Made sure I was up at 7am so that I could be at Hollywood Boulevard by 9am to catch the first double decker tour bus. They have 5 or 6 different routes but recommend you only try to do 2 a day as they take so long. The metro trains do not go to Santa Monica. There are actually 3 cities here - Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. To get to Santa Monica, I had to use 3 different routes on the hop on hop off bus.
The weather everyday of my 5 days in LA was cool and cloudy until about midday and then warming up to 25 or 26 Celsius. Overnight lows were around 17-18 Celsius. I therefore had to use a jacket everyday and it got especially cold on the open top busses.
I walked from Venice pier to Santa Monica pier which is probably between 3 and 4 miles. Also walked on 3rd street promenade. Saw them filming some tv show. I have no idea who the lady was although somebody did tell me and I have forgotten her name. Three ladies won a trip to New York with her.