California / Arizona - Day 7 continued....

HOLLYWOOD!

Being really happy with choosing the Warner Brothers' Studio Tour, we walked back to the car, took out the map and the tom-tom (the GPS system, not Tom, hee-hee) and headed to Hollywood, CA. Being at the end of Pam and Tom's trip out west, this will be the only day for them to take it all in. Dave and Linda, on the other hand, have just started their vacation and have been thinking about coming back another day. We packed a lot in for the rest of this day with the four of us traveling together. What can be said but between the great tour experience we just had at Warner Brother's Studios and the glam shows such as Access Hollywood, some of us were anxious to visit some of the hot spots of Hollywood. As we travel down the highway we see signs for Hollywood. It's your typical standard issued street sign. What a let down, but we're on a mission to see the real H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D sign and to walk on Hollywood Blvd. A little way down the road, though, we see our first real evidence of a landmark ... the Hollywood Bowl ... well, at least signs for where to turn into it's parking lot. But, no time for that, we're on a mission.

As we travel down the highway we see signs for Hollywood. It's your typical standard issued street sign. What a let down, but we're on a mission to see the real H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D sign and to walk on Hollywood Blvd. A little way down the road, though, we see our first real evidence of a landmark ... the Hollywood Bowl ... well, at least signs for where to turn into it's parking lot. But, no time for that, we're on a mission. The concierge at the Disneyland Hotel gave a few brochures about the Hollywood area. One was for the Hollywood & Highland Center, a big shopping, dining, and entertainment complex. Spotting a sign for parking for that center, we made a snap decision that we must be close and decided to duck in there and set out on foot. It worked. Once we pulled out that brochure and the map of Hollywood, we realized we were just steps away from Grauman's Chinese Theater and the western end of the Walk of Fame. Above ground, and on the street, we saw the El Capitan Theater, the Kodak Theater, and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. We also saw some very strange characters trying to make a buck, ripping off tourists by charging money to pose for pictures. Who pays money to have a nobody imitating a somebody pose for a picture?? (Obviously, not us.)

We spent a few minutes deciding whether the tour of the Chinese Theater might be worth the money they were charging (or whether that would be a rip-off, too), but then decided it would be the only way we'd get a chance to see the inside. So, we paid our money, got our tickets for the next tour, and then set out along the Walk of Fame, to see whose stars were nearby. We saw quite a few … some pictures here … more in the collection at the link below.

After going a few blocks, looking at stars, the neighborhood seemed to turn a bit less populated and a bit more scruffy, plus our tour time was getting close, so we turned around and headed back. Remember that goal of seeing the Hollywood sign? We were still wondering where it was … still didn’t see it.

The tour begins: First, the guide took us into the lobby to see the original decorations and architecture … even the exit signs and fixtures were original (just changed to electric instead of having open flames along all the walls). The only part that had been replaced several times was the large dragon carpet on the floor. Deep red colors, intricate designs, ornate artwork depicting historic stories of China … very impressive. We learned the movie screen is the largest in the world and that there are still many “opening nights” held here. The guide then showed us a number of milestone footprint tiles in front of the theater, telling us the story of how that practice began. After the movie ended, we were able to go back into the theater with the lights up to see how large the auditorium was and explore its details. Lots of pictures are in the collection.

So … the tour ends … it’s dark outside … we’re hungry ( never got any lunch today) … and we still don’t know how to see the Hollywood sign. Oh, yeah … it’s getting really cold and we didn’t bring coats along from the car. So, we duck into Mel’s Drive-In, a diner/lounge joint a block off Hollywood Blvd to recover … and just down the street from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. After some relatively decent food and paying the bill, we asked the waiter where we had to go to see the sign?? He said it could be seen from the Highland Center upper floor! I asked if it was lit up at night. He said … I don’t know what he said, but after 3 tries with that question and never getting an answer that made sense, we gave up and headed for the center.

We hiked to the first floor, rear … no sign. Second floor, rear … no sign. Third floor balcony … no sign … started to doubt the kid was telling us the truth, so Tom asked a shop keeper about it and he said “yeah, the only place you can see it is from the balcony railing just opposite this shop.” We’d already looked there, so the ‘light came on”. Tom asked if it was lit up a night. He said NO. So much for Tom and Pam seeing the Hollywood sign … no second chances on this trip.

Well, now we were cold and tired and ready to leave Hollywood, as long as we could drive through a bit more of it. So we got the car, drove down Hollywood Blvd, past Vine and the Capital Records tower, eventually hung a right to go find Sunset Blvd. We hung another right on Sunset and studied the neighborhood. We weren’t impressed … happy we were in the car. Before long, we were saying goodbye to the Hollywood area, disappointed in several ways … most of all about not seeing the sign.

We set the TomTom for Rodeo Drive (but we guessed at a street number). We drove and drove and drove, through all types of neighborhoods, from run-down to Beverly Hills! Eventually, we arrived at the address we’d typed in to the TomTom (after just a few wrong turns). This didn’t look like the Rodeo Drive we expected. After some grumbling, Tom agreed to just keep going on Rodeo … in the direction from which we’d come, past our original cross road, to the other end (South instead of North??). There, we eventually found the fancy shopping district we’d expected … but it was dark and deserted. Not a shop was open. Another disappointment. Tom wanted to stop for pictures, but Pam wanted nothing to do with being in that area, walking around on a deserted street, without any shops open. (We’ve been stopped by the State Police for a not dissimilar situation a few years ago in PA.)

So … that was it … our day in Hollywood was over. We set the TomTom for Disneyland Hotel and set out. So that the night wouldn’t be an even bigger loss, we hung out at the lounge outside the Steakhouse 55 in our hotel, eating appetizers for supper and drinking at least half of our supper. (The Mudslide Martini was absolutely amazing!).

We called it a night around midnight and agreed that we needed to be up and heading for breakfast by 8:00 AM if we were going to have a successful last day together back in the parks. Oh, boy!

... click HERE to see all of our pictures of Hollywood.