Chodon. Do yourslf a favor and drive the 45 minutes to Santa Barbara. Oxnard sucks ass. And if you're not white, you may get the unwelcome vibe in a few places. Ventura's not too bad. Santa Barbara was always my escape from L.A. nonsense. Snatch PCH (route 1) north along the coast and enjoy the view. When you get to SB head for the beach/pier. There's a restaurant on the right side pretty near the srteet that has one of the greatest burgers I've ever had. (The Santa Barbara Burger? Whichever one had the ton of avocado). If you keep on past the pier, the next left takes you into a parking lot with a little place to eat right on the sand. It's one of my favorite places in the world. I even proposed there, on the beach. Park your car and walk on up the beach and check out the drift wood forts that the kids make every weekend. Some of them are amazing. If the beach isn't your thing, downtown is always hopping with UCSB students. There's also a lot of museams and theaters there. If nothing else, it's a great place to get lost. That's generally what I do. If you want, keep driving north and watch it get more and more amazing. you can drive clear to the Candian border from there saying "wow" every 15 minutes. If you like to drive and think, head north and don't stop until you have to (usually San Francisco, about 4 hours by coast, 3ish hours by the 5). Hearst's Castle isn't much further north of SB (half hour?). It's resplendene still haunts my dreams. But I was 6 or 7. The epic scale was even more so then.
L.A. is about the same distance South. Downtown is okay. Chinatown is pretty fun. The beach cities tend to be the most enjoyable. Take the coast down as far as... well shit, I guess you could head to San Diego. If you want something quick and fun, you'll likely want to hang around Santa Monica's 3rd Street Prominade and Venice's boardwalk. Marina Del Rey has some places to eat along the coast. If you dive, you're going to want to head down to the reefs off Laguna Beach.
At night, in front of Universal Studios (101, exit Lankershim or Universal Studios Blvd) is Universal City Walk, which is a HELL of a lot of fun. More so at night. There's also a theater and a really hip bowling ally.
UCLA is fun, USC (especially around game time) is too. The Getty Meuseam is a must if you're into that.
And there's always Vegas 3.5 hours away! Woot! That's a whole other novel.
