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Above panorama: Malibu beach houses of the rich and famous
The day after my birthday, Lauren took me around Beverly Hills. We had a cup of tea in the lavish Peninsula hotel before heading out to Rodeo Drive, THE shopping street to be seen shopping and where all the big brands have their shops. Rolls Royce's, Ferrari's, it's all about showing off here. It's a pretty area to wander around and awe at all the richness.
After that, we took the car out to see all the big mansions around Beverly Hills where we spotted Ozzy Osbourne's and Sylvester Stallone's house. We also went to the Doheny Mansion, a big mansion on a huge land area built by the Doheny family. It has a strange history though, because only four months after the Doheny's moved in, Ned Doheny and his secretary were found dead, apparently in a murder-suicide incident. Ned's wife lived in the mansion until 1955 when it was sold to an oil tycoon who rented it out to movie studios. A lot of big movies used the mansion to shoot scenes. A few examples: Ghostbusters, Indecent Proposal, Batman & Robin, The Big Lebowski, Spiderman, and Austin Powers
were all shot on location there.
The next day, I went for a drive north to Santa Barbara. It's a nice coastal drive in the beginning, and for the latter part, I took the freeway. Just north from LA is Malibu, a long stretch of beach where the rich and famous have built houses, right on the beach. Another 1,5 hour drive north was Santa Barbara. Lauren had lived here, so she recommended I go to the Stearns wharf where I had shrimp taco's and a Hawaiian beer. Mmmm, excellent choice!
I watched the sun set from the pier and on the beach before driving back to LA.
The next day, before I went to Las Vegas, I went to downtown LA, the place where it all began and where in 1781 a group of 44 settlers officially founded "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula" (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the Porciúncula River), in short: Los Angeles!
I traveled by subway this time as there happened to be a convenient connection between my hotel and downtown. I arrived at Union Station, Los Angeles' main
train station which has a lot of character. It also sits right across from the old city, El Pueblo.
Today, El Pueblo is a Mexican quarter. There are a lot of Mexicans living in LA. Actually, after Mexico City, Los Angeles has the most Mexican inhabitants than in any other city in the world. In downtown LA, you will also find a huge Chinese community in Chinatown, with some interesting spots as well.
After that, I crossed the freeway bridge to the other side of Downtown (the freeway splits it in two) for some interesting Los Angeles architecture: early 1900s buildings up to the end of the first half of the 20th century, including the city hall and the court house. But there's also modern architecture, like the Walt Disney Concert Hall, donated by Walt Disney's widow. And, of course, a lot of modern office skyscrapers.
On the street, I came across a film shoot of an audi commercial, and a boyband called Big Time Rush (not really making it big time yet, but there was a small female fanbase watching the scene, asking for autographs and taking pictures).
When I came back from Las Vegas (separate
post coming up for this), I went to a basketball game of the Los Angeles Lakers with Lauren's dad, Philip. It was the time of the playoffs, which meant that the games were played in a (best of 7) knockout system towards the finals and eventually world championship for one team. The Lakers were playing Oklahoma City Thunder, an up and coming young team who had completely thrashed LA the game before (in Oklahoma). This game was the other way around though, and LA thrashed the Thunder in an exciting game. A lot of celebrities came out to watch it from front row seats as well. I borrowed my neighbour's binoculars and spotted Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Sylvester Stallone and Eddy Murphy. Hugh Hefner was also shown on the big screen, although I did not see him. It was a perfect ending to a great time in LA!
(note: pictures continue further down and on the next page as well)
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Waderlusting
Grace Choe
LA!
Being an LA girl, I just wanted to say thanks.. your pictures really did a great job of capturing the beauty of my city, sometimes not as apparent as other cities of the world. Hope you made it over to the South Bay, my home. The viewpoints off the Palos Verdes cliffs are one of my favorite places in the world. I've been away from home for almost 5 years now so your pics were a nice flip through memory lane. x