Chapter 2 – LA, Hollywood and so much more…
As with all our bus experiences so far, Ang and I decided to publish just one great memoir of the greyhound bus experience right at the end so all our great times could be cherished just before our exit of the states. No more beating around the bush, we arrived in LA at around 5:30pm having no clue that we could hop off the bus in Hollywood but we decided to do so anyway as our accommodation resources pin pointed a hostel on Hollywood boulevard that had some rooms available. This was a great idea as the bus continued downtown into LA and would’ve meant another hour bus trip back up to our hostel from a really dodgy side of Los Angeles. So here we were, on the boulevard of broken dreams as it has been referred to, searching for our hostel, reading all the stars on the ground, excited, giddy, going crazy with all the views and desperately trying to stay calm with these huge backpacks crushing our spines to shrinking lengths. AAAHHHhh!!
You will be happy to know we found it, just as our necks strained and our backs cracked, we stumbled upon the Disney Hannah Montanna theatre and just next door, hiding up a long stretch of stairs was our Hollywood hostel. Probably the most satisfying experience for us was finding a private room and taking off our heavy backpacks before flopping on the hard beds for 5min break. I say this because as quickly as we arrived was the haste at which we left to go in search of fame and fortune – not our own but those of Hollywood’s past. At this point I think it is important to share that both of us were considerably shell shocked and awed by the sights of this boulevard. The amazing Kodak theatre and its electrifying atmosphere, the Chinese theatre where two premiere’s were held during our stay and on this particular journey where we saw Zac Efron’s new movie 17 again premiering. For me personally, the sight of walking along the pathway alongside the famous names of actors, singers, TV show personalities and so much more with their stars sharing their glory was a huge treasured memory. We must’ve walked the boulevard broken that first night taking in all the sights and just absorbing where we had arrived.
Sleep was a luxury after the bus ride and chaos of the day, even on new cold hard beds we kipped so well preparing for our first day of real sight seeing in the city of dreams. We had found a few brochures around highlighting some tour sights and delights within Hollywood, LA, Santa Monica pier, Venice Beach, Bell air, Beverly hills, Rodeo drive and stars homes. Picking one out of the 10 or more was tough but we made our choice, boarded our bus within the hour of purchasing the tickets and off we were down to the beach front known to many as Venice beach but to us as Baywatch for the morning. Wandering around the famous beach scene we caught glimpses of old movie sights and took in the surrounding scenery like hyper teens seeing their favorite actor. Our bus had a deadline and so we couldn’t just wander aimlessly but Ang and I managed to find the Muscle beach workout area and some tiny racket ball courts which looked like fun. One of the very interesting sights our guide pointed out was the Canals of Venice beach, most of which have been blocked over for road use, but some were still flowing with water as they used to before the city was constructed. We moved on towards Santa Monica Pier, a world famous sight from movies with the rides and surf and sights all around. It was a brief fly by viewing as we quickly rushed on to downtown Los Angeles to the old Mexican district where the city first began. Street vendors, little side restaurants, old construction and even the first fire house were views that we could embrace from this short adventure.
And before long our bus driver – an English man with superb general knowledge of the sights – shepherded us back in for our climb back up to Hollywood boulevard where we had some time to view the stars, the theatres and the sights of this magnificent area. Having spent the whole of the evening exploring this area, we took it easy but still finding out that the metro rail just across the road from us had been used in the Italian Job and that Katie Holmes was down the street working out at a dance studio. Before long we were back in the bus and heading up Mulholland Drive, the infamous road leading to the stars home but best of all to the view of the Hollywood sign. Some side bits from our driver was that James Dean used to race cars on Mulholland drive and one of the bends holds a record for the most deaths as people veer off the edge quite easily. Seeing the sign was breath taking for us having had a dreamlike image implanted from many movies over the years. We learnt that they have replaced the sign twice over the many years and it no longer glows at night as it costs too much electricity to run. We also found out it is made of stronger steel so no natural storm will destroy it and it has holes in it to breath – allow the air through.
The best part of our journey was still to come visiting the stars home tour and seeing where some of our favorite actors have one of their home residences. People like Julia Roberts, Sharon Stone, Meg Ryan, Nicholas Cage, John Travolta, Hugh Hefner, Jack Nicholson, the prince of Bell Air, Aaron Spelling, Leonardo Di Caprio and many others that I have forgotten about already. Throughout the twists and turns of the windy streets we eventually found our way into Beverly hills, the illustrious and expensive suburb where all the stars shop and headed straight for Rodeo drive – possibly the larniest, fanciest, expensive and most over done street in the whole of LA. But we had to go and walk along it and see what all the fuss was about. We were warned by our bus driver that if we did go into a store we shouldn’t ask for a price on the clothing items because it meant you couldn’t afford it. So we didn’t!!
