I finally made the trip to Chinatown today, and it was worth the 1.5 hrs on the LA metro each way! I found this really neat store called Munky King that had all these really cool Chinese toys so it turned out to be a great spot to buy souvenirs for people back home. I also wandered around the Saigon Plaza and stopped for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant that had the friendliest staff I have ever met.