Los Angeles

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I had to catch a coach, then train, then coach again to get from San Fran. to Los Angeles. Everyone always seems to rave on about L.A., but I really don´t know what they´re on about. I suppose my opinion is a little biased and probably unfair. Mainly because I was there at a time when they have some of their worst weather. It rained (torrentially for the majority of the time) for 3 days straight. Considering I was only in town for 4 days this put a real dampener on things; pun intended. It wasn´t just the weather though. There just isn´t much to do in L.A. Unless of course you have money and want to go shopping all day and party all night. It must be one of the most elitist places on the face of the Earth. I know I´m stating the obvious, and probably not saying anything that hasn´t been said before. I actually came to despise the place a little. There´s very little culture or history. It really is as you´d expect it to be; superficial, fake and ultamitely rather dull. I would say a weekend in L.A. is enough to do everything and anything of any worth.


Okay, rant over, I´ve got all the old fart stuff out of the way. If you are still with me, and I haven´t already bored you to death, I´ll tell you what I actually did. One thing I really wanted to do was go and see the L.A. Lakers play at the Staples Center, but they were sold out a week in advance. One morning I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. What they didn´t tell me when I paid was that a large majority of the museum was closed for reconstruction. Every exhibition I wanted to see was either not on show or only partially on show. One of the only interesting parts of the museum was the natural tar pit in the park grounds. There were pockets of gas which escape through cracks in the ground and then bubble up to the surface causing the tar to ripple outwards. For all you movie buffs, I believe it was also the location for a scene from the Arnold Schwazenegger film 'Last Action Hero´. From there I walked around the Beverley Hills area for a couple of hours just looking at the huge houses and palm tree lined streets.
I spent a day in the Hollywood area doing the typical tourist things. Strolled along the Walk of Fame taking a few photos of my favourite stars along the way. Took a very brief look at the Hollywood sign. Visited the Chinese Cinema where the stars get their hands and feet impressed in concrete. Unfortuantely that´s about it really. I spent the rest of my time updating my blog or watching TV.

If I ever do go back (which as you can tell is highly unlikely) I´ll make sure it´s going to be sunnier and drier.

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Photos

Staples Center
The home of five different sports teams, the most famous of which is the Los Angeles Lakers.

Natural Tar Pit
with real wooly mammoths. Honest.

Hollywood sign
yes, it is that boring. A few letters on the side of a hill.

Charlie Chaplins Star
a star from my very own home town of Hanwell

Cement Prints
Frank Sinatra

Cement Prints
Clint Eastwood

Cement Prints
Sylvester Stallone

Cement Prints
Will Smith

Cement Prints
Arnold Schwazenegger

Cement Prints
Sean Connery