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Published: January 19th 2007
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Well Lori, here it is, you can’t complain now, although this blog isn't about Glendora directly, its about one of my fondest memories of my stint in the states, I'll do my best to follow it up with an attempt at describing the wonders of Sweet Daddies!!.......
Having realised I'd spent the best part of two months here in Cal-ee-for-nigh-aye and most of that time in LA county I thought it was about time I got round to doing the touristy stuff. I was here for a whole year during college and never made it to the Hollywood sign so I thought I should get my arse in gear and convinced Lori to accompany me. She was a bit dubious at first and my threats and blackmail wouldn't shift her. In the end I bribed her with promises of hello magazine-esque photos of her in shops along Rodeo drive. You've seen them, fuzzy photos of stars taken with long paparazzi lenses, them with no make up, exiting Louis Vitton or Yves Saint Lauren, mobile phone in one hand, Starbucks cup in the other all laden down with large paper shopping bags looking ultra rich and chic? When I pitched this
idea to Lori she was newly inspired to drive me downtown.
So off we set, Mapquest instructions in one hand, iced tea in the other and the Garden State album on the stereo. We aimed first for Hollywood Boulevard because I wanted to see the stars on the pavement and the Manns Chinese Theatre. But most importantly, I wanted a photo of me and the Hollywood sign. Lori was uninspired by my quest but humoured me, she really is such a doll.
We passed signs along the freeway for Melrose and Lori tried to convince me that shopping on Melrose would be a far better way to spend the afternoon. But I was focused and determined; I wanted a photo of the Hollywood sign. The last time I had one taken was on my family holiday to California when I was 14 (the holiday that initiated my fascination and love for the States) and I wanted to update it.
In true Emma/Lori style we drove around Hollywood, completely lost, trying to find Hollywood Boulevard. Lori was at the end of her tether and promised me 10 more minutes of searching before she was "cutting me off and
heading for Chinatown" It was then that I suggested we turn down the street to our left marked "Hollywood Boulevard" Eventually I spotted the sign in the distance and we looked for a parking space.
In reality, apart form the one block of Hollywood Boulevard where the Manns Chinese Theatre is, Hollywood is pretty dodgy and a bit of a dump. We cruised up and down, got stuck in traffic for a while and then hit the thrift stores looking for authentic vintage Hollywood couture.
We then spent the best part of an hour taking photos of all the stars on the pavement. It was quite funny how impatient the locals were and how irritated they seemed when they had to walk around two girls sprawled on the pavement trying to get the perfect shot of them and the stars!
We decided to get back on the road and head for Rodeo before it got too dark to take our paparazzi photos.
We got a parking spot right on Rodeo amongst the Ferrari's and Mercedes SUV's. I kinda felt a bit silly stood across the street waiting for Lori to emerge from Dolce and Gabana in
true celebrity-spotted style, then shouting instructions to her across the road to do it again because the battery on my camera had died or because she needed her starbucks cup more in view. I bet the real paparazzi aren’t such perfectionists. The photos were well worth the embarrassment though.
Our next destination was Chinatown to pick up some dinner and find Lori authentic Chinese silk pyjamas for rock bottom prices. We overshot Chinatown by about 10 freeway exits; we got a feeling that we were going wrong somewhere after driving for about 20 minutes when Chinatown and Beverly Hills are right next to each other. Signs for Rodondo Beach indicated that we couldn't be further from where we wanted to be.
When you’re driving in LA you really want to avoid getting lost on the freeways. Exiting, turning and getting back on the freeway to drive back again is near impossible. For some reason LA county doesn't like to direct you to the freeways from streets. There are no signs and it’s never as simple as it looks on the map, if we had a map. Understanding the freeway systems is an art form I never truly mastered.
So we exited hoping it would be straight forward to turn and head in the opposite direction on the same freeway. However, we chose to exit into the most Ghetto neighbourhood Id seen. Lori wouldn’t even get out the car to Pee in the McDonalds, it just seemed too dangerous. She was about to burst as she had first mentioned that she needed to go to the bathroom when we left Beverly hills half an hour ago. She resolved to climb in the back of the car and pee in the cup we had been using as the prop for our hello magazine photos. Lovely. She’s so classy. Its things like this that shock me and make me love her even more.
We finally pulled into Chinatown and had a wander around the shops which were mostly closing as it was about 8pm at this point. We found a shop selling the one-of-a-kind pyjamas Lori wanted. It was run by an impatient, abrupt, rude and oddly loveable Chinese liverpudlian lady who still had her scouse accent although she'd lived in LA for about 40 years. Random. Lori and I were fickle and demanding customers, wanting to try on
freshly folded pyjamas and Happi coats. At one point the little lady told us that we can look but not try on as they were all the same size and shape! Charming!
After getting a great feed in one of the thousands of Chinese restaurants in Chinatown we headed home.
We were half way to Glendora before I realised that I had forgotten to even take a photo of the bloody Hollywood sign! Argh!!
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Lori
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Finally!
I can't believe that you're memory is so good! About a year after the fiasco I was in Hollywood in front of a fake hollywood sign - and I had someone take a picture of me in front of it so that I could mock and taunt you with it! Karma didn't let it show up in the dark photo though! I did expect to see more pictures of me up.... Horray for HOllywoood!