Help w/ locations in L.A.!

[Mako]

OK, my company has (after much begging) decided that my idea for a conference in L.A. was a good idea. That means that they will unwittingly foot the bill for airfare, room and board to L.A. in return for the seminar.
Of course, we all know the real reason for my trip is to hit the American Mecca of BJJ!!!

Now, I need some help for you Angeleans.. My conference/training will be in Tustin. Most of my BJJ (hopefully) will be in the Marina del Rey, Santa Monica area. It looks to be a pretty good drive, but i'm not familiar w/local traffic, etc. Is that drive horrible? Would I be better off staying halfway between? Where? (BTW, it looks like the travel agent here is trying to put me up near Anaheim.. good idea?) Anyway, anything you could do to make my BJJ pilgrimage..errrr.. business trip more profitable would be much appreciated!

OBRIGADO!

[EJ]

Yo Mako...

My BJJ school is less than 10 miles from Tustin. I know the area well. Bring yer gi, and we will hook up.

[Karlinhos]

Well, if you want to hit up the Machados, Torrance Gracie, etc., then you'd just take the 91 fwy. straight out to the So. Bay area. If you're travelling between say 10am and 3pm, traffic shouldn't be too bad, but anytime before or after that window it's pretty much a crap shoot. There always seems to be a tie up on the 91 for one reason or another.

There are also a few schools relatively close to Anaheim too. Check http://www.bjj.org too for some schools. Check the distance for Goes, Moreira/Iha and even Diogo's school (more towards the So. Bay area).

Lotsa luck and Happy Rolling!!!

[GinSueDog]

Mako,
It depends on the time of day that you make the drive, if it is mid morning like around 10ish or after lunch like around 2:30ish it shouldn't be that bad of a drive, but it is still going to take at least forty-five minutes to get up there plus considering you don't know the area it may well take you longer. Avoid hitting the road after 4:30ish. There are a number of good BJJ schools in OC, Joe Moreira's in Newport, Cleber's in Huntington, Chris Brennen's in Irvine, and of course EJ's school in Costa Mesa. I would stay local and avoid the drive, although I would be temped to check out the Gracie Torrance academy at least once. Anyway, that's just my thoughts on the whole thing.-ED

BTW, don't ask how long it would take for you to make the drive in traffic, let's just agree it would be a long a$$ drive.

[Edited by GinSueDog on 10-10-2000 at 03:29 PM]

[EJ]

"BTW, don't ask how long it would take for you to make the drive in traffic, let's just agree it would be a long a$$ drive."


PAIN.

[GinSueDog]

Pain is putting it mildly. It is what it must be like living in Canada or one of those other third world countries-ED

[EJ]

ED:

I know all about "third world" living my friend... I just moved AWAY from Corona. I was there for 6 months of hell.

[Iron Fist]

i hear joe moreira now teaches at fabiano iha school in orange county. another bjj school would be ken gabrielsons in huntington beach. and their is franco demarcago (sp?) a bjj black belt affiliate with calson gracie. i hear he is a very good instructor. for pure bjj joe moreira and franco would be your best bet. if you want to futher farther, i recommend torrance machado, rei diogo, or fernando vasconcelos and he is teaching at the new Raw center, where rico chipp, frank shamrock and frank trigg are teaching. that would be the place to go. fernando has awesome bjj skills.

[SweepEm]

Tustin to Santa Monica, without traffic will take about 45 minutes to one hour, with light traffice. BUT, if you travel after 3 PM, double it.

I assume that you may want to train with Rickson or Rey Diogo and like others have said, you might want to train a little closer and go to the other schools just once, but it's all up to you, whether you want to be on the road for a while, when you can be training instead. Tustin is the Southern part of Orange County and the freeways down there aren't that good, not to say that the ones in LA are really that much better, but they are.

Half way between Tustin and Santa Monica would probably be Long Beach or some city inland.

There is always the train from OC to downtown LA but I've never taken it so I have no clue about it.

[RYAN410]

IF YOUR GONNA BE IN CALI FOR A FEW DAYS YOU SHOULD VISIT A FEW SCHOOLS...THE SOUTH BAY HAS THE GRACIE AND MACHADO CAMPS..THAT WOULD BE A GOOD START..OFF THE 405 FRWY...CLOSE PROX TO LAX....

[Mako]

Guys,

Thanks for the info. It's nice to see the forum actually work constructively sometimes!

My first choice is Rey Diogo, even if it means a long drive. If there is an evening that I don't get out until late,(too late to make a long drive) I might be interested in seeing how close Allan Goes is, or EJ's school.

As far as Gracie Torrance, or Rickson's, etc.; without offending anyone, lemme say this: I've been fortunate enough to train, roll, private w/ a lot of the big names, and I can honestly say that I felt I gained the most from Rey. He really made sure you knew the fine points of a technique. Techniques I had struggled with were made clear to me. So, If it's at ALL possible (even 1.5 hour drive) it's worth it to me.

EJ,
I'm not familiar w/your school. Any info for me? Either way, we definitely need to hook up.

Again guys, thanks for your help!

Marc in San Antonio