Day 3: The Mother Of All Posts

THESE EVENTS TOOK PLACE: June 2, 2009 (USPDT)

Brace yourself, I'm not kidding when I say it's a mother.

I would find it hard to believe, no matter how much fun I manage to have on any given day throughout my travels, that I will ever have another day quite as jampacked with awesomeness as Day 3: LA City Tour.

I should preface this editorial with a mention of my notetaking. Now, several people have made fun of me for carrying and writing in a notepad, but you SHALL eat your words, quit laughing and put your pointing fingers away. Not only did my notepad serve as a saving grace in remembering the every juicy detail of this day, it was also the envy of my fellow tourists who all wished they could note down our activities and reference their photos.

So ner.

Mine was a full bus this day, we all met at 10am and zoomed off in the van with tour guide Jeffrey as our fearless driver. Quick anecdote, Jeff is actually an authentic union actor. Not just your typical LA Try-Hard who does commercials and extras work, Jeff frequently appears in small roles across the small and big screens. My favourite: he appeared in Gilmore Girls in the "Rory's Dance" episode, cool!

So firstly, we ducked around the corner from the hostel where Jeff showed us a popular district for shooting your basic "LA Street" scenes. Funnily enough, right in the same little corner of LA is the Scientology district. Jeff said the major Scientology celebs can frequently be seen coming in and out of buildings and cars. He said if we hung around there long enough on any given day, we'd be bound to spot a star or two.

In the same district were several locations from the 1996 film "Swingers" which was apparently a huge breakout film for several comedy stars but not surprisingly unknown to someone like me that doesn't much like comedy.

We swung by Capitol Records and noticed the Red Light on the roof was on, which means an artist is currently recording. We saw the street where the major action climax of "Hancock" was filmed. We saw the Geisha House, owned by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, a favourite filming location in Hollywood, i.e. Entourage is frequently shot there plus key scenes from "Knocked Up" were too, etc.

Around the block and my heart soared:


It's the "Pretty Woman" fire escape!



After zooming by the oldest theater in Hollywood, "The Egyptian", and the original home of the Oscars, "The Roosevelt", we stopped at a prime location: Grauman's Chinese Theater & Kodak Theater, home of several premieres and the Oscars, respectively. This place is a spinout. There are people dressed up as characters, star hands and feet absolutely everywhere, fantastic Walk Of Fame Stars, brilliant souvenirs, Hooters and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" across the road, people AB-SOL-UTE-LY EVERYWHERE!




The [second] most amazing look-alike ever!








Guess what's next at Grauman's?! *squee*


By far my favourite Hands&Feet! :)


Aaand looking across the road! LOL. (That bloody Spiderman tried to jump in everybody's photos!)


Looking west down Hollywood Boulevard


I had to include this photo: Note there is only one Zac Efron photo left on his shelf as opposed to the full piles on several others' shelves (Zac is next to the porny bra poser)


Here's thinking of you Miss Hi-Pants! ;)


Batman & Superman just chattin': These guys just can't help posing if they find themselves anywhere near a camera




Looking east down Hollywood Boulevard


The amazing Kodak Theatre, home of The Oscars


Looking across Hollywood Boulevard from Grauman's & Kodak


Also looking across Hollywood Boulevard from Grauman's & Kodak


This guy was a COMPLETE nutter! "Screw the Superhero or Movie Character getups like the others, I'll just dress like a friggin' lunatic"




Just one of the MANY small and large souvenir shops on Hollywood Blvd, this one's about medium size!


Classic LA, couldn't help myself

Tooooo much fun! (Sorry forgot to get a photo of the newest Hands & Feet: Hugh Jackman, oops)

Back on the bus and we're climbing into the Hollywood Hills. We weren't even quite in the mega-fancy celebrity part yet and my jaw was permanently dropped. It's beyond beautiful and the houses are just phenomenal. Mullholland Drive is just this incredible long winding road through it all. Just: wow.

At a lookout we got fantastic photos of the Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Bowl and the cityscape of Downtown LA.


The view from the lookout: Downtown LA in the distance with the Hollywood Bowl in the foreground


My first shot of the Hollywood Sign! Unfortunately a misty day


Me with the Hollywood Sign an inch from my temple

This house directly overlooking the lookout was previously occupied by a cascade of mega-stars, Will Chamberlain, Ron Howard. "Not together", as Jeff said. LOL.




The Hollywood Bowl



I didn't mention to Michael how much bananas gross me out, but I did pick on him for standing over Hollywood eating a banana, of all things. He saw the funny side and we took a photo, Michael says "People will say 'Oh you went to the Hollywood Lookout! What did you do?', and I'll just say 'Oh, I ate a banana'".

Ok, so maybe a location joke.


