What does a day look like when you go to the City of Angels? Looks like Val and I took a run around the neighborhood, saw a breath-taking view of the mountains and ocean from the top of a hill, met some cool old tortoises at her neighbor's house, and Steve cooked us pancakes for breakfast! That's a pretty good start to the day if you ask me!
And then we were off to Los Angeles! Traffic wasn't that bad, since we left Val's house at 10:30, and we made it to town in just under an hour! First stop: Hollywood Boulevard! We definitely got stars in our eyes heading down the Walk of Fame. Namely Snow White, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astair, Humphrey Bogart, Kermit the Frog, and many, many more! Pictures to follow!
We found our way to the famous Chinese Theatre, the one with all the hand prints in the concrete. We found a few of our favorites, but one question remained... Who is Sid? All these famous people wrote to Sid when they left their marks, but who was he? Sidney Grauman, The owner! He built several theaters all over California, but the Chinese was his last, completed in 1927. It's been a prime place for film premiers ever since! And stars of these movies left their mark, which we still see today! We continued down Hollywood Blvd taking pictures with our favorite stars, but I hadn't seen my favorite... Shirley Temple! We decided to look it up over lunch and find it afterward.
So where did we do lunch? At Musso and Frank's Grill, Hollywood's oldest restaurant! It's been around since 1919, and it's still decorated the way it was then! We decided to split the Flannel Cakes (flannel, not funnel!), which are like crepes. We also wanted a full meal at a Thai place, so we split something small. And it was like having dessert first! We googles where to find Shirley, and it turns out, she's not just a star on the sidewalk, she's got her mark at the Chinese, and we missed it! Got to go back!
Next up: Val wanted to stop in an old theatre/film bookstore, which was actually pretty neat! There were actors' biographies, books about movies, books about being a screenwriter, movie posters, etc. We stopped in a dress shop where all the clothes are inspired by Bettie Page. For a reformed pinup girl, she sure had cute and modest taste in real life!
Now, back to the Chinese! I needed to see Shirley! And there she was! I don't know how we missed her the first go around, but now we got her! Her imprints were left there in 1935. :)
We hopped back in the car and drove to the Thai place because Shirley's star was closer to there than where we had been. The food was a little hot for me, but it's fun to say I had Thai frog and beef liver for lunch today!
Next up, the search for Shirley's Star! We started out in the direction we thought was correct. We saw Cary Grant and others we like, we even met a nutty earth-hugger who wanted us to sign a petition for something, but there was no Shirley to be found! Oh well. At least I got to see her imprints at the Chinese!
And for our next tourist event, up into the hills we went to see the Hollywood sign! This was the one thing I asked Val if we could do while I was here--get our pictures with Hollywood! The best place to see it is from Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park--in Beverly Hills! Check that one off the list, too! The drive was a steep one, but Val's Mazda SUV (named Memphis, because she's blue!) took us up, up, up the mountain with fervor. We were apparently not the only folks who wanted to get a glimpse of the iconic sign. There were runners, bikers, hikers, walkers, and other drivers, all headed up and down the mountain and hills. How the bikers and runners got to the top is beyond me! It's steep! We found a parking spot and set out in search of a good photo-op. We could see the sign clearly, but it looks very far away in pictures. Oh well! You can still see it in most of the pictures!
The Griffith Observatory itself is quite impressive! You can see all of L.A. proper, Hollywood, etc., even through the fog. There's also a museum inside, including a pendulum that knocks down a pin at the top of every hour. Picture below:
Down, down, down the mountain we go! We saw some beautiful homes not he way down, and that's how we knew we were in the Hills of Beverly! We could tell which ones were the stars' homes... They were the ones with big gates and over grown bushes and trees for privacy. =)
Next and final stop in L.A.: Rodeo Drive! Neither Val nor I had any interest in shopping, but it was cool to see! We drove up Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, and not only is that a good way to avoid L.A. traffic, it was a beautiful seaside drive at sunset! It also goes straight through Malibu! It was a bit cloudy, but as the clouds cleared while we headed north, the sunset made the remaining clouds a beautiful pink, yellow, and orange. It was gorgeous!
And then we were home! Steve cooked again--I'm becoming spoiled--and we watched the movie "Jobs." I stayed up till 10:00pm, which was quite the feat for me!
And for our next trip: Ojai and Santa Barbara! Please join us!
Tuesday's Adventure: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100203066101228.1073741842.52700845&type=1&l=164051a9e5
Wednesday's Adventure: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100203803917638.1073741845.52700845&type=1&l=014792d512
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