Where is the best place to stay in Los Angeles (area, not hotel!)?

http://www.vrbo.com/ is AMAZING if you are looking for a house to stay in for a few days!

Beverly Hills is central and has good shopping. It's clean and safe and easy to get a cab. You will be 20 minutes from the beach, 20 minutes from downtown and pretty much twenty minutes from anything you might want to see. There are plenty of restaurants and shops and it's good for travellers of all ages and all different purposes. Hope this helps!

Long Beach ... but choose your area wisely. You may even want to try Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, or Redondo beach. Close to the airport, close to the beach. 45 min from hollywood, 45 min from disneyland. (im talking with traffic). Otherwise. I would probably pick hollywood if you want to be close to one place and do a commute from there to your other destinations. Better off not commuting every time. Traffic... is hell

Definitely Huntington Beach and or Aliso Viejo, ( voted one of the safest cities in U.S.) I think it ranked 4th. Enjoy with your little ones.

Huntington Beach.... the ocean is right here and I live here. Disneyland is in Aneheim, CA and is very close by to Huntington Beach. There is plenty to do and it is a great place for vacation. Good luck and have a great time.

Hollywood/Universal Studios and Disney are kind of far from each other. I would recommend staying in Hollywood area for a few days and then traveling down to Disney. With California Adventure AND Disneyland there, you could easily spend 2 days there as well. Plus, it'd be great for the 4 year old to actually stay in a Disney resort.

As Keithsushi said, each of those (beach/Universal/Disney) are rather far apart. It's the nature of the LA area. With a 2YO and 4YO, I believe you will have the best time at any place with a good pool. As the daddy of a 5YO, any day with time spent at the pool is a good day. All things considered, I would stay in Anaheim close to Disneyland. You will have excellent access to the freeways, restaurants, and the Disneyland Resort. The hotels close to Disneyland also have a view of the fireworks that happen on weekends (every night during summer and holiday periods). Since there are so many hotels in the area, the rates are rather competitive. You could stay at the beach, but you will certainly pay a lot more. As much as I like Huntington Beach, I would not stay there because it takes 20-30 minutes just to get to a freeway. If you are going to stay at the beach, Santa Monica is probably your best bet. If you are interested in particular hotels, just post another question and I'll be happy to give some advice on those as well.

You may find it difficult to find a central area that is convenient to everything you want. Most tourists stay in the Hollywood area since it is convenient to Universal Studios and Hollywood. Others stay in the Santa Monica area near the ocean. You don't say if you have a car. Disneyland is a long way from LA. I would recommend posting your question at TripAdvisor's Los Angeles Forum. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g32655-i61-Los_Angeles_California.html