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Published: September 6th 2008
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Cambria
Old-town Cambria, Big Sur, Highway 1 CA CITY OF ANGLES, Los Angeles CA 4th September 2008
“LA is a great big freeway” as the song goes. Indeed it is, however it is surprisingly easy to get around. We stayed in a motel at Carpenteria near Santa Barbara last night. Santa Barbara was a bit pricey so we went further along the beach to its less-glitzy neighbour. The motel was a bit down at heel but it was clean and very cheap so OK. This morning we left early and got to LA around 10 a.m. coming in to the city on Highway 101 from the west. As we got closer to Hollywood the traffic thickened up so we got off the freeway, stopped for coffee and drove over part of the Santa Monica mountain range, down Laurel Canyon and straight on to Hollywood Boulevard. Lovely way to enter the city, skirting Beverley Hills and some pricey real estate! Orange Drive Manor, built in the 1920s provided lodging for some famous stars in its history including Marilyn Monroe. It is just off the Boulevard and right near Grauman’s famous Chinese theatre, where film stars have endeavoured to immortalise their hand and foot prints and the “Walk of
Rattlesnake canyon
Canyon on Big Sur where visitors get warnings about rattlesnakes, so we didn't stay too long! Fame” stars along the pavement. This once-splendid residence is now a cheap backpackers’ hostel and its in one of the best locations in town so extremely popular. In the Lonely Planet guide the advice is to book in advance. We struck lucky, however, just turned up early, about 11 a.m. and got the last room available. Two single beds, no air con (and it is hot), shared bathroom down the hall but what a location! Never thought that we could stay in Hollywood for less than 20 euros for the night and WIFI to boot! Brilliant! We wanted to check in for two nights but it is fully booked so tomorrow morning we’ll have to move on. Oh dear, we’ll just have to put up with the beach at Venice or Santa Monica instead! I think we can manage that!!! So aware of having just 24 hours in Hollywood, we dumped the bags and headed out down the Boulevard. Crazy place and great fun, so different to the quiet redwood forests of a few days ago. This has been such a week of contrasts. Tomorrow, maybe when we find somewhere to stay on the beach I’ll come down to earth
John Hollywood
John measuring his hand against Humphrey Bogart's a bit and do some washing because we are running out of our meagre supply of clothes and we haven’t been here a week yet! One good thing about the States is that they still have launderettes, quite a lot of them, so we’ll get that sorted tomorrow, maybe. Not today; there is too much to see and do. Right now, having walked the length of the Boulevard and back we are in the hostel having a little siesta to re-charge the batteries for tonight.
5th September 2008
After sampling the lights and buzz of Hollywood last night, we checked out this morning and drove down to Santa Monica beach. The hostel we were heading for was fully booked but we found a motel right opposite the beach and near to the pier for not too many dollars more. Spent the day on this enormous beach. Forget “Baywatch”, however, with scantily-clad Pamela Andersons running into the surf. The locals say that even in July and August the ocean is as freezing as it is today. We braved the waves, however briefly and had a great day. Still haven’t done the laundry!
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