Our final stop along the tour took us through the famous rock section of Hollywood and Beverly hill where they meet and we saw sights of former club owners like Johnny Depp or places where band used to play like the Doors or where Meg Ryan began her career as a waitress at Roxy club. And just like that the tour was over and we were back on the boulevard walking around the stars names and searching the sights once again almost over whelmed by the amount of sights and information we had been provided with in 6 hours.
Trying to make the most of our short stay in Hollywood, we managed to find out where and how to get to Universal Studio’s and Warner Bro’s studios. The difficult decision was which one to go too as we only had one more day in this beautiful place. Weighing up the options, we agreed on Warner as we would soon go to Orlando and Universal studio’s on that side is just as cool – apparently. Possibly the most amazing experience of our trip so far – and it is not easy to say this as we have had some brilliant experiences already – Warner turned out to be the most interesting and greatest tour adventure. If you have ever watched the Anamaniac’s you will have a small idea as to how the studio looks and the greatest feature which is the water tower. But we would learn on our tour that in fact, the water tower was not the greatest sight and in fact it is actually the museum, the studios, the sights, the actors and everything combined which made this adventure so exciting.
The Warner museum was incredibly hosting costumes and model displays of the most recent and oldest hit movies that they had produced and provided for in their studios. We saw outfits worn by James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and even John Wayne. Then there were the toys and costumes of Dark Knight, Matrix, 300, Last Samurai, Music and Lyrics, Mars attacks, Harry Potter (the whole of level 2 was dedicated to him/it), Oscars for award winning movies and tons of other interesting sights. The only thing that we hated about this stop was the no photo policy which meant we couldn’t remind ourselves of all the amazing artifacts. But WOW! From the museum our guide – Rizzo – took us to some of the production sets designed in the lot for many movies and TV series we currently watch like ER, Gilmore Girls, Friends, Two and a Half men and others that would keep this list going on and on and on and… you get the picture! Since ER had just ended – finished capoot deceased all over the fat lady has sung – they were tearing down the old sets and converting the once hospital sight into a new set for some new series they were hoping would become hits (a medical series out of Miami by Jerry Bruckheimer).
It is easier to talk about these scenes with photos so wait for our return to get more detailed sights. We got to check out one of the houses set up for scenes in a movie where they actually get running water and plumbing set up for times when the movie drags or to add realism to the scene. It was very interesting even though it broke the magic and fantasies created by the movies we watch. Some other interesting notes we made was the parking lot roof for ER was actually a parking lot in the studio’s which just got painted when needed. Most of the settings for CSI – all 3 – are done where they have made buildings to resemble nearly every American city across the states. Well the big ones like LA, Miami, New York, Chicago, Seattle and so on… It was also the city in many movies like Batman, Lethal Weapon and some others which I can’t remember. Then we got to the movie studio lots, those big yellow orange buildings where all the real hidden unreal action takes place. We drove through the set for 2 and a half men and found out Jake will be 18 when it is due to end, we saw the studio’s where friends was filmed in front of a studio audience, we found out where the Helen show is filmed and many more movies have made their debut shots. We were lucky enough to go inside the set of the new show the Mentalist where we saw the setting for the police station of the made up division which they work for in the show. Unfortunately they were not shooting so we didn’t get to meet any of the stars but then we probably wouldn’t have seen the set. Incredibly realistic!
Then the highlight for Ang, we went to see the film set for the past yet still present and best TV sitcom possibly in history – FRIENDS!! We were not able to fiddle with all the props but we did get a photo of Ang so close she could’ve fallen and sat on the famous couch in the Central Perk coffee bar. WOW!!!!!!! I know!! As if this wasn’t already enough for our minds to take in one day, we decided that being so close to Universal studio’s we aught to visit the famous city walk which you don’t pay for and get a glimpse of what waits for us in Orlando. So we hiked about 2 miles and found the Universal studio’s lot hiking up a serious hill but well worth the effort for what lay ahead on the city walk. Tons of different and fantastic little shops with many trinkets and memento’s, restaurants dressed up to entice you in, a Hard Rock guitar nearly 5m high, massive cinema’s and even an indoor sky diving school. What dreams could be made in this place?
We eventually arrived back in Hollywood after a really great day exploring the studio district only to find another movie premiere happening on the boulevard. That was the least of it, when we walked up to see whose movie was premiering we also found out that they were also going to be taping scenes for a new movie later on that same night. So I mentioned that we saw some stars on the red carpet, the big ones being Drew Barrymore and possibly Meryl Streep somewhere on the carpet. I could only get a pic of Drew as they walked in to the premiere of Grey gardens. And then as quickly as we arrived so we rushed off the next morning at 5:30 to catch our greyhound bus. Leaving this early was essential as we caught the rail down to LA and then a city bus through to greyhound on the dodge side of town. We made it and we were ready for our next stint in Las Vegas.
