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Published: March 21st 2007
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Day in LA
Liz Toms You would think I wouldn't complain, being from Illinois, when the weather during March is in the upper 60's... (and I'm not really complaining) but we decided that due to the weather being a little colder than we'd like, we would go to Hollywood instead of the beach today, though we did stop in Santa Monica Beach for a few minutes to get our feet sandy before heading on inland. I've got to say, Rand McNally has been letting me down as far as directions go; I can read a map better than it can give me directions (we ended up in Malibu instead of the Getty Center). We were planning on going to the Getty Center first to get a glimpse of the entire city before heading on into Hollywood, and we eventually did... it just took a while longer to get there. We ended up driving down Sunset Blvd., which was actually really cool so I'm glad I was able to guide us on our own, and then getting on the 405 briefly (thankfully, traffic was insane) before getting off at the exit. Going to the Getty was a good call; it was a lot of fun, and
completely free unless you count the $8 parking fee. You basically park there right off the highway and then take a tram up to the Center. The building is absolutely gorgeous. I'm not especially a big museum fan in that I like to see every single exhibit all at once, but I did enjoy seeing a lot of famous artwork (as we as some new ones that were there). I also enjoyed the views of the city immensely. LA is quite confusing, large, and spread out; though, now that I'm here I'm getting a bit better feel to it. I'd imagine that living here would definitely be an adventure, especially at first. From the top of the Getty, we were able to see the ocean, USC, downtown LA, and all the surrounding neighborhoods. We might have been able to see our hotel, but I'm not exactly sure.
We spent about an hour and a half at the Getty and then decided to head on up to Hollywood. We got back on Sunset and drove the length of the way all the way up to Hollywood Blvd on Sunset. It was really cool passing by Bel Air, Beverly Hills, UCLA, and
I'm sure more famous people's homes than I realized. We made a pit stop at the Virgin Megastore in West Hollywood to look for some vinyl, before actually getting to Hollywood. Once we got there, we were able to find some cheap parking and head on down to see the sights. We didn't see every single star; once we stopped recognizing names and the shops turned into almost exclusively tacky lingerie stores, we decided to turn around and head back to the car. We did get to see both the Chinese and Kodak theaters (even took pictures of the Hollywood sign from the Kodak theater) and put our hands in the cement hands in front of the Chinese Theater. My hands are the same size as Meryl Streep's! I also found Tom Hanks' hand/shoe print and decided that I'd like to stand in Tom Hanks' shoes for a little bit. It was quite an honor. By time we had turned around, the sun was setting and we were getting tired so we went back to hotel via the very curvy Mulholland Dr., but not without first stopping along the way to take pictures of the views at a rest stop.
The rest stop turned out to be the same spot as the opening scene in the movie Mulholland Dr. Once we got back on the 405 and then off again on our way to Redondo Beach, we stopped and got some Mexican, and then retired for the night. We tried to get into the hot tub at the hotel, but it was definitely too cold to be considered a hot tub and so that idea was abandoned. Instead, we watched Mulholland Dr. in honor of having driven on it. We could have watched Sunset Blvd., but I had just watched that a few weeks ago in preparation for the trip. Tomorrow: the beach!
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Route 66
Scott Piotrowski
More In Hollywood
If you are still in the Hollywood area on Sunday, you should think about heading to their Farmer's Market. It takes up four blocks and has some really good food and produce. I occassionally make the trek over to it via the light rail from Pasadena.