[Los Angeles] - A Day in Hollywood

Week 2
Day 8 (Nov 27th, Thursday)
Day 2 back in Los Angeles - Hollywood/Beverly Hills

"El Lay" is how Americans pronounce it fondly. To me, "El Lay" will always be one of the fondest memories in my heart.

We put up for two nights at the Ramada Inn which is one of the affordable and popular hotel chain names in the US. The room was equipped with a microwave, which was very useful for us to heat up the Peking Duck from San Francisco Chinatown, frozen meals and cup noodles. The complimentary breakfast was pretty basic but fulfilling, with donuts, bread and butter, fresh milk, yoghurt, cereal, peaches and juice.

Mom in front of the movie trailers. Hollywood really IS the movie producing capital of the world. They even shot a sitcom in the backlot of OUR hotel. Unbelievable.

We drove around the Hollywood neighborhood trying to find the best spot to get the Hollywood hills sign using the GPS. I think this was the most perfect location we could find, albeit the many trees and lamp posts blocking the view.

I love, love, love the bougainvillea here! It was like the flowers formed a gigantic heart shape that was gonna topple down on me! So V-day.

Next, we headed off to Hollywood Boulevard. Visiting Hollywood is somewhat like a dream come true for every movie-going person. However, waking up to reality is not always the case. Before I left for the US, some of my colleagues had already told me that the Hollywood Boulevard is not what we all imagine it to be. The streets of Tinseltown are not filled with glittering pavements, paparazzi and beautiful movie stars making an appearance in their shiny dresses. On the contrary, the street is dark and full of shady characters.

I say, more like a police car chase scene. The previous night after a whole day at Universal Studios, my thoughtful bf brought us for a drive-through on Hollywood Boulevard, just to catch a glimpse of the street at night. Just before turning right into Hollywood Blvd, we overtook a car by crossing into its lane at the end of the street just before the traffic lights. We had surpassed the dotted line range where you can cross lanes. To our shock and dismay the car behind us suddenly beeped its siren. We had overtook a police car! It was just not our luck cos although we had signalled before overtaking, the officer still gave us a ticket for illegal lane-crossing... though I think it would be fine if it were just a normal car. Felt so down and totally lost our mood to look at Hollywood Blvd at night, I just remember many bright lights and many shops selling cheap souvenirs there.

In the daytime. Behind me, Grauman's Chinese Theater. And to the right is Kodak Theater, where the Oscars are held every year.

We parked our car right next to Tom Cruise's star. Very vintage hotel behind me. It was drizzling at the Hollywood Blvd.

MJ's star on the Walk of Fame. Such a coincidence, such an honour to have seen his star...

One thing I felt profoundly superficial about this place was, there were so many "superheroes" walking about! Batman, Captain America, Catwoman, Supergirl, Jack Sparrow, Freddy Krueger... all waiting for tourists to ask to take a photo with them and then get tipped. I felt so disappointed seeing Batman take a photo with our family and then turn around to count the number of one-dollar bills... *superhero image disintegrated* ;-(

Everyone wants to be the next Diddy... a dude asking Leo to test out his DIY album. Haha, how he said thanks-but-no-thanks apologetically afterwards is totally hilarious but these guys do take it pretty cool... just like how the street beggars at San Francisco greeted us and still thanked us politely even though we had no change to spare.

Parents smiling happily after mom's wish to take a picture together with a black came true... she had Obama fever...

At the Kodak Theater!! The staircase leading into the inner theater is flanked by columns displaying the names of the movies for Best Picture Award throughout the years. I felt a bit star-struck walking in the footsteps of all those stars, my feet on the staircase that they had walked on, my hands tracing the balustrades that they had touched, using the toilet that Nicole Kidman had used... heehee...

And the shopping mall just beside the Kodak Theater... I think Janice Dickinson's Model Agency was situated here once... correct me if I'm wrong.

Time was short and we rushed to our next destination at Beverly Hills, hoping to catch a glimpse of a real star in his jogging shorts.

Beverly Hills... that's where I wanna be! It's a lush green neighborhood with large, elegant houses. Of course we couldn't see ANY stars.

Rodeo Drive - where the stars shop, and where Julia Roberts had that scene in Pretty Woman, my most favourite movie of all time. No time to stop and window shop, we had to rush all the way back to Chandler for the Coldplay concert (WOOHOO!!) at night! Leo knew I'd love to go down, so instead of going one round, he drove us past a second round! *Satisfied*

Feast your eyes on Rodeo Drive!

Fellow Malaysian spotted in LA. :-P

Favourite outfit of Nate Archibald in Gossip Girl.

Just some normal "streetbrands" in US.