On the bus

Cuba Gooding Jr's house is currently up for lease, if anyone's interested:



Back down Mullholland Drive we could see the dozens of "stacked houses" lining the opposite end of the Hills. Anyone who watches Entourage would understand the reference as far as hitting golf balls goes (too hard to get a photo, sorry).



"Lethal Weapon 2" fans, the house where all the Baddie action was shot:



As we drove down Jeff mentioned that it's typical to see celebrities strolling along Mullholland walking their dogs and what not. A moment later a lady jogged by and Jeff's like "Ooh! Is that an actress?" and slows down to discover it isn't. I got a good laugh for quipping in quickly with "Nope, just a really freaked out fit person".

And the next moment we're stopped at a road closure: a location shoot is happening!


You can vaguely see the stop sign alongside Driver Jeff's head and the outline of a dude in a hi-vis vest controlling traffic

Swining around another corner of Mullholland and we're overlooking the enormous and stunningly beautiful San Fernando Valley. Phew!



Next stop: "The Simpsons" creator James L Brooks' house:



Moving into the main area of The Hills, we drive past a house that is clearly the scene of a celebrity. We couldn't make much out, but there was security and limousines and all sorts going on.



I don't watch "The Hills", but here's LC's house for anyone that cares:



Driving along a cute street Jeff tells us some great stories about Jim Morrison and specifically one about his writing the song "Love Street", based on the street we were on.

It should be said at this point that the entire tour is set to a soundtrack of perfectly themed music. From the Lethal Weapon house to the Love Street story, Jeff had the right music for everything. Add to that the fact that one of the songs played about this time had a lyric along the lines of "... smell your hair a'burnin'" and the infinite genius of Diablo Cody hits me again. Despite my love and appreciation for Juno and her writer, I don't pretend to think I've even scratched the surface of the extensive comic references throughout the film.

It was funny to realise that Juno saying to Bleeker "Whoa man, don't concentrate so hard. I think I can smell your hair a'burnin'!" was yet another anecdote.

There are a million things along the tour that I neither had time to take in, never mind write down, but Jeff enriched the trip with scores of fun and interesting trivia. Like the wall Lindsay Lohan crashed into, the Chicken Shop where Brad Pitt worked pre-fame in a chicken suit, the Club where the infamous knickerless Britney photos were taken or the spot where Hugh Grant was arrested for, ah, being in the company of a mysterious lady:





It's difficult to make out in photo form, but from this intersection on Sunset you can see Steven Spielberg's sprawling property, right at the peak of the hill:



Onto the world famous Sunset Strip and Jeff's wealth of knowledge never failed us. He pointed out dozens of celeb hot spots and treated us to yet more cool trivia.


Poorly timed photograph, but this is Miyagi's, yet another of Ashton Kutcher's businesses


Yes, this is the "Girls Girls Girls" that inspired Motley Crue's song


Can't remember the name of this place, but very groovy and a big celeb night spot


Just yet another celeb night haunt


Some super-cool art out front of yet another celeb night haunt


The comedy club where dozens of big timers got their start, Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller...


I wasn't well-positioned for this one and didn't balance my notetaking well, but this is the House Of Blues


Apparently even stars "run down the shop" sometimes too, this is right near Beverly Hills and is often a great sighting spot for stars picking up mouthwash or milk...


You guessed it, another celeb night haunt


The infamous Viper Room club

One of my favourites of the lot was the Key Club, which, for anyone that's seen the crazy-funny "Night At The Roxbury" would recognise as the actual exterior set of the fictional Roxbury night club.



And from here I began the process of imploding: it was on to Beverly Hills and the homes of some pretty elite stars.

I totally geeked out at our first stop: Greystone. Now owned by the local council, it's been the location of so many films I didn't have a chance to hear them all! Namely relevant to me and most recognisable to most of you, the home in "The Bodyguard" and, shot from a different angle, the X-Mansion in the X-Men Trilogy. Eep.







Next was the home of "The Osbournes" throughout the time of their reality show, anyone who watched it would get a laugh from the second shot which contains the infamous bedroom window of Ozzy himself who complained relentlessly about the noise and the constant onslaught of tourists. This home is now owner by Christina Aguilera.





The Beverly Hills hotel was bought out by the Sultan of Brunei after his Prince son attempted to stay at the hotel and threw a fit to daddy when they didn't have a room for him.





Slightly random, the house where Marilyn Monroe and JFK used to "meet":



Car lovers alert: The home of Guess Jeans owner had more Ferraris than I could see to count!





While there are dozens of super-fancy and unbelievably sprawling properties in LA, I would have to say that the home of the Douglas/Zeta-Jones camp is up there with my favourites. Classy, beautiful, lovely.





