Hollywood!

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Another city, another questionable hotel choice. Our hotel is on the corner occupied by Whiskey-a-Go-Go and The Viper Room (yes, the club where River Phoenix met his fate). Never mind, we're not exactly wandering the streets late at night with CJ, and it's actually a really nice hotel.
Driving down Sunset Blvd through Beverley Hills to get to our hotel was a real treat - past huge gated mansions and the Beverley Hills Hotel.
The first evening we got a cab to Universal City Walk and had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, which was fun.
The next day was probably the highlight of the trip so far for me - a VIP tour of Warner Bros Studios. It was 5 1/2 hours of movie and tv heaven. I saw the ER ambulance bay, Central Perk from Friends, President Bartlett's desk from the West Wing, the wardrobe and props stores, and lots of stuff from the unreleased film Ocean's 13. I even had lunch in the 'commissary', recorded crowd noise for next week's episode of Smallville and waved at Charlie Sheen!! What a fantastic day. The only downside was that the TV show they spend most time covering was the Gilmore Girls, in which I have no interest whatsoever. It was interesting to see the show's working sets though, and maybe I will tune in once just to see the postcard I adjusted on the fridge in the Dragonfly Inn.
That evening we went to Santa Monica Pier to see the beach and the fun fair. It was incredibly foggy again. We had dinner on the pier in a place where they were holding a Battle of the Bands. CJ was beside himself watching them set up the drum kit and other instruments on the stage, and when they actually started, I think it blew his mind.
Next day, as we were unsuccessful in booking a tour, we decided to get the car out and do our own. After a quick trip down Rodeo Drive (swanky!) and Melrose (funky!), we started at the LA Farmer's Market. It's a lovely, laid-back place with food stalls, green grocers and small stores. There were lots of people with young kids, so we felt right at home. The market has grown somewhat into The Grove - a sort of outdoor shopping mall along a manufactured street with dancing fountains and a tramcar running up the middle. It felt good to be strolling in the sun with all the locals, even if their conversations are limited to which studio they're currently involved with.
Afterwards, we got entangled in the mother of all traffic jams due to an anti-war protest on Hollywood Blvd. Once we were out of it, we diverted up into the Hollywood Hills and drove along Mulholland Drive to finally see the Hollywood sign (up until then we'd been on the wrong side of the hill) and a foggy view of the city.
On day 3, we checked out of the hotel and did a quick trip down Hollywood Blvd to see the Kodak Theatre (home of the Oscars), Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the walk of stars. Then, to my shame, we bought a 'Star Map' from the boot of someone's car in Beverley Hills. It was a bit like buying drugs. Given that the combination of map reading and driving is the first step to divorce for us anyway, adding the winding streets of BH, a complicated cross-reference system and house numbers to the task, we only did a short tour before we disturbed too many celebrities with our yelling. After running over Sean Connery's morning paper and doing a three-point turn in Danny DeVito's driveway, we called it a day and headed for the coast and the trip north.

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Photos

Warner Bros tour
President Bartlett's desk. They wanted to preserve the entire oval office set when West Wing finished, but they didn't have the space.

ER Set
An abandoned gurney in the County General's Ambulance bay (on the Warner Bros Studios tour).

Freshly squeezed
CJ at LA Farmers' Market

Hollywood
Approaching Sunset Blvd & the Hollywood sign.

Comments

[Amber]

Gilmore Girls
El, Im a HUGE fan of Gilmore girls!! I Skyplus it every morning but have never come across another person who's even heard of it! Will have a look in all future episodes for a slightly askew postcard of the fridge at the Dragonfly!! Very jealous that you got to see the set! Amber