We woke this morning to a very foggy Santa Monica, we couldn’t see much further than the other side of the road from our hotel, let alone the Pier. We found out late than this is the May/June Fog, and it happens every year at the change of season and is caused by ocean temperature variations and currents. It normally burns off by mid/late morning.
We did an all day tour of LA today. We were picked up by our guide, Marc, at 9am to discover we were the only ones on the tour today!
Our first stop was Venice Beach, where we were given about ½ hr to walk around and take in all that is Venice Beach. It was a bit early for most inhabitants there, but we got the general feel of it. We enjoyed spending time at the skate park. There were lots of guys, not all young either, doing some pretty fancy stuff in the concrete “bowls”, one guy in particular was excellent to watch. Doing some amazing tricks and getting plenty of air.
From there we did a drive around the Venice area and had a close look at some of the remaining canals, that were the idea of developer Abbot Kinney and built in 1905. Yes, Venice California was originally designed with a network of canals and low bridges, modeled on its Italian namesake. I think only about 9 of the canals remain and they have some pretty nice homes built on them.
Venice (California) Canals
From there we went into downtown LA. Our first stop was the Disney Theatre, an amazing building clad in polished stainless steel set at very graphic angles in order to reflect all possible light. Thank you Claire for the tip. We went inside and there was a choral performance on, which temporarily stopped us getting into the main auditorium. We must have looked like real tourists, because a woman came up to Deb and offered her 2 tickets to the performance (she had 2 spare), Deb quickly accepted and we were up stairs waiting to get in no time. As soon as a break in the performance came we were allowed in. We only had a few minutes in there as we had to get back out to meet our guide, but the hall was very grand with a huge performance space and a light brown wooden interior to the auditorium. The sound was magnificent, we both wished we could have stayed longer, the part performance we saw was a part of The LA Master Chorale High School Choir Festival. Definitely worth a visit if you come to LA.
We met back up with our guide and he took us to the Grove Farmers Market. It’s a huge semi-outdoor foodhall, fresh food market and retail centre. Deb had spicy crab & lobster Sushi and I had a Chicken Borekas (think light pizza) that were both freshly made for us and very delicious. After lunch we had a bit of a look around the Market, it was more about the food than anything else, not that that was a problem.
From there we drove into town and had a walk down Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of the Stars. We started the Stars walk at the beginning, where there is a small “pavilion” and the Stars of Elvis and The Beatles. Like everyone else walking the “Path” we kept seeing names of people from all eras, many of them unknown to us. My favourites were De Forrest Kelly and William Shatner, while Deb was more taken by some of the older musicians. We walked on down to The Chinese Theatre, where many stars have their feet and hand prints preserved in concrete. Right at the footpath was a large segment dedicated to Gene Roddenberry and the Stars of the first series of Star Trek. Deb had me put my hand into Leonard Nemoy’s hand print doing the Vulcan greeting.
We moved on down to the Dolby Theatre, where the Academy Awards are presented. We walked in where the Red Carpet would be and had a look at the grand staircase inside. We walked on down the Walk of the Stars and Deb spotted William Shatner’s Star, so I had to get a pic there as well!!!! LOL
While walking around this area there are many, many, people dressed up as characters from the movies, wanting you to have your picture taken with them in return for a tip. We saw people dressed as Marylyn Monroe, Storm Troopers, Ewoks, Batgirl, etc! And then there are the guys that want you to buy their CD, as you walk passed t them they try to put the CD into your hands and then ask for money!.
We walked on down to a shopping plaza where you could get a good view of the Hollywood sign up on the hill, and the obligatory photos.
We then drove to Griffith Park and had a look at the Observatory and a closer look (and Photos) of the Hollywood Sign. The observatory was built quite a while ago and is still in use today. The most interesting thing I saw in there was the Foucault (pronounced Foo-koh) Pendulum, which is used to demonstrate the rotation of the earth on its axis. Really cool physics.
In the gardens at the entrance to the Observatory there is a Bronze bust of James Dean (apparently he made movies up in this area) and some cool astronomical sculptures.
At some time during the day, it has all got mixed up in my head, we drove past the La Brea Tar Pits. One of the worlds most famous fossil locations, they have found fossils of Saber Toothed Cats, Mammoths, an American Lion and numerous other ancient animals.
From there we took a drive down Rodeo Drive, passed all the chic shops and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel where Pretty Woman was located (Deb was disappointed we did not stop to go in) then into the residential part of Beverly Hills. We saw many houses of US TV stars (That we had never heard of) and a few movie stars (most now live up in the hills with guards and security screens so no-one can pester them. We did see Marilyn Munroe’s old home where she used to live with Joe DiMaggio, Rita Hayworth lived there before her.
During our drive around town we saw all the names you have heard of, the corner of “Hollywood and Vine”, the “Sunset Strip”, the Capitol records Building, many various studios for TV and movies, etc
We got back to our hotel around 4:20, it had been a long but very interesting day.
