West 25th . Then right on Western and left on Paseo del Mar. That will take you to Point Fermin park on the right and Angel Gate on the left. The WW II gun is somewhere in Point Fermin. The Buddist Monistary in Angels Gate. I think you need to take Gaffey uphill to enter the Buddist Monistary.
In Griffith Park if you start from Travel Town and head West and then uphill when you hit the saddle there is a closed road on the right. You can take that to the top. At that point you can continue straight and come out at the observitory or turn left and come out near the greek theater. In that area you could link up to Elisian Park and Dodger stadium. Some nice roads to ride, as long as ther is not a Dodger game that day. From there it is only a couple of miles to ethnicland. Olvera St., China Town and Little Tokyo (little Italy too, but that is real little) are all close by bike. But you need to plan to find the right roads. Ethnicland is very close to Central station, making getting there by train a possibility.
If getting to L.A. by car I would suggest looking for a few day tours rather than one connected tour. I did not see many reasonable ways from the Beach to Downtown or Hollywood. Oh there are some doable routes, but why spend time on dirty high traffic streets, those exist in any fair sized city.
Oh and you might want to add Fargo Street, just because of its place in cycling due to the annual Fargo Street Hill Climb every year. You don;t have to climg it to look at it.