As with all our bus experiences so far, Ang and I decided to publish just one great memoir of the greyhound bus experience right at the end so all our great times could be cherished just before our exit of the states. No more beating around the bush, we arrived in LA at around 5:30pm having no clue that we could hop off the bus in Hollywood but we decided to do so anyway as our accommodation resources pin pointed a hostel on Hollywood boulevard that had some rooms available. This was a great idea as the bus continued downtown into LA and would’ve meant another hour bus trip back up to our hostel from a really dodgy side of Los Angeles. So here we were, on the boulevard of broken dreams as it has been referred to, searching for our hostel, reading all the stars on the ground, excited, giddy, going crazy with all the views and desperately trying to stay calm with these huge backpacks crushing our spines to shrinking lengths. AAAHHHhh!!
You will be happy to know we found it, just as our necks strained and our backs cracked, we stumbled upon the Disney Hannah Montanna theatre and just next door, hiding up a long stretch of stairs was our Hollywood hostel. Probably the most satisfying experience for us was finding a private room and taking off our heavy backpacks before flopping on the hard beds for 5min break. I say this because as quickly as we arrived was the haste at which we left to go in search of fame and fortune – not our own but those of Hollywood’s past. At this point I think it is important to share that both of us were considerably shell shocked and awed by the sights of this boulevard. The amazing Kodak theatre and its electrifying atmosphere, the Chinese theatre where two premiere’s were held during our stay and on this particular journey where we saw Zac Efron’s new movie 17 again premiering. For me personally, the sight of walking along the pathway alongside the famous names of actors, singers, TV show personalities and so much more with their stars sharing their glory was a huge treasured memory. We must’ve walked the boulevard broken that first night taking in all the sights and just absorbing where we had arrived.
Sleep was a luxury after the bus ride and chaos of the day, even on new cold hard beds we kipped so well preparing for our first day of real sight seeing in the city of dreams. We had found a few brochures around highlighting some tour sights and delights within Hollywood, LA, Santa Monica pier, Venice Beach, Bell air, Beverly hills, Rodeo drive and stars homes. Picking one out of the 10 or more was tough but we made our choice, boarded our bus within the hour of purchasing the tickets and off we were down to the beach front known to many as Venice beach but to us as Baywatch for the morning. Wandering around the famous beach scene we caught glimpses of old movie sights and took in the surrounding scenery like hyper teens seeing their favorite actor. Our bus had a deadline and so we couldn’t just wander aimlessly but Ang and I managed to find the Muscle beach workout area and some tiny racket ball courts which looked like fun. One of the very interesting sights our guide pointed out was the Canals of Venice beach, most of which have been blocked over for road use, but some were still flowing with water as they used to before the city was constructed. We moved on towards Santa Monica Pier, a world famous sight from movies with the rides and surf and sights all around. It was a brief fly by viewing as we quickly rushed on to downtown Los Angeles to the old Mexican district where the city first began. Street vendors, little side restaurants, old construction and even the first fire house were views that we could embrace from this short adventure.
And before long our bus driver – an English man with superb general knowledge of the sights – shepherded us back in for our climb back up to Hollywood boulevard where we had some time to view the stars, the theatres and the sights of this magnificent area. Having spent the whole of the evening exploring this area, we took it easy but still finding out that the metro rail just across the road from us had been used in the Italian Job and that Katie Holmes was down the street working out at a dance studio. Before long we were back in the bus and heading up Mulholland Drive, the infamous road leading to the stars home but best of all to the view of the Hollywood sign. Some side bits from our driver was that James Dean used to race cars on Mulholland drive and one of the bends holds a record for the most deaths as people veer off the edge quite easily. Seeing the sign was breath taking for us having had a dreamlike image implanted from many movies over the years. We learnt that they have replaced the sign twice over the many years and it no longer glows at night as it costs too much electricity to run. We also found out it is made of stronger steel so no natural storm will destroy it and it has holes in it to breath – allow the air through.
The best part of our journey was still to come visiting the stars home tour and seeing where some of our favorite actors have one of their home residences. People like Julia Roberts, Sharon Stone, Meg Ryan, Nicholas Cage, John Travolta, Hugh Hefner, Jack Nicholson, the prince of Bell Air, Aaron Spelling, Leonardo Di Caprio and many others that I have forgotten about already. Throughout the twists and turns of the windy streets we eventually found our way into Beverly hills, the illustrious and expensive suburb where all the stars shop and headed straight for Rodeo drive – possibly the larniest, fanciest, expensive and most over done street in the whole of LA. But we had to go and walk along it and see what all the fuss was about. We were warned by our bus driver that if we did go into a store we shouldn’t ask for a price on the clothing items because it meant you couldn’t afford it. So we didn’t!!
