Los Angeles, Ad Town: Travel Town Edition

Usually downtown's Union Station is the backdrop for advertisements -- which makes it kinda cool to see Griffith Park's Travel Town getting some commercial love. Here's a spot for "OurTime.com" shot at your toddler's favorite spot for a birthday party.

All Aboard Travel Town's Santa Claus Express

Griffith Park's Travel Town -- long a favorite spot of Blogger Preschooler's -- continues its train ride to Santa through Dec. 23 (weather permitting).

Sunday night was one of the chilliest nights of the year -- and it made the whole "train to North Pole" experience feel that much more real. On the down side, it was cold. And because Santa takes time to talk with each child, we remained in the slow-moving line for at least 45 minutes.

Still, Evan got a kick out of the nighttime train ride, and we got a decent pic of him on Santa's knee.

Travel Town's Train to Santa takes place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. each night from now until Dec. 23; tix are $7 per person (kids under 18 mos. are free). Also, you can take your own photos, or spend $5 for one of theirs.

After visit, Santa hands kids a candy cane, and a ticket good for a free ride on the Travel Town railroad in the new year.

A few more shots:

All Aboard The Griffith Park Express

Thankfully, all of the recent Griffith Park fires haven't impacted the locale's kid-friendly attractions (although this most recent one came close to Travel Town).

We frequently find ourselves at Travel Town, where a ride on the mini train around the attraction is standard. But to tell you the truth, the Griffith Park & Southern Railroad, located in the south part of the park (near the Los Feliz entrance) offers the better ride.

Both are operated by the same entity... but while the Travel Town locomotive just does a simple two loops around the attraction, the Griffith Park & Southern takes a more scenic track -- going over a bridge, passing by two crossings, looping past the busy street and going by a few simply constructed town facades.

A few pics from our recent visit:













The Griffith Park train has been in operation for 50 years. It's open at 10 a.m. virtually every day; tickets are $2.50 each (babies under 19 months are free).