LINED UP WITH THE WRONG ARPT DURING VISUAL APCH TO LAX.

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AT 8000 330 DEG HDG APCH CTL ASKED US THREE TIMES IF WE COULD ACCEPT A VIS (FIRST 2 ANSWERS APPARENTLY INTERRUPTED BY OTHER ACFT TRANSMISSIONS). I ANSWERED 'NOT YET; NOT FROM HERE.' AFTER DISCUSSION WITH THE F/O THAT I COULD SEE THE RACE TRACK OFF THE END OF THE RWY; HE AGREED TO A VIS APCH. 25L ILS WAS TUNED FOR BACKUP. HE STARTED DSNDING AND APCH ASKED 'IF WE COULD SEE THE ACFT ON BASE FOR 25R.' RESPONDING 'YES WE DO' AND WERE 'TO CHANGE TO TWR AT 7 MI.' THE ACFT RPTED APPEARED CLOSER THAN LGT WAS TO THE F/0 AND HE HAD A GOOD INTERCEPT ANGLE FOR THE LOC/ON GLIDE SLOPE. A SET OF STRIPES CAME INTO VIEW OFF TO THE L AS I CHANGED TO TWR. I MADE 2 CALLS AND NO RESPONSE; I LOOKED UP THE FREQ FROM THE COMMERCIAL CHART AND HE CHKED IT; I GLANCED AT THE HSI AND SAID 'YOU ARE BELOW THE GLIDE SLOPES; ALSO GO R.' I CALLED THE TWR AGAIN WITH THE RESPONSE 'WHO IS CALLING; YOU ARE GARBLED.' I LOOKED UP AND REALIZED THAT WE WERE DSNDING INTO THE WRONG ARPT; AT THE SAME TIME AS THE F/O. WE THEN HEADED R TOWARD THE LAX APCH LIGHTS AT ABOUT 1100-1200' MSL FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF MI. LAX TWR THEN SAID 'IT APPEARS YOU ARE ON FINAL FOR HAWTHORNE.' I REPLIED 'IT IS OFF OUR LEFT NOW.' CONTINUING ON FOR UNEVENTFUL LNDG. MY CONFIDENCE IN THE F/O'S ABILITY FOR A VIS BACKED UP BY THE ILS WAS MORE THAN HE COULD HANDLE WITH MY TRYING TO SORT OUT THE RADIOS. NO MORE MARGINAL VIS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING. DISCUSSED WITH FLT MGR AND MGR DID NOT FEEL A VIOLATION TOOK PLACE. HAS RECEIVED NO INQUIRY FROM FAA. COULD NOT EXPLAIN WHY THE FO DID NOT XCHK HIS FLIGHT INSTRUMENTS. DID FEEL VISIBILITY WAS LESS THAN REPORTED AT POINT OF INCIDENT. NO CONFLICT WITH ACFT IN THE HHR AREA. TWR DID COMMENT REFERENCE TO THE APPARENT WRONG ARPT APCH.