Tourist attractions in Hollywood
Trip Start
Jul 14, 2007
1
11
12
Trip End
Jul 27, 2007
Los Angeles,
California,
United States
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Today, being near the end of our trip with still lots to do, I wanted to head out to Hollywood today to do one of the many touristy tours they offer here - specifically a "movie stars' homes" tour - and then go to some museums on Hollywood Blvd. that were also included as part of the deal. The "deal" was purchasing a Go Los Angeles card from the visitor info centre there at Hollywood & Highland Avenue (at the mall, where we parked) good for 2 days for a mere $79, which includes admission into over 40 interesting "attractions" in southern California, one of them being this tour. It really is a good deal since the 2 main things we planned to do with the card (the tour and going to a waterpark tomorrow) would cost over $80 on their own. Then the museums we went to are about $15-$20 each. The card also includes entry to Universal Studios, so if you're going there, it's very wise to buy the card (we didn't just because we didn't have a chance to buy the card in person beforehand before we went there). Universal costs $62 regularly, but a one day Go Card is only $49, which would also get you into Universal Studios.
Anyways, we bought the cards at 10:55am and the next tour was conveniently starting at 11:00am, which we were able to make. The "mini bus" we were travelling held about 12 other tourists and our excursion througout Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Rodeo Drive and Sunset Blvd.
Fish in the pond at The Green Temple
(all in the same area). I found it interesting to be able to see the proximity of these locations to one another because it gives you a realistic perspective of all of these places when you hear about them on tv and such - now I'll know because I've been there! Same goes for the Los Angeles area in general. Before this trip, I had no idea where anything was in L.A. - and didn't even realize that the county of L.A. actually comprises of over 80 different official cities, just like in the GVRD and it's Burnaby, Surrey, Coquitlam, etc. We are actually staying in the "city" of Hawthorne, which is right by the LAX airport, and about 30 minutes away (with no traffic) from the Hollywood area.I took lots of photos of the different various homes and "mansions" that we toured. And no, we didn't see Jennifer Aniston sunbathing in her front yard, as Ben was hoping to see, but we did see a smattering of many other celebrities' homes, including the homes of Paris Hilton, Dr. Phil, Tom Cruise (well, just the fence surrounding it), Courtenay Cox, Elizabeth Taylor, Ozzy Ozbourne, Bob Barker, and lots and lots more, most of which I can't remember. Unfortunately, I also now forget which homes belong to which celebrities in some of my photos, which I was afraid would happen! But I will post some of them here for you to peruse. Oh yeah, we passed by the "Chateau Marmont" hotel, which later on tv tonight was reported as being the suspected current location of where Lindsey Lohan is now staying, after being arrested 2 nights ago for DUI and then being released. We also saw the condo where she has a penthouse, in Beverly Hills. The Beverly Hills area reminds me of the West Vancouver residential area where all the rich people live there - same kind of roads and hilly location.
After the tour, we went to a few of the museums that we could get in for free with our cards: the Hollywood Wax Museum and the Guinness World Records museum. They were pretty neat and worth the time if the cost was already paid for, as ours was. I took some photos in the museum as well. Ben wasn't really impressed with the resemblance of many of the wax sculptures to the people they were supposed to be. Some of them seemed a bit "off" (just like at the wax museum in Amsterdam), but others were pretty good.
After that, we had lunch, and Ben was tired and wanted to go home, but the day was still young, so we decided to part ways and I was going to make it back to the hotel later on via public transit. I went to the Hollywood Museum then, which featured lots of "memorabilia" of Hollywood films/tv shows. After this, it was getting to be time of the Hollywood movie premiere of "The Bourne Ultimatum" starting, which I wanted to see (as in, stand outside of beforehand and see the stars arrive to and take pictures of them), so I started to head to the theatre by foot, which was a convenient 6 or 7 block down Hollywood Blvd., and then a few blocks to the right, on Sunset Blvd.
Adzuki Bean soup at The Green Temple
at the Cinerama Dome. I stopped into a few stores on the way as well. I bought a neat rubber "seal" stamp of my initials (AC) at a huge costume and wig store.Walking down on the street, I suddenly heard Ben page me on our walkie talkies, and he said he was just leaving the parking lot then (he had gotten lost in the parkade!) and wondered where I was - he was driving on Hollywood Blvd, which I was walking on. We found each other a few minutes later and I asked him to take me to the movie premiere location. We passed by the theatre and the red carpet was set up, alongside many lights and camera for the media. It was about 5:30pm at this point, which is when the press was getting there, and at 6:30 the celebrities were to arrive, and then the film to start at 7:30pm.
We parked in the parking lot diagonally across the four way intersection from the theatre, where we had a good view of the small crowd of "regular" people who had started to compile in a very small gated off area at the end of the red carpet, with not a really great view. There was a L.A. tv station helicopter above making circles around the area. I thought there definitely would have been more "viewer" space, but it looked like my 5 foot 3 frame would not have seen too much if I had joined the crowd, just as usual in these kinds of "crowd"-like situations (Ben declined my request to sit on his shoulders to see). I didn't feel like going out there right away to stand with the crowd. My back was sore from carrying the backpack and I was starting to get tired too. I asked Ben if he would stay with me another 50 minutes to allow me to live out my Hollywood dream, but he said no because he wanted to sleep in the hotel room, and I no longer relished the idea of staying there by myself and then later taking an 1 1/2+ hour subway and bus ride back to the hotel. So, we stayed a bit longer, and, regrettfully, left 45 minutes before the action, leaving with nothing but a few photos of the scene and the lingering memories of what could have been, but wasn't :( Maybe I'll get to see on Entertainment Tonight tomorrow night what I missed.
Speaking of which, I did watch ET tonight at the hotel and saw that Matt Damon had received a sidewalk star tonight on Hollywood Blvd., just where we were all day today! But it must have happened while we were on the bus tour, because we totally missed it and was not informed by my "sources" of this. Oh well, again.
