The Return to LA
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
77
90
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
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Los Angeles,
California,
United States
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Well, now we were back in LA and had done the Vegas-Dam-Canyon stuff so we decided to dedicate some time to seeing LA but more importantly David's relatives! Weirdly, David had been to LA many times before (but never knew he had family here!) so the next couple of days was my thing really, my choice of what to do and where to go as I was new to it all. So, I opted for cultural, historical and sociological elements of LA.....mainly, stalking celebrities in their Hollywood homes on a tour (sociological); a Warner Bros Tour (cultural) and seeing celebrity handprints in concrete (historical)..... (David: And sitting in hours of traffic getting to them all: Sociopathic.)
Before our first proper day of highly embarrassing LA sightseeing, we went to Derek's office to meet him for lunch. David's uncle has his own business which has the exclusive right to sell Haas machine tools in the LA area. Then he took us to a nearby restaurant for lunch. Paddy O's was LA elegance...with a plastic corrugated roof, plastic garden chairs and big tv's showing sports but the food was delicious and the staff were lovely. We spent a good couple of hours chatting and drinking beer before Derek had to head back to the office. By this time it was late afternoon. Our hopes of going into the centre of LA to look at architectural structures were kind of ruined so we decided to call it a day.
Instead, later at night, when Derek got home, David, Derek and I all jumped into the Hot Tub on the veranda while June cooked us dinner.
David, Derek and I in the hot tub!
It was freezing outside but the Hot Tub was steamingly sweltering and sitting in bubbling water sipping wine under the stars overlooking the neighbourhood on their massive veranda was just fantastic. After dinner, Derek and June taught us how to play cribbage. I suddenly panicked and confessed all right at the start of the game..."listen, I'm appalling at learning the rules of a new game and my maths is absolutely diabolical, so please be patient with me". There was lots of sympathetic noises and smiles and bizarrely I was soon winning on Derek's team and telling David that he couldn't do certain moves and everyone wondered what my "poor me" speech was all about!! Flaming typical! I am normally infuriatingly rubbish at learning rules!The next day was our Warner Bros Tour! Woohooo! You're in LA. What else can you do but play golf by the beach or jog?? Waking up today, the sky went black and the rain absolutely bucketed it down! Before the tour started at 2pm though, we decided to snatch a couple of hours looking at some architecture. So, we headed into the centre of LA and straight to Union Train Station. This place was absolutely beautiful and is genuinely historical!! It was built in 1939 and was a backdrop for the 1950 film "Union Station". It is a really grand, huge station with beautiful art deco windows, tiled floors and a waiting room consisting of leather armchairs!!! (David: It was also used as a backdrop for Bladerunner... which is far more interesting....)
We also saw the huge LA Courthouse where OJ Simpson got sentenced (I forgot to mention in our Death Valley blog that we drove past the prison where OJ Simpson is now being held..for 33 years and about flaming time too! The prison is in the middle of absolutely nowhere surrounded by barren land and high electric fences.
Court House where OJ went DOWWWN
We stopped to get some petrol nearby which is when we learnt of OJ's new home from the woman that served us!) Then, we saw the Walt Disney Concert Hall which is a huge highly imaginative steel structure in the middle of an intersection in LA. It is quite beautiful actually but because of the torrential rain and despite Derek's mammoth Golf Umbrella we were still getting soaked, so we decided to head back to the car because of getting onto Warner Bros for our tour later. (David: To walk to these places we used our newly acquired navigator, on walking mode. It was pretty good getting us around those sites. When we got back in the car though, it was telling us we were going to miss the Warner tour by about 4 hours. Until we realised the stupid thing was still set to walking.)At Warner Bros, the tour naturally started with a bag search/x-ray body scan and then a short film detailing the history of Warner Bros and the stars that have worked for them. Then by golf buggy we got taken by a tour guide to the studios. There were 6 of us only so it was a nice small tour. We were taken through the 'streets' which are all basically facades used in films and tv, while our tour guide commentates and cracks jokes, jollying us all along in the bucketing rain. We saw the Orphanage used in 'Annie' which was very exciting! (David: Yeah.) We went to the set of ER and to the front entrance of the hospital. You could walk inside the set which was just the waiting room with a pretend coffee machine but real plastic seats and ambulances outside.
Union Station
However, THE most exciting thing for me was to go into 'Central Perk'. (David: Now this was fantastic.) If you have no idea what the hell I am going on about, this is the coffee shop made famous in 'Friends'. It's just a set of course but I got to sit on the sofa!!!!!!! And play 'Smelly Cat' on Phoebe's guitar into the Mic!!!!!!!!! So much fun!!! We also went into the studio where Two and a Half Men is filmed. I had never heard of this sitcom until the honeymoon and it's constantly on cable tv everywhere we've been in the world. Even Peru!!! Charlie Sheen is the main character and he is actually bloody funny. The sitcom is based on a bucket-load of sarcasm which is all that makes it so funny. There was no filming that day but we sat in the studio and saw the various sets with explanations as to how filming takes place, where, why, the lighting techniques, the on-the-spot script changes etc. Fascinating stuff.
Also, as we were passing a garage, the doors were unusually open, there were a lot of cars used in tv and films. One of the cars we got to see was the very car that Clint Eastwood drives in his NEW film called 'El Torino' which is on at cinemas now!! (David: Sigh... yes, yes, but THERE WAS ALSO THE BATMAN CAR!!! Sheesh. The Tumbler. Built in Britain.) We walked around a costume museum housing masses of historical costumes from decades of tv and film. It was a really interesting tour, tacky yet informative and entertaining.
After this 3 hour tour, we headed back home in the still torrential rain.
Sit here while you wait for your train!