I'm annoyed at myself that I clearly only got halfway through writing these next notes and cannot recall what was supposed to follow "Owned By...". LOL. Disappointing considering I can recall that it was an astonishly splendid place and had a pretty cool owner.



While my photo doesn't show it coz I was distracted and almost missed it, Dr Phil's house is surprisingly lacking in privacy. Not that he'd necessarily need it as much as most may, I do imagine the protesters and what not that he gets wouldn't find it too difficult to haunt that place.



Next up: Bel Air (yeah, you KNOW what song just popped into your head, right)












Classiiiiic


Service entrance of The Playboy Mansion


You can see the stereotypical pet accessories of one of the Playmates


J-Lo and Marc Antony's house

The Spelling Mansion is large and sprawling beyond description, currently up for sale, offers over $150 million:





The rest stop we made was an experience in itself. So strange but so cool, a mini gold course in the middle of Bel-Air. No, not a "Maniature Golf" course, but an actual small golf course. 3 holes I think, haha! So nice.







While the drive through Westwood didn't necessarily offer up many photo ops, it was still fantastic. It's just dripping with celebrity ambience.

On through Westwood to Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach and Venice Beach. Santa Monica can just not be described. They actually do a separate tour altogether for Santa Monica, so I don't have a lot of specific photos, but just driving parallel to the pier was breathtaking. For those that don't know: Santa Monica Pier was the home of Baywatch *grin*










This "Ocean" sign officially marks the spot where Route 66 ends/begins



And then it was all out of the bus at Venice Beach: officially my favourite place in LA. Maybe equal with the theater district, as it's obviously highly tangible to my movie-geek tendancies.

A lot of people have said they found Venice disappointing and unremarkable. Not a single fibre of my being can begin to comprehend why. Despite pictures never doing anything justice, especially a place with such great atmosphere, but I'll let you guys be the judges.


First Unit had already moved on, but heaps of filming for the "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" sequel "Get Him To The Greek" had been happening at Venice Beach, this is just some Second Unit shooting










This lady was really struggling with her dog, instead of anyone helping, people just pointed and laughed... and took photographs


The "White Men Can't Jump" basketball courts










Good old Muscle Beach, apparently The Rock and types like him can be seen here frequently, scantily clad and pumping iron




The t-shirts here were flippin' sweeeet


After much consideration and indecision, Michael decided he couldn't resist and wanted a run round the Muscle Beach gym, here he is preparing


LOL! I couldn't take heaps of photos of this comedy show coz Mike actually had me take photos with his camera


Heehee!


The infamous Venice Beach "V"


Classic Venice Beach architecture






Damn truck drove in my shot


Michael thinks I'm taking a photo of him and poses like a dork












This cool dude was whistlin' up a toooo-OOOOOON!


Rocket Science: Mike trying to put new batteries in his camera




Ah, random!


Filming TV spots for "America's Next Top Model"


A-hee-tee-heeee!


Happy family having fun :)


I took a photo of this guy chillin' with his dogs, so he took a photo in return, LOL






"OK Mike, shoes off, it's onto the BEACH!"




Mike and I are pretty much chuffed at this point


Go the Baywatch beach!








No that's not a UFO: People playin' frisbee :)



That guy ran like a girl


One of the sweet things about LA and especially Venice, there's sweet art everywhere










This guy was a flippin' awesome skater but he kept going all coy every time I tried to snap him










BRING-BRING!: Mike and I almost get run over by cyclists, we missed the enormous yellow and white markings indicating where we SHOULD be walking




Looking down towards Santa Monica




LA's fame for readily available pot isn't exaggerated, people were lined up like it was a typical doctor's office and the guys out front were spruking!



Mike and I took turns snapping each other walking along, Mike went for an all-out time lapse of me!




















Mike trying to find a toilet

So, what's the verdict? Fabulous? Yes, I thought so. And you guys don't even get the ambience of kids playing, waves lapping, live music of every genre, people chatting, cutlery clinking plates, laughter, basketballs bouncing, bicycles whirring, skateboards clacking, rollerblades whizzing by.

*sigh*

I've never been much of a beach girl, but this place has me sold. It's so much more than just a beach.

Jeff's rundown of Venice's history was fascinating. Apparently the guy that established the place loved Italy's Venice and wanted to duplicate it's greatness. He dug canals and attempted to recreate the beauty of Venice's architecture but eventually, as you'd imagine, the canals didn't work out so great. There are now only 4 canals left in Venice and they're just beautiful.











I now realise I've seen Venice in movies before (think Mandy Moore's love interest in "Because I Said So") and I have officially decided if I could live anywhere in the world it would be in one of those cute little houses along the southern-most canal, closest to the actual Beach area.

Now, Venice Beach High School is quite the hotspot. I was super impressed with Michael guessing correctly that it was the school from Grease. Also though, "American History X" was shot there and Britney's "Hit Me Baby One More Time" music video.







