Hurray for Hollywood ~ Part One

I can't believe that it's been SO long since my last update on our trip.  When I last left you, almost a week ago, Hubby and I were heading to the airport on our way to LAX (Los Angeles airport).  Hubby has work to do in South Orange County today and tomorrow so over the long Labor Day weekend, we took some time to explore the LA/Hollywood area.

For my good friends, you know that my head is FULL of useless, trivial information.  Some days I am like a walking People magazine so being in the LA/Hollywood area was like E.T. coming home to the mothership!  Upon arriving at LAX, we grabbed the rental car and then swiftly slowly made our way along the 405 north and east to Universal City where we "docked" for our stay in this area.  LA traffic is some of the worst traffic I've ever encountered in my life and coming from Toronto (where rush-hour every day has 16 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic) that really says something.  LA rush-hour is like Toronto's on steroids!  It took us 90 minutes from the airport to our hotel in Universal City ~ that's as long as it took us to FLY from San Fran to LAX.  Crazy!

We stayed at the Hilton in Universal City which was super central to all we had planned.  I had booked us pretty tight so we were running constantly but were able to enjoy a little of the hotel amenities.  We took countless numbers of pictures in this portion of our trip, so I won't bore you with them all but here's a few highlights of our time in the LA area.

First morning view from our room (looking west towards Hollywood Hills/Studio City)

First view from our room (looking East towards Burbank)

We started with the stereotypical tourist trap, "Tour of LA/Stars Homes" tour which was very interesting but yet somehow more anticlimactic than I'd hoped.  We did get our bearings here which both took out the mystique and fear factor of the city and also gave us a really good sense of where things were and how to explore on our own either this trip or in hopefully future trips.

We were picked up at the hotel, and taken to Hollywood Blvd to the tour company's main office to get us started on our tour.

Hollywood Blvd

Our tour guide, "Donny Dangerfield" took us by Jim Hensen's Muppet Studio, CBS Studios where The Price is Right is filmed, The Farmer's Market before heading down towards the beach portion of our tour.

At the shore, we drove through Marina del Ray (doesn't that just make you want to start singing hearing that name), and Venice where we stopped for 20 minutes in Venice Beach (and Muscle Beach ~ not that I knew which was which).  Before hitting the boardwalk, our tour drove down through this cool beach home area where the homes are on canals, like in the real Venice, with each having their own little boat launch area.  It was in this area that the scenes from the recent movie, Valentine's Day, were filmed.  Can you recognize this bridge from the film?

Bridge where Ashton Kutcher stood in Valentine's Day

As I said, we stopped at Venice Beach for 20 minutes and I have to tell you, this area along the Boardwalk was creepy to me and my least favorite part of the tour.  

Venice Beach Boardwalk

This area is a surfer's paradise and also a place for more "colorful" people hang.  

Surfer Dude in a Venice Beach Shop

There really is a diversity here that I haven't seen many other places in my travels, not even San Francisco!  For example, this... interesting beach business I saw where you can get high and get rid of your wrinkles... while you get a tan at the beach.  Who'd of thought it possible?

Apparently One Stop Shopping Here in Venice Beach

Movies have been filmed in this area, such as White Men Can't Jump with Woody Harrelson.  

Hoop Dreams Start Here

I even think that in an episode of Jillian's season of the Bachelorette, one of her group dates was filmed down at this location ~ the one where the Globetrotter's played basketball with her group of guys and then gave her dating advice.  Could be wrong, but it looked like it was the same place.

We kept driving along the beachfront towards Santa Monica.  The tour guide said that Baywatch had been filmed along this stretch of sandy shore, but in a book we purchased about Hollywood locations, we got differing locations.  Nonetheless, we took shots of the famous lifeguard stands along Santa Monica Beach while we drove by.

Santa Monica Beach and "Baywatch" like Lifeguard Stands

As we drove by the famous "Santa Monica Pier" all we could see was the sign, thanks to the glorious summertime marine layer that hovers over the beach area until mid-late morning each day.  (Glad we'd stopped here on our first trip through a few years ago)

Santa Monica Pier... somewhere beneath all that fog

Next on our day long tour was Downtown Los Angeles.  From our seats in our little tour van, we were taken down the streets where it all began in Hollywood.  Most of the entertainment world has moved west into Hollywood proper, but some of the old buildings that housed the stars of the Silver Screen still stand in all their glory.  The architecture is ornate and the history is amazing.

Downtown Los Angeles "Broadway" section of Yesteryear

Leaving the old, historical area of the old Broadway section of Los Angeles, we came up to one of the most interesting, and probably recognizably modern structures, ~ the Disney Concert Hall.

Disney Concert Hall

Okay... more t.v./movie trivia for you.  It was in this beautiful structure, that Bachelor Jason Mesnick took Canadian Jillian Harris on a date.  The movie The Soloist with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. filmed here as well.  It really is a magnificent building.

Our next stop on the tour was a 20 minute stop along Olvera Street, in the oldest part of Downtown Los Angeles.  This quaint little Mexican Marketplace was full of charm and character.

Olvera Street Marketplace

Olvera Street Courtyard

It was after this stop that our tour head back down Hollywood Blvd for a one hour lunch break... and where we will break up our tour.  Stay tuned for part two of Hurray for Hollywood!