No problem. What are the dates in May? I might be out there around the middle/end of the month.

Also forgot to mention Universal Studios Theme Park. Mind you, all these them parks run around $45/day. Knott's sometimes has half price after 5pm. In fact, if you like fried chicken, Knott's has some of the best fried chicken dinners in the LA area- lines regularly run over an hour!

Food: Check out The Hat (lots of branches) for world's best pastrami; In & Out (lots of branches) for arguable some of the best fast food burgers and shakes (ask for "animal style" if you like condiments). Restaurant Row in West LA has, well, restaurants. Ask the hotel for directions. If you like french dips, in downtown there's Felipe's, which is about 2 blocks from both Olvera St and Chinatown.

There's some good hiking in the San Gabriel Mtn range, the Santa Monica "mountains" and in Orange County. If you like desert camping, Joshua tree is about 3 hours away. In fact, the entire LA areas is ringed with mountains, and most of them easily accessible. Mt San Jacinto is a good day hike, as is Mt Baden-Powell. I'd look online for maps and suggestions, cuz there are too many to list.

Forgot to mention, I'd seriously advise to avoid LA south of the 10 Fwy (between the 405 and 710) after dark. Some real shady neighborhoods to get lost in. some folks would advise staying out of East LA too, but I've never had a problem there (that's be between the 10 and 5 Fwys, from about the 10/5 interchange to about Telegraph). Again, take a look at some of the maps online to help orient you: most of the odd-number freeways are east/west, and the even-number are north/south (Hwy 5 and 405 being an exception).