Alfredo's Beach Club runs a chain of beachside concessions stands and restaurants around the Long Beach and LA areas. The company also handles special events and parties at the beach as well as renting blades and bikes.

Check the Alfredo's website for a complete list of locations.

Need a car seat or stroller for a visiting cousin? Babyland rents these items and more: rates start at $55 per week for strollers and $45 per week for car seats.

Need a car seat or stroller for a visiting cousin? Babyland rents these items and more: rates start at $55 per week for strollers and $45 per week for car seats.

Champions: Adventure, After School, and Sports Programs offers portable climbing walls that stand an impressive 24 feet high. The walls can handle up to four climbers at a time and up to sixty climbers in an hour. They are available for rental for use at parties, special events, or just for fun!

Champions also provides after school and enrichment programs in several schools, with classes from arts and crafts to science, drama to athletics, and journalism to body-building.

Champions: Adventure, After School, and Sports Programs offers portable climbing walls that stand an impressive 24 feet high. The walls can handle up to four climbers at a time and up to sixty climbers in an hour. They are available for rental for use at parties, special events, or just for fun!

Champions also provides after school and enrichment programs in several schools, with classes from arts and crafts to science, drama to athletics, and journalism to body-building.

Charm and Happy supplies clowns, face painters, balloon twisters, and more for party entertainment.

Also available for rent are trains, mini rides, sumo wrestlers(!), and ponies.

Since becoming a major force on the LA music scene in the early '70s, McCabe's Guitar Shop is known as much for its folk and rock concerts as for its superb selection and service to the string-playing community. Now that many of the music fans and musicians that it has fostered have grown up, children's music has become a popular mainstay at the Santa Monica shop.

McCabe's specializes in acoustic and folk instruments: guitars, banjos, mandolins, dulcimers (both hammered and plucked), fiddles, psaltrys, ethnic strings and lots of ethnic percussion, electrics and amps, you get the idea. All significant brands are usually in stock. McCabe's also rents, fixes, and teaches, and has all the things that anyone would need to go with.

About twice a month, families pack into the intimate concert room in the back of McCabe's to see lively Sunday mid-morning shows from performers who know how to sing to, rather than down at, their audience. The casual setting encourages kid participation and squirming about - most folks sit on the floor near the stage.

Of particular note are the shows headlined by Peter Himmelman, whose impromptu songs using the names of children in the audience, witty comments aimed at adults, and superb musicianship draw big crowds.

Concert prices are $8-$10 for adults and free for everyone under two. The concert hotline number is 310.828.4403.

In addition, McCabe's has a fine reputation for teaching music to the young and older. Workshop classes cover such instruments as violin, guitar, and harmonica for $100 to $170 per six- to eight-week sessions. A "try before you buy" policy means that on six-week classes, students don't need to pay until the second week.

The Afterschool Guitar workshop for kids ages nine to 12 years is quite popular and affordable at $100 for eight one-hour sessions. Private instruction is also available for $30 to $35 per lesson.

Santa Barbara Baby Company offers premium brand rental equipment and supplies for babies. The service caters to parents visiting the Ventura, Oxnard, Ojai, Santa Barbara, Montecito, Carpinteria, and Goleta areas.

Available equipment includes cribs, toddler beds, high chairs, car seats, strollers, beach toys, and more. Rental items are delivered to the customer free of charge.

Santa Monica Music Center offers a wide choice of music classes for kids, including Teacher Susy Classes, private instrumental and voice instruction, and performance workshops.

Teacher Susy Classes, designed specifically for babies and toddlers, consist of Mommy/Daddy & Me (ages six months to two years) and Toddler (ages two to four years) and are held Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Older children can register for private lessons in most instruments and voice, taught in the Center's studios by professional musicians. Or sign up for one of several workshop series, including brass ensemble, woodwind ensemble, string, small band, and beginner guitar.

You can also book a teacher to come to your home through the Center.

The Center's Instrument Rental program lets the customer "rent to own", allowing virtually all the payments to go toward the purchase. Complete maintenance service and a loss/theft insurance plan is provided on all student rentals. School band and orchestra instruments, drum sets and guitars are all available on a monthly basis with option to purchase.

The repair shop can handle all repairs from an adjustment to a complete overhaul, including replating or relaquering. The Center also does limited guitar, amplifier, and violin repairs.

The store features a large selection of music folios, books, and videos, and, of course, instruments, amplifiers, and more.

The Traveling Baby Company is a full service baby and toddler equipment rental agency.

The extensive product listings range from the basics - cribs, strollers, high chairs, and car seats - to items that offer comfort, fun, and convenience, including Boppy pillows, exersaucers, Diaper Genies, and baskets of toys catered to your child's age and interests. Products are ordered online and delivered to your location. The company is rapidly expanding, so check the website to find out if they've arrived at your destination.