I wasn't too crazy about going to the Universal park--at all. It seemed like rather a waste of money for not that many attractions. I wouldn't recommend it.
My personal favorite thing that we did when I was in LA was the boardwalk along Venice Beach, with the vendors and everything. I would imagine that they'd still be out regardless of the time of the year. The Pier was also fun. Walking down Hollywood Blvd, seeing the handrpints outside of Mann's Chinese Theater are fun things that you can do for free. Even seeing a movie, either there or at the Disney-owned El Capitain (sp?) is nice for the Hollywood feel. Be spontaneous, too... we ended up at a random ska show in Hollywood and had fun. There are some great music venues if you want to look at what's going on ahead of time.
Also, we were far too cheap to take one of those "The Stars' Homes" tours, but we did have fun going up Mulholland Dr., and seeing the immense houses, and there are some fantastic city overlooks from up there.
You can also get free tickets to tapings of sitcoms or game shows in Studio City, which is kind of a cool Hollywood thing to do. We were in the audience for (hehe) Wheel of Fortune, which was surprisingly a cool experience.
Wow... I really had fun making these recommendations, it was a nice reminder of how much stuff we actually got to do on that trip.
