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Published: July 16th 2010
We've made it to the final part of our American adventure and we cap it off with our debut television appearance!! (more about that later!).
I'm writing this from the lounge in our hostel...we're flying to New Zealand at midnight, so we've got 8 hours to kill!
Since the last blog, we've been living it up in LA and Hollywood, although the first 2 days in downtown LA were fairly uneventful. The hostel we were staying in was very comfortable (it was actually more like a hotel), so we just relaxed for a few days. We also watched the World Cup final in an Irish Bar with tons of screaming Americans...well done to Spain, the best team definitely won.
The past 3 month of internet correspondence issues had pushed us to breaking point and in LA...we finally snapped...and bought a laptop! It's only a little notebook thing, but it means we are now fully contactable and can use it to plan ahead on our journey.
So on to Hollywood, and 40 degree heat! We caught the bus from downtown LA and got very excited when we saw the Hollywood sign looming in the distance. Our hostel was
more or less on Hollywood Blvd, so once we dumped our bags we set off down the Walk Of Fame, checking out all the names on the stars. It's funny watching everyone walking along staring intently at the pavement. I was amazed by the number of actors I'd never heard of and even more surprised that The Village People had a star!
I actually expected the walk to look very different, it could be any street in America to begin with...before you walk past the famous theatres, where the worlds biggest stars have left their handprints.
On the first night, we had a few beers out on the patio and got talking to a Kiwi lad who is trying to make it as an actor in Hollywood. He claimed that a few 'Hollywood directors' were VERY interested in a script he'd wrritten. Clio requested he read it out to us...so he read us the first couple of scenes. It was pretty weird ...about a killer ice cream man or something...called 'I Scream' (actually, I think Clio made that up and suggested it as a title) but it was entertaining!
The next day was another scorcher and the
first stop on our day out was the La Brea Tar Pits. The famous tar pit, is so called as it's an area of water (like a murky pond) filled with asphalt that has risen to the surface over thousands of years, and every now and then, a pocket of methane bubbles to the surface (so it stinks of molten tar). The tar pit is home to an incredible collection of fossils from the ice ages that are perfectly preserved by the asphalt. It also has a huge sculpture of a mammoth trapped in the pit.
There's a museum next to the tar pit that houses all the fossils and all the otherworldly skeletons that the fossils create. Some of the creatures that used to roam around LA, thousands of years ago are pretty scary! There are saber tooth tigers, giant sloths, dire wolves and a MASSIVE mammoth. We leave the museum very impressed and even more amazed that we've never heard of the tar pits before (it's only because Clio's friend recommended it that we went).
We then took the bus down Fairfax to CBS television to watch the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson being
filmed. I booked tickets online as I've always wanted to see how they make an American Chat show. We arrive over an hour early and realise we're going to have to queue up outside (with all the superfans!). We don't even know who Craig Ferguson is...it turns out he’s Scottish!! He's from Glasgow (where he's not that famous) and moved to America and has made it big. There's a guy stood behind us in the queue, wearing a kilt...and his wife is a kilt maker! The guy is a sergeant in the LAPD and tells me he's an American Scot!! Apparently his great, great, great Granddad was from Inverness...which makes him about as Scottish as a Big Mac!! Yet he bores us to death by retelling me the history of Scotland which he's obviously memorised!
We're finally let into the studio after queuing for an hour and given a prep talk by the producer. He actually explains to us the correct way to laugh (strictly no whooping!). We are then introduced to the 'best warm up guy in the business', Mr. Chunky B. A massive sweaty man bounds in front of and makes us laugh by telling bad jokes
and embarrassing people in the audience. As often happens in these situations...I get picked on! He makes me hug him in front of the rest of the audience (much to Clio's amusement) and then gives me a free 'Late Late Show' mug, so it's not all bad!!
It feels like we're never going to watch the show, as we get taken to various waiting points...when we finally make into the studio, Clio and I are positioned on the front row! Chunky B pops up again and tells more jokes, explains that it's all about energy and 'enhancing the show' (so please no whooping!!). After a video montage of Craig’s best bits, he finally hits the stage.... and I start whooping loudly (I couldn't help it!!).
The show is fast and furious, with an opening montage of topical jokes, and interview with Oscar winning actress Marion Coltiard (she stars in Inception and is tiny). In between each section, Chunky reappears and makes us clap to music, we feel like we might be losing our energy! Craig Ferguson is great though and chats to the audience in-between shooting...he asks Kilt man if he's from Scotland...the guys says yes, Craig asks
where from, the guy says San Diego...Craig raises his eyebrows and walks off (I laughed!). When we watch it on TV later, we see ourselves!! Check out the video here and look out for us when it goes to an ad break - we're in the bottom left corner (I'm wearing a black polo shirt)
On the way back from the studio we go past Mann’s Chinese theatre, the bus driver informs us 'Leo's in town'...we look over and see the world premiere of 'Inception' taking place. A little way down the road, on the other side is the premiere of the final episode of 'The Hills'...I'm less impressed with this...but it highlights what a crazy town Hollywood is!
We also went to Warner Brother Studios to take the VIP tour, a 2 hour tour of a working studio. Our tour guide takes us round in a golf cart and we get to walk around the sound stage where they film the Big Bang Theory and also where they filmed Friends for 9 years. They have left the Central Perk set there so we can take some snaps. The tour is fascinating for a couple of
movie geeks, but unfortunately we were banned from taking pics of some of the best bits because of copyright issues (you'll just have to take our word for it). Plus because it's a working studio, sets are pulled down and rebuilt all the time. They filmed ER here, but there's no evidence of it anymore (sorry Mum!). The cart takes us round sets that have been used for various things (one alleyway was used for a dance sequence in Annie, as well as the famous upside down kiss scene in Spiderman)
The highlight was the costume museum (again, photo ban) which has outfits worn by Hollywood legends like James Dean and Steve McQueen. As well as costumes from tons of recent films like Heath Ledgers Joker outfit and Keanu Reeves in the Matrix, to name just two. The only outfit that wasn't originally worn by the actor is the Willy Wonka outfit because Johnny Depp has it written into his contract that he gets to keep his costumes (bit weird eh?!). Absolutely gutted we couldn't take pics...on the way back, because we hassled the tour guide, he took us past the set of Merlottes Diner from True Blood which
makes up for it a little bit.
So in the words of Percy Pig - 'That's all Folks!' ...for USA anyway. We've got a 13 hour flight in front of us to get to NZ and some amazing experiences to take away. We've eaten more fast food than I can cope with (we've planned one final meal at 'Jack in the Box' Burger before we fly tonight!!). It's a good job we've done so much walking over the past month! We're VERY excited about New Zealand and looking forward to a different kind of travelling.
Ali and Clio x
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sheena paterson
non-member comment
'Creative writing' is def a bonus for us reading your blog!! Really interesting to read and looks like Hollywood was great fun. Lots of love xx