Our final stop along the tour took us through the famous rock section of Hollywood and Beverly hill where they meet and we saw sights of former club owners like Johnny Depp or places where band used to play like the Doors or where Meg Ryan began her career as a waitress at Roxy club. And just like that the tour was over and we were back on the boulevard walking around the stars names and searching the sights once again almost over whelmed by the amount of sights and information we had been provided with in 6 hours.
Trying to make the most of our short stay in Hollywood, we managed to find out where and how to get to Universal Studio’s and Warner Bro’s studios. The difficult decision was which one to go too as we only had one more day in this beautiful place. Weighing up the options, we agreed on Warner as we would soon go to Orlando and Universal studio’s on that side is just as cool – apparently. Possibly the most amazing experience of our trip so far – and it is not easy to say this as we have had some brilliant experiences already – Warner turned out to be the most interesting and greatest tour adventure. If you have ever watched the Anamaniac’s you will have a small idea as to how the studio looks and the greatest feature which is the water tower. But we would learn on our tour that in fact, the water tower was not the greatest sight and in fact it is actually the museum, the studios, the sights, the actors and everything combined which made this adventure so exciting.
The Warner museum was incredibly hosting costumes and model displays of the most recent and oldest hit movies that they had produced and provided for in their studios. We saw outfits worn by James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and even John Wayne. Then there were the toys and costumes of Dark Knight, Matrix, 300, Last Samurai, Music and Lyrics, Mars attacks, Harry Potter (the whole of level 2 was dedicated to him/it), Oscars for award winning movies and tons of other interesting sights. The only thing that we hated about this stop was the no photo policy which meant we couldn’t remind ourselves of all the amazing artifacts. But WOW! From the museum our guide – Rizzo – took us to some of the production sets designed in the lot for many movies and TV series we currently watch like ER, Gilmore Girls, Friends, Two and a Half men and others that would keep this list going on and on and on and… you get the picture! Since ER had just ended – finished capoot deceased all over the fat lady has sung – they were tearing down the old sets and converting the once hospital sight into a new set for some new series they were hoping would become hits (a medical series out of Miami by Jerry Bruckheimer).
It is easier to talk about these scenes with photos so wait for our return to get more detailed sights. We got to check out one of the houses set up for scenes in a movie where they actually get running water and plumbing set up for times when the movie drags or to add realism to the scene. It was very interesting even though it broke the magic and fantasies created by the movies we watch. Some other interesting notes we made was the parking lot roof for ER was actually a parking lot in the studio’s which just got painted when needed. Most of the settings for CSI – all 3 – are done where they have made buildings to resemble nearly every American city across the states. Well the big ones like LA, Miami, New York, Chicago, Seattle and so on… It was also the city in many movies like Batman, Lethal Weapon and some others which I can’t remember. Then we got to the movie studio lots, those big yellow orange buildings where all the real hidden unreal action takes place. We drove through the set for 2 and a half men and found out Jake will be 18 when it is due to end, we saw the studio’s where friends was filmed in front of a studio audience, we found out where the Helen show is filmed and many more movies have made their debut shots. We were lucky enough to go inside the set of the new show the Mentalist where we saw the setting for the police station of the made up division which they work for in the show. Unfortunately they were not shooting so we didn’t get to meet any of the stars but then we probably wouldn’t have seen the set. Incredibly realistic!
Then the highlight for Ang, we went to see the film set for the past yet still present and best TV sitcom possibly in history – FRIENDS!! We were not able to fiddle with all the props but we did get a photo of Ang so close she could’ve fallen and sat on the famous couch in the Central Perk coffee bar. WOW!!!!!!! I know!! As if this wasn’t already enough for our minds to take in one day, we decided that being so close to Universal studio’s we aught to visit the famous city walk which you don’t pay for and get a glimpse of what waits for us in Orlando. So we hiked about 2 miles and found the Universal studio’s lot hiking up a serious hill but well worth the effort for what lay ahead on the city walk. Tons of different and fantastic little shops with many trinkets and memento’s, restaurants dressed up to entice you in, a Hard Rock guitar nearly 5m high, massive cinema’s and even an indoor sky diving school. What dreams could be made in this place?
We eventually arrived back in Hollywood after a really great day exploring the studio district only to find another movie premiere happening on the boulevard. That was the least of it, when we walked up to see whose movie was premiering we also found out that they were also going to be taping scenes for a new movie later on that same night. So I mentioned that we saw some stars on the red carpet, the big ones being Drew Barrymore and possibly Meryl Streep somewhere on the carpet. I could only get a pic of Drew as they walked in to the premiere of Grey gardens. And then as quickly as we arrived so we rushed off the next morning at 5:30 to catch our greyhound bus. Leaving this early was essential as we caught the rail down to LA and then a city bus through to greyhound on the dodge side of town. We made it and we were ready for our next stint in Las Vegas.
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