La La land


Advertisement
United States' flag
North America » United States » California » Los Angeles
January 15th 2017
Published: June 22nd 2017
Edit Blog Post

Geo: 34.0533, -118.245

I never realised Los Angeles was so huge. The county itself is massive with lots of different areas which are small cities in themselves and all merge into the main city. It is not a city you can walk around in a day and you certainly need a car if you are going to see anything at all. We were very fortunate to stay with friends in West Hills, one of the suburbs in the North west of the county. Our wonderful hosts kindly drove us all around the place. Poor things had to wait ages at the airport as it took about 3 hours from when the plane landed to getting out of the airport. Be warned. The queues for passport control were the longest we had seen anywhere in the world.
On our first full day we went to the Getty Centre, a massive complex of buildings and gardens designed by Frank Geary, which is dedicated to art and art research. You park at the bottom of the hill and then take the little tram to the top from where there are great views of LA. The gardens were not in bloom it being winter but it is still a pleasure to walk around them. They must look lovely in the summer. There are sculptures dotted around the terraces and inside the various pavilions are the various art collections from 1400s through to 1800. There are also special exhibitions which change frequently. We looked around the renaissance paintings as those are my favourites. Later we had lunch in the restaurant which is a very pleasant place to dine with all the surrounding views and excellent repast. After lunch we drove to Hollywood itself and saw all the metal stars set in the pavement with the names of the film stars. In front of the Chinese Theatre, where all the old films were shown ,are the hand and foot prints and signatures set in cement of lots of famous film stars. From here you can see the famous Hollywood sign on the hills. Driving home which took ages as the traffic is heavy there being no decent local public transport to speak of, we went along roads which bring back memories of songs and books such as Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard. There was very little time to turn around before we were off again out to dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant called Rustico on Lindero Canyon Road. The following day our hosts drove us all around the area with the famous film studios. At one time you could walk into them but now there is heavy security. If you are interested there are guided tours around Universal etc, but we did not have the time on this brief visit. Next it was down town to see Union St Station which has featured in a lot of films and is a very attractive building with beautiful ceilings and seats. We stopped in Philippes for a beer and a famous sandwich. This is one of the few old original pit stops left and was heaving as it is very popular. Close by is Olivera St, which is one of the oldest original narrow streets now partially obscured by rows of touristy market stalls. We also called at "Hollywood Forever", a crazy cemetery with huge mausoleums put in there by the very wealthy and famous. A light lunch was had in the Golden Dragon in Chinatown- Dim Sum - brought around on trolleys -pick what you fancy as they pass by- chaotic but fun and a popular restaurant. On the way home we took a detour via Pasadena to see the original old streets. Dinner in the evening was at Saddle Peak Lodge in the Malibu Hills. This I can highly recommend. The surroundings are very congenial and atmospheric with dark wood with lots of deer heads mounted on the walls and various books and memorabilia donated by the many famous stars who have been there such as Errol Flynn and Clark Gable. The food was the best so far. Can highly recommend the mushroom ravioli followed by the Elk, which I had never had before but is very tender and tasty game. All too soon our short stay was over and our wonderful hosts drove us all the way to the Cruise terminal , stopping on the way for a walk along the front in Santa Monica which has a very long wide beach with seafront properties of all types and a seaside atmosphere - an American Blackpool Sadly we had to say goodbye to our lovely hosts and board our ship the Regent Seven Seas Explorer- ready for the next adventure.



Additional photos below
Photos: 19, Displayed: 19


Advertisement



Tot: 0.048s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0189s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb