Los Angeles

USA

October 2006
8 days

USA : Los Angeles.
30th October to 6th November 2006.

Departed San Diego and two buses later we were back in LA and made our way over to our hostel. We checked the What´s On board and it was a free comedy night. We grabbed our $1 bottle of beer and slumped down waiting to be entertained.

The compare looked like he had been on the beers since sunrise and it turned out he had! He almost fell off the stage twice but somehow was still able to deliver his act.

We chuckled our way through half a dozen okay comedians but the most cringeworthy part of the night was at the end when the compare came back on and asked girls from different nations to come up on stage and slap him round the face as hard as they can as he´s making a video for his web site.

Some girls were typically timid and lightly tapped him but a couple of bruisers really clouted him! Funny but at the same time you felt sorry for the guy! Crazy dude. We watched this show three times in a week so were ready for his punchlines but the slaps surprised us every time.

When you think of LA you think of Hollywood maybe the Fresh Prince of Bell Air and all kinds of glitzy and glamorous goings on....well unfortunately that is far from the truth. Hollywood itself is a sleazy road filled with tacky souvenir and sex shops along with three branches of Scientology and greasy food. Of course you spend most of the time looking at the floor as this is where the sidewalks are embossed with the gold stars with celebrity names on. 90% of them you have never heard of but every 20 paces or so you stumble across a legend such as Frank Sinatra, John Travolta or Kermit the Frog!

Beverly Hills Walking Tour
We joined the four hour walk around the stunning roads of Beverly Hills and Bel Air. Our guide knew all the gossip, new and old, and we spent the duration annoying the residents by sticking our noses and cameras through the gates of the rich and famous.

We looked at houses once owned by Frank Sinatra, Marylin Monroe, Elvis, Brad and Jen etc and loads more currently owned by legends such as Tom Jones, Angelina Jolie and of course that tall Hollywood hunk Danny Devito! One house no exaggeration had over 200 rooms and 180 of those were bedrooms!

We saw the infamous toilets where George Micheal got arrested and the Beverly Hills hotel where Paris Hilton made her little home movie. We were also lucky(!!!!) enough to see one of Hugh Heifners young blond girlfriends leave the Playboy mansion in a brand new Porsche Carrera. Everywhere we went was getting ready for Halloween...apparently the Playboy party is the best with over $250,000 being spent on decorations alone. Most houses had entered into the spirit with ghosts and goblins abundant around the edges of properties.

We left the area via Rodeo Drive and headed for the shops, but only to look! The street was lined with Jewellers and high end fashion boutiques. In under one hour we watched three Ferraris cruise along (check out my photo!)

Later that evening we bought tickets for The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D and watched that with some pals from the hostel. It was excellent and we looked truly cool in our 3D specs!! Not!

An Audience with...
Everywhere touts are giving away tickets to go see a chat show or comedy be filmed. We chose to be in the audience of the Jay Leno Tonight Show. He´s a big name over the pond and it was really cool and interesting to watch him in action. To see the goings on behind the scenes and to see the real brains of the show frantically writing questions on cue cards for him to ask his guests. Very clever and was great to see the crazy English actress Emma Thompson who was looking rather hot for her age.

After the show we headed straight back to Hollywood Boulevard to watch the stars arrive at the premier of &Quot;Bobby&Quot;. A movie directed by Emilio Estevez and had the most stars in so was great from our point of view. (Demi Moore, Heather Graham, Laurence Fishburn, Anthony Hopkins, Helent Hunt, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater to name but a few....)

David Hasslehoff
We hit Venice Beach AKA Muscle Beach on a weekday which was a shame as we´d hoped to see the cosmetic surgery laden babes and rippled old men pumping iron in public. It was a hot day with blue skies but the beach was empty so we had it to ourselves. The odd jogger with her Ipod strapped to her bicep cruised past as we lay reading and after two hours we left for lunch. It was a nice relaxing day and was cool to get shots of the Baywatch style life guard huts, and later we watched and photographed one of the best sunsets we´ve seen so far.

The Paul Getty Centre
A day at this amazing place was like a breath of fresh air from the Hollywood scene. The centre is is the current home of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The Getty Center, designed by architect Richard Meier, is the $300 million flagship museum of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the largest arts endowment in history (at over $3 billion).

Not only are the art and sculptures totally absorbing but the architecture of the center itself is a work of art and not to mention the beautifully landscaped gardens.

Universal Studios
On our last day in LA we had some fun at Universal Studios. A full day packed with rides and informative tours around some of the studios and sets of the Hollywood movies. We were shown how only a dozen outside fake streets are used for so many movies and with only a few props how they could be made to look like almost any city imaginable. Very clever!

We were shown special effects, secrets of the trade and a great little show starring some of Hollywood most talented animals. Its a weird feeling to know that so many famous people have worked in these few square miles.

Spooky Times...
Whilst in Hollywood we were lucky enough to witness the Americans go crazy for Halloween... We thought it deserved an update of its own so that´s coming right up!

Pics also available at http://www.spicyapple.co.uk/worldtour2006/