Seeing Sights in La-La Land

We started our first full day in Los Angeles by taking a tour of Hollywood and Beverly Hills, two iconic sections of this vast city. Right near our Loew’s Hotel, on Hollywood Boulevard, part of the street outside the El Capitan Theater was closed down for the world premiere of a new Disney film. Later in the day, mobs of tourists and street entertainers (folks dressed as Yoda, Chaplin, Marliyn Monroe, Justin Bieber, et al) were outside the theater jostling each other side by side. Hollywood Boulevard is also where one finds the Dolby Theater (home of the Academy Awards) as well as the famed stars of the local celebrities are embedded in the sidewalk, and outside the Chinese Theater are the footprints and hand-prints of more stars. (See Jim's accompanying pics.) This part of the city is rather like a playground for adults interested in movie land. Popular culture at its most celebrity-driven is what LA is all about. In the Hollywood Hills we passed by houses of contemporary celebs like Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Paris Hilton and dozens of others. Jim and I enjoyed the older houses in Beverly Hills more. Jim took some photos of houses where folks like Jack Benny and Lucille Ball used to live. Slightly later celebrities, like Michael Jackson and Elvis, also lived in Beverly Hills, which has even more expensive real estate than the Hollywood Hills, according to our guide. We also saw attractions like the Hollywood Bowl and of course the huge sign of “HOLLYWOOD” on the nearby hills. In the afternoon we took a car over to LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. We had a great lunch there in Ray’s restaurant and then saw at least parts of the huge collection, which is spread out in several buildings. We saw European art (including 3 Rembrandts), American art (where the huge “Mulholland Drive” painting David Hockney is a knockout, and the Japanese Pavilion, which is in an exceptional building designed by Bruce Goff. We came back to our hotel to relax for a bit before heading out to dinner at Petite Four, a famed restaurant in West Hollywood. –Dan

The Dolby Theater - Site of the Academy Awards

Grauman's Chinese Theater

A star on the Hollywood Blvd. Walk of Fame