My first experience of LA is a very memorable one – a walk down Hollywood Boulevard, a hike through the Hollywood Hills to the gleaming Hollywood sign, spotting out celebrity’s homes, going down Rodeo Drive, driving through the world’s most famous zip code – 90210 Beverly Hills and experiencing the night life at the Whisky a Go Go.
Leaving Southern California, Christine and I made our first stop in the Hollywood Hills, ready to start a hike to get a view of the Hollywood sign. There are many hiking tracks and observation areas to get a glimpse of the sign. But, me just having put on a lot of weight and had become very unfit from trying all of America's food y'all had to offer, Christine and I went for the shortest trail we could find. Guilty. Just witnessing the sign it self in reality was enough for me, but the view we found couldn't have been more perfect for me. Of course, my camera did not do the view justice, but I think we got pretty damn close considering how un-fit we had ended up... In addition to seeing the world famous sign, I caught a phenomenal glimpse of the heart of Los Angeles.
Travelling back down through the Hollywood Hills we made our way to Hollywood Boulevard. Now this, this was something I had wanted to see ever since I could remember. Of course, another thing on my list that impressed me immensely. The people, the buskers, the people dressed up, the tours, The Walk of Fame, the atmosphere and the Grauman's Chinese Theatre... It is all real, you Aussies!
This was something I was very lucky to experience. Seeing the stars planted into the paths, world famous people's hand and feet engraved into concrete at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the constant people handing out maps to celebrities's homes.
To get the real tourist experience Christine and I did a Hollywood Tour of celebrities's homes. The number one thing all tourists must do when down Hollywood Boulevard. Although, is everything the tour guides tell you really true? To our own knowledge, we did catch this guy out a couple of times from sharing false information... That's not hard to believe though. One of the first things the tour guide spotted out was a diner that was supposedly where they filmed 'Pulp Fiction', us being a huge fan of the movie, we were eager to have breakfast there the next morning. Little did we know, it wasn't even the diner where it was filmed - the diner where it was filmed isn't even standing anymore, and hasn't for years! But, they still served up a pretty good meal. We were educated on how Brad Pitt became famous, yet, it was another fib the tour guide shared with us.
We were pretty disappointed and questioned whether the tour was at all real, but we still enjoyed it, regardless, and I got the vibe of Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and got to see big, fancy homes and cars. Wouldn't we all love to live in Beverly Hills in a big, flash modern mansion and drive around in Lamborghini's? We can only dream...
Los Angeles really is the city of beautiful people. The amount of people I saw that looked flawless from head to toe was ridiculous! It is the city of dreams, adventure and no sleep.
I was lucky enough to experience the night life. If you know me personally, you would know I am a huge, huge, huge The Doors and Jim Morrison fan. I love and admire that man to death. My night spent seeing a The Doors tribute band, Wild Child, at the Whiskey A Go Go. What a night to be in LA for me, hey? My favourite band's tribute band playing at the bar where The Doors originated from. Not to mention I slept in the hotel room where Jim, himself, once lived for several months in the 70's. Now, that night and story is left for another blog post... So stay tuned!
Now that was a very overdue blog post... I still have so many stories to share with you all from my 5-month stay in the United States.