Apparently it's not uncommon for cops to be out directing traffic at peak hour times, without a good reason. These cops were actually fun and outgoing and directed their traffic in style! They deserved a photo. Not to mention that awesome car which I've forgotten the name of since Michael told me eight times.



Any "Die Hard" fans will recognise the white FOX PLAZA skyscraper as a key site:



Melbourne Michael was telling an excellent and hilarious story here which I was certain I wouldn't need to write down. Oops. He deserved the credit anyhow:



And so we begin making our way through classic Century City, named so because 20th Centry Fox used to own the entire motherload of land and slowly sold it off or leased it out to others.






Seriously


I later discover the meaning behind these bizarre bus benches


Fancy schmancy rich people hotel


Coming into Beverly Hills, Saks Fifth Avenue!

And, ladies and gentleman, my first glimpse of not only Rodeo Drive but also the Regent Beverly Wilshire. Ya with me? Two words: Pretty Woman *squeeee*



Rodeo Drive was a blast. Despite not being at all in the market to shop (c'mon, y'all have seen the movie!), I loved every minute of it.




Can't remember which shop it was, but the owner of the store this baby was parked in front of ONLY drives his yellow cars to work so they don't clash with the yellow decor of his store






Classic, you know it


There was an undisclosed mega-star shopping in this store across the street, the place was swarming with guys in black security outfits






The Regent Beverly Wilshire, Edward & Vivien's hotel!




Trick-eeeeee


We looked rather out of place in here, but life didn't imitate art, nobody booted us out, Barney didn't come and stash us away in his office before calling Bridget for help




THE bar!


"Nicole was here 2009"


Just your run-of-the-mill service entrance...




Enjoying my last moment in front of a major centrepiece of one of my all-time favourite classic films


Heading back up Rodeo






Michael made me photograph this: "This isn't something you see every day you know!" ... No, I didn't know...


Yet more of the security detail hanging about "that store"


Just your everyday food court


I had no idea Michael took this


The store Vivien gets snubbed out of, I walked around inside just to check that life imitating art thing... and because I could...


Edward & Vivien's "cop-a-squat" tree with my tour group in the background

The tour is winding down and we start the drive back to Hollywood Blvd.


"That toilet" where George Michael was arrested (literally 50 metres from the Police Station!)

Thinking the excitement had finished for the day, four of us girls audibly ooh-ah-woo-gasped when, passing Grauman's Chinese Theater, we saw the setup of a movie premiere.



Being that one of the girls had previously been lucky enough to get right up close enough at the premiere of "The Proposal" the day before to not only snap photos of Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds but to actually get in a photo with each of them from behind the fence, we were pretty psyched.

The moment Jeff dropped us at the hostel we were taking Michael up on his offer to drive us back down the other end of Hollywood Blvd for the premiere of "The Hangover". Weird being on the wrong side of the road and the car!





Unfortunately it was a bit of a let down. The other girls wound up staying for the whole schmozzle, but I eventually decided it wasn't worth it and jumped on a bus. We were stuck all the way across the road, unlike "The Proposal", things were set up that we couldn't get near the action and the stars were well over an hour late.


The press setting up


Things really start getting busy


Couldn't see who the stars were that arrived in this


Absolutele HECKLOADS of security, this is just one of the three groups


In my boredom I realise I'm standing directly outside Hooters


The "normal people" start arriving and collecting their tickets, this is what "Will Call" means in America, ticket collection


My boredom is temporarily cured by the passing by of the crazy-dresser


A heap of B-list stars start arriving


For the life of me I can't remember who this celeb was, sorry

Tracey was rubbing it later in that all kinds of stars eventually showed up: Zac Efron, Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, Kate Walsh and many more I don't recall. I'm not all that bummed though, it's not like I'd have gotten photos.

I did get photos of Justin Bartha though, who gets huge brownie points in my book. Not only was he the only star of the film that actually bothered to arrive in a relatively timely manner, he also crossed the street to the fans and indulged us with autographs and photos for a quality amount of time before even setting foot on the red carpet.

I also felt rather smug that of all the dozens of people standing around, I was the only one that knew a few things he was in. One lady overheard me mention "Failure To Launch" and proceeded to shout it to the crowd at large.
















Couldn't see who arrived past the cars, but the press went mad

Justin was enough for me. A few more happy snaps and I jumped on a bus.





I again haven't put all of my photos in this post. So, again, go check 'em out! Or don't. I can be content that Nikki and I are the only ones geeky enough to paw over photos of pieces of pavement.

While definitely less exciting to readers, things get a bit fancy on my Day 4 adventures. Just two letters this time: OC.

Oh, and P.S. Justin Bartha is surprisingly and painfully handsome in person.