When Visiting California?

My friend and I are going to Los Angeles, California after our senior year of high school. We've been wanting to do this for awhile now, but we don't really know how. We would preferably like to take a road trip up there, while keeping the prices as low as possible. Although, not so low that we get in a ghetto or deserted area, where it might seem unsafe or creepy. I was thinking about just taking the highway up, a straight shot. We live in Ohio at the moment, by the way. Also, we're going to be juniors in high school, so we have a couple of years to save. It's not just the prices of getting up there so much as it is staying there. We would like to stay for the whole summer, I know this can be expensive though. Any suggestions on a safe place to stay or how much money this will cost. Thanks!