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Published: June 25th 2009
June 25th 2009 Where not to find a celebrity There are so many places in L.A. where celebrities don't go. Alex and I found many of them. Despite the best laid plans, a map of celebrities homes, tips from locals, a whole day in L.A. produced not one celebrity. Oh, well, PJ Harvey who is, or at least was, a celebrity of the minor rankings. We did, though, see the gates to lots of famous people's homes: the Beckhams (after accidentally taking a photo of their neighbours' house, which was ungated hence very un-Beckham), Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, the Playboy Mansion (which is located on Charing Cross Road!), Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Jennifer Lopez and the guy she is married to. Simon Cowell's house is right on the road so we got to see that, and all the Mexican builders working on his house. The highlight had to be driving past Courtney Cox's house just as someone turned into their drive. Oooh, we saw the carport and the Mexican nanny/housekeeper. And maybe their daughter.
Despite the lacking of famed sightings, driving through Beverly Hills and West Hollywood was rather delightful. Whether they were home to famous residents
or not, the houses were - for the most part - gorgeous. In amongst the gems, however, were some pretty normal houses. Some quite ugly houses too. Seems not everyone has taste or so much money. Not that a house in Beverly Hills is ever going to be cheap. But generally, we were struck how these were just normal people living normal lives, relatively speaking.
You can always find a celebrity in a film, so we went to see
The Hangover, a new film with the delectable Bradley Cooper (and his very white teeth). This film was perfect preparation for our trip to Vegas, although I (Alex) really hope we don't end up with a tiger and chicken in our bathroom. What Alex actually means is this is terrifying account of all the things that can go wrong if you go to Vegas for your stag/bachelor do: stealing a police car, marrying a prostitute, pulling out your own tooth. All things, Alex, you must refrain from in the next couple of days.
Alex's birthday surprise A trip to Universal Studios. As I (Alex) would say: 'that's sooo exciting'. Alex says that a lot. Actually that is the most
common response I (Jenny) ever have from her. That's because everything is generally very exciting (says Alex, especially buying a house, which my boyfriend Mark has just done; had to slip that in somewhere).
Back to the matter in hand. We had a very long, very detailed and fascinating tour around the working studios. The best thing we learnt about the tricks of the trade were about sound effects. For example, there are two guys who create all the women's footsteps in Desperate Housewives, by donning high heels and dresses (okay, well maybe not the dresses) and walking on the spot on a two square foot piece of concrete. Alex, don't forget the props. We almost lost the tour group whilst exploring the prop room. It seemed to be a store for all the old props - everything looked rather dusty and a good 15 years old. Still amazing to see row after row of telephones, salt shakers, curtains, photo frames, hairbrushes, board games, mummies, scarecrows, traffic lights, telephone boxes. An endless list but I will stop there.
Go to Universal for the tour not the rides. There's lots of preparatory time wasting to 'set scenes' for the
various themes, but the actual rides are nothing to write home about, so I won't bother writing any more.
More potential celeb spotting Not too disheartened by our initial failure, we hot footed it (very un-LA) to Venice Beach, the neighbouring district to Santa Monica. It took an hour to walk, we were thirsty on arrival. Fortunately the bars were open and willing to serve us (of course, after checking our ID - it's flattering even though we know they ID everyone, regardless of age). Even more fortunate, all the beautiful boutiques were closed saving our wallets from some hard work. Alex nearly got cast in a movie (very LA), Jenny spotted - in her mind - a proper celebrity: Tobias from NCIS. Alex was not impressed. In fact, she stated quite clearly that she didn't care. But that was after no dinner and a couple of apple martinis and it's fair to say we were both a little worse for wear. She was suitably impressed the next day.
Pretty women One guess where we went yesterday? Shopping, of the window kind, on Rodeo Drive. Jenny says window shopping but she did actually buy some perfume from the
nicest Bulgari shop I've ever been in. That done, we went to the bank, looked around Jigsaw (yes, Mel, I know you will say I could do that in London and indeed I could but do they have free Hersheys chocolate in the London Jigsaw??!!) and tried on some overly priced but decidedly gorgeous diamond jewels in a well-known, blue boxed jewellers.
The Farmers' Market really was a lot more exciting than Rodeo Drive, simply because we saw Diane Kruger. Finally, a proper bona fide celebrity with amazing 5 inch heels. In a market. Is she really bona-fide celebrity? Well, we could only think of one film she has been in (National Treasure with Nicholas Cage), but she is Joshua Jackson's girlfriend which should count for something. We ate some gorgeous seafood and headed downtown to see Union station, which was used as a location in Blade Runner.
Alex learns to drive, LA-style Everyone warned me about driving in LA. It's definitely an experience. Somewhat more hectic than London, but not that treacherous, unless of course you have Pamela guiding you. No, we didn't pick up Pamela Anderson on our travels. I'm sure Betty Boy isn't big enough
to fit her and her appendages. Yes, Alex christened my GPS system Pamela. Pamela apparently implies (in Alex's head at least) a nice but ineffectual older woman. Pamela looks fine on the dashboard but is, in fact, largely more of a hindrance than a help. She is slightly slow on giving instructions (or maybe Alex drives too fast?!) and a result U-turns and turns round the block are a frequent occurrence. But as Alex just said to me, at least in the States you can drive round the block. Thank goodness for grid systems of planning.
To say driving around downtown LA and along the city's freeways was a baptism of fire is an understatement. We both kept our cool (maybe thanks to the air-conditioning?) but crashed out back at the hostel. Think I will be driving out of LA today, with Alex taking over to drive us into Las Vegas (baby!) so I can admire the view.
Last but not least, a real, true, definitive, well-known, A-list celebrity Oh yes, we finally did it. Patience is a virtue and we are among the most virtuous. Hang on, we'll give you some clues:
Batman, the Saint, Heat. And
according to the IMDB website, millions of TV series more recently, which could explain why he looked so haggard. Have you guessed yet? Yes, it was Val Kilmer. Considerably older, fatter and less good looking than in the old days of Heat. He was by himself, reading a book and had to leave the restaurant in an hooded sports top.
We had to go all the way to Nobu in neighbouring Malibu to achieve this spotting. But Val was quickly forgotten, as we tucked into probably the best meal either of us has ever had. Really. Truly. Amazing. On a high, we sped back to Santa Monica singing along to Jenny's Ipod which we finally got to work through the car sound system.
Sorry, I have to butt in here. She (Alex, not the cat's mother, as my mother would have said) failed to mention the chocolate spring rolls at Nobu. I almost slid off my chair after the first bite. But Alex would have disowned me. If I could eat one meal for the rest of my life, it would be Nobu chocolate spring rolls. The ones with white chocolate and strawberry. Forever. Every day.
Alex,
please, continue.
(Jenny is salivating next to me just with the thought of dessert....)
We thought we would go check out the view of Santa Monica's coastline at night, through the handy use of a ferris wheel on the pier. I've never been on a ferris wheel before. It went all the way out over the water (or at least felt like it did). I don't like heights. I won't be doing that again.
Leaving for Las Vegas That's what we're doing right now. It's supposed to be 38 degrees in Vegas. Which is handy as we've both run out of sweaters. I don't have any sweaters with me Alex, it's California in June.
Enough is enough. We can't put off the moment any longer. Pamela is raring to go and direct us out of L.A. via Norway.
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Alex's parents
non-member comment
Great Bolg! (ooops.. the dylexia's no better.)
Dear Jenny, Thanks so much for the links to your blog. Great reading! And such a good way to keep in touch. Pleased to see you both enjoying the West Coast. Send our love to Alex. Hope Las Vegas lives up to expectation. Best wishes, Ray