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Welcome to Hollywood, what's your dream?
Entry 47 of 48 | show all | print this entry |
The land of opportunity, the land of the beautiful people, the USA.
They forgot to mention its the land of Nutcases. Sorry if you are American, I'm sure you are quite normal. It's just that the minority do tend to stick in your mind.
Los Angeles, Hollywood even, was our place of residence for the 3 nights in this city. We stayed at the USA Hostels just off Hollywood Blvd. I will admit I was intimidated by this city when we arrived. Aside from walking into a film set (everywhere you turn, its like being in a movie), Hollywood was almost as I would have expected. We didnt get a chance to explore until around 7pm. The darkened streets were lit with neon signs and street lamps. As we looked down at our feet, the shapes of stars with famous names passing beneath them. We could hear the sounds of sirens coming from all angles in the distance. We passed many dubious shops and many unsavoury characters. I could look up and see a black gangsta type staring at us as he walked toward us. Doing that funny walk that hip hop types do, with their trousers (sorry, i'm in the USA so it's PANTS) hanging halfway down their legs. Was he going to bust a cap in our ass? Mug us? Who knew? Then there were the walker talkers. The crazies who walk around talking to themselves, not mutterings but full blown out loud jabberings. I thought one guy was talking using a bluetooth headset but no. He was actually answering himself. The homless people asking for a book. I was about to give him my copy of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six until Helen pointed out that he was after a Buck, not a Book (of course i knew that he meant currency, not literature. I just wanted to see what he did). I decided against it, I might have ended up being examined by CSI.
The second day we explored Hollywoods famous Boulevard and marvelled at all the tacky souvenir shops around. We were in Los Angeles at the time of the Oscars, everyone was rushing around getting prepared for the big day. The Kodak Theatre is an impressive building with all its Oscar parafanalia. We saw the actual Oscars that were going to be used for this years show (2007). We also got to hold a real Oscar statuette, how showbiz! We never saw any famous people in L.A, they were hiding! Only the day before someone in our hostel saw Miss Jolie in a cafe and another person saw Snoop Dogg in the Virgin Megastore. So they are there people, just keep your eyes and camera lenses peeled.
The homeless people in LA we found, were very creative in the way that they asked for money. Rather than just hassle you for spare change, they employ more wittier ways. For example, one guy sat on a stool with a dog on his lap. The dog, dressed in cowboy gear never moved, not once. Can't be real Helen said. The dog was holding a fishing rod and on the end of the rod was a plastic cup. Attached to the cup was a little sign saying "Fishing for Change". It turns out the dog was as real as the coins being chucked into the cup. The second example of creative thinking was a simple sign that appealed to a specific audience. The guy sat in a doorway and the sign before him read "Sith Lord killed my family, need money to pay for Jedi lessons to exact revenge!"
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