I rented a C152 in LA for a flying holiday in 2003, and went to many of the interesting local places - solo it coped fine, since I wasn't in a hurry. If I was in a friend, I'd certainly look for something a bit meatier.
But, the local rental outfits do seem to have a bit of a "tattiest aeroplane competition" going, and finding your way out of the LA basic VFR is a challenge sometimes - if I did this again, I'd get a train out to somewhere like Palm Springs and try and rent from there - the aircraft I saw seemed much better, and you are starting in the "350 flyable days" desert environment.
Which of course doesn't mean that other people haven't had better experiences than me - that's purely my opinion.
G