The traffic in LA is absolutely diabolical!. It took us 2.5 hours to get from the centre of LA to where Derek and June live, just outside in Palos Verdes. The distance covered is only approx 10miles but it's constant back to back traffic jams on the Highway. Everyone in LA complains about it. When we eventually got home, we took Derek out to dinner. June had to go out on a prior dinner engagement. We went to a local Mexican restaurant which was quite nice, nothing to report (David: Other than it's the very first Red Onion restaurant... er... whatever that means), then we came home and all played scrabble!The next day, David and I decided to head back into LA again for more sightseeing. I wanted to go to a shop called 'It's a Wrap' selling clothing and accessories from tv and films. Most is a load of tat but there are some gems if you rummage through the organised chaos! David bought a shirt from the film Hancock which I'm sure Will Smith wore. It's certainly big enough for Willie to wear, it's flaming massive!
Recently, I bought a book called "All About US". It's just a silly book that you and your partner write in, answering questions like "What's your biggest regret in life" or "how would you feel if your partner's ex was at the same party?" It's got some seriously challenging questions but also stupid questions in too. The point is so you can really get to know your partner and have something to look back fondly on in years to come....Alternatively, it can also be used in court as evidence for divorce proceedings.....Anyway, we were discussing some of the questions when, at an intersection waiting to turn onto a main road, the electrical box above us suddenly exploded showering our car with sparks.
Union Station Grand Hall (closed off to public)
I jumped, David jumped but we swiftly turned into the main road and noticed shop-owners lining the streets pointing and looking up at the wires. Soon after, zooming fire engines and police pierced the air with sirens as all traffic lights had shut down together with a power cut in the local area too!! Bizarre!!! More on this later...seriously freaky stuff...After this, we drove into Hollywood. We walked along the Hollywood Boulevard of Stars where all the pavement plaques are. Along here the pavement heaved with 'Superman', 'Michael Jackson' and 'Wonder Woman' type characters offering photos. Nearby is the Chinese Theatre where the famous 'handprints in concrete' are. Where every star has knelt and imprinted their hand and footprints in concrete and signed a message. Clark Gable was there along with Marilyn Monroe and Sean Connery and Joan Collins and Anthony Hopkins etc. Really interesting.
Then I dragged a grimacing David onto a tour bus that goes around Hollywood celebrity homes It was good fun! We toured in a topless elongated hummer type vehicle with about 10 others. Our tour guide drove us into the residential hills of Hollywood where we saw Ringo Starr's house, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Bill Cosby, Marilyn Monroe (when she was married to Joe DiMaggio) and many more. Most of the houses are flipping massive and behind towering iron gates with CCTV so you don't get to see that much but you could catch glimpses from the right angle or from a certain distance away.
As we were driving along a main road, surrounded by Louis Vitton and Gucci shops, we got caught in traffic but next to our vehicle a guy in another car was shouting something to Christian, our tour guide.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Suddenly Christian shouted out to us over his mic, "ok guys! Eva Longoria is up ahead! The paparazzi just told me they are following her!" there was an Australian teenager sitting behind me and her and I shouted out "Catch her Christian! Come on! Come on!" and bless him, he cranked the gearstick up and roared his way in and out of the line of cars so we could get a glimpse of her. So funny! Eva Longoria was in a black BMW and as we pulled up we all started waving to her. Then, she wound down her window in the front passenger seat and waved back and shouted out to us "hey guys! How are you all doing?" she was so friendly and smiley. How many celebrities would do that for you?? The Australian teenager behind me just went into a fit of complete and utter hysteria and yelled out to her waving her camera about. Eva, bless her, yelled back laughing away before waving goodbye to us, then she wound her blacked out window back up. The Australian teenager then just completely lost it and started crying!!! and hyperventilating on the bus, groaning "oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" real tears were coming down her face and she was moaning and panting! Her parents at the back of the bus had obviously seen her in this state before as they just didn't react to her at all, "I can't believe I saw Eva Longoria! Oh my god! Oh my god! She spoke to me!" I asked her if she was ok. I was a bit shocked!! I don't really understand all that crying and asthma-attack type hysteria at the sight or meeting of a celebrity.
Where a Ghostbusters scene was set
I might go the colour of a tomato but all that fainting and screaming and crying...what's all that about?? This poor teenage girl was probably only about 15 but she just went to pieces, bless her. I do have to admit though it was incredibly nice of Eva to do this. She didn't give the paparazzi the time of day who were chasing her in traffic but she wound down her window for a bunch of salivating tourists in a hummer!! If you don't know who Eva Longoria is and would rather hack off your ears with a rusty knife than learn who she is, I understand! She is a Desperate Housewives actress but also does L'Oreal ads etc. You'd know her if you saw her. (David: sigh)After this wild tour, it was late in the day, so we decided to head home. We were going out with Derek for dinner again and we had to face the rush hour LA traffic again. This time it took us 3 hours to drive 10miles!! (David: Seriously) We went for an Italian in Derek's favourite Italian restaurant. The food was really fantastic actually. As we walked in, this woman at the bar started waving manically at me through the glass door. So, of course, I waved back too. I thought "wow! People in LA are SO friendly!" and then she crumpled with embarrassment when she realised I wasn't her friend! So funny!
The next day, David and I packed up and left Derek and June's. We were both a bit sad to leave actually. We had had such a great time staying with Derek and June, it had been like being at home, so comfy and cosy. Now, it was 'back on the road again' to start our drive along the West Coast or better known as the Pacific Highway. A supposedly stunning drive. And OH YES! It certainly was that. My god!!
Love, us xxxxxxxxxx
Comments
Wow!
You did all the typical Hollywood things in such a short period of time, that's amazing. Good on you. One day, I hope to find myself in that situation. Great blog, I love it.
Louise Brown
TravelPod Community Manager