LA is indeed expensive with Uber, trip to the beach 100 usd. And it isn't that nice. I would tour to Santa Barbara etcetra than stay in LA. But i went for 1 month when i made the long tourist tour. Don't know how long you want to go. For 2 weeks i would stay in vegas and see Grand Canyon and other Sports around Vegas with a rental car and take a motel on the roadtrip.
Tourist Route to Vegas
Long Tourist Route, really nice
I must go back to USA for some more months. Need a lot of months to see it all.