HOLLYWOOD HIGHLIGHTS

WEATHER: Glorious 24C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting S CLOSE AS WE COULD TO THE Hollywood sign

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Seeing a Tom Cruise look-a-like when we drove past and not being able to find him when we parked to get a photo

WORD OF THE DAY:  Delta Bravo

The Browns are late rises and this suits me fine.  I haven’t had a sleep in till 9.30-10am for a long long time.  Even though I a staying with people I don’t want to disrupt too much what their normal routine is.  I don’t want to be a pain.  So with an amazing breakfast cooked by Eric we were on our way to check out what Hollywood had to offer.  I have been to LA before, 3 times I think.  But 2 of those trips were famils (work trips) and just focused on Disneyland and the last time was in 2009 when I stopped for 2 nights on my way home from Central America.  LA is a city that is massive, it is spread out and has pockets of places to see, but really not everything can be done on foot, you would need wheels to get around. 

Everywhere you look it is a name or something iconic from a movie or a TV show.  It’s like being in the twilight zone of famous movies.  We first travelled along Mulholland Drive to our first stop.  The fifty five-mile Mulholland Scenic Parkway and Corridor is one of the most famous thoroughfares in the country. Constructed in 1924, twenty four-mile Mulholland Drive in the City of Los Angeles was envisioned by the famous Water Bureau Chief and City Engineer, William D. Mulholland, as a scenic road that would transport city dwellers to the mountains and beaches.  Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains.  It is named after Los Angeles pioneer civil engineer William Mulholland.   Originally called 'Mulholland Highway' it was opened in 1924. It was built by a consortium of Hollywood Hills landowners investing to make money by bringing development to the Hollywood Hills.  The mostly two-lane, minor arterial road loosely follows the ridgeline of the eastern Santa Monica Mountains and the Hollywood Hills and the road offers spectacular views of the Los Angeles Basin, the San Fernando Valley and the Hollywood Sign.  Mulholland Drive is home to some of the most exclusive and most expensive homes in the world. Many of these homes are set back from the road and offer outstanding views of Downtown Los Angeles. Celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Paris Hilton, Reese Witherspoon and Vinnie Jones all live nearby.  The views from here were amazing and the ‘June Gloom’ as they call the haze that hangs over the city was starting to burn off. 

Following the Mulholland Scenic Parkway and Corridor we stopped at the Hollywood Bowl Overlook.  The most easterly of the Conservancy's Scenic Overlooks, the Hollywood Bowl Scenic Overlook is situated to provide a beautiful view of the Hollywood Bowl Amphitheater, downtown Los Angeles, and apparently on a clear day, the ocean and Catalina Island, but it was a little too hazy for us to see that today.  To the east, we could see the famous Hollywood Sign and Griffith Park Observatory, where we were going to go after lunch, and to the north the San Fernando Valley. The Overlook was built concurrently with Universal City Overlook in 1984 in preparation for the Summer Olympics.  The Conservancy maintains seven scenic overlooks on Mulholland Drive this being one of them.  It was busy here with open topped tour vans and visitors alike. 

Our next stop was to get as close as we could to the Hollywood sign as you can no longer climb this iconic LA sign.  It was sad to tell Eric that this is one of the most popular things that Australians wanted to see when they were in LA, me included, and with a map from a friend who maps shoot locations we headed into the Hollywoodland neighborhood and started to make our way up the canyon as far as we could, coming to a dead-end of a large property and got my photos.  The Hollywood Sign (formerly the "Hollywoodland" sign) is a landmark and American cultural icon.  It is situated on Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills area of the Santa Monica Mountains. "HOLLYWOOD" is spelled out in 14 m and 110 m white letters. The sign was a frequent target of pranks and vandalism but has since undergone restoration, including a security system to deter vandalism. The sign is protected and promoted by the Hollywood Sign Trust, a nonprofit organization.  The sign was first erected in 1923 and originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND". Its purpose was to advertise the name of a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.  The Crescent Sign Company erected thirteen letters on the hillside, each facing south. The sign company owner, Thomas Fisk Goff (1890–1984) designed the sign and the whole sign was studded with some 4,000 light bulbs. The sign would flash in segments; "HOLLY," "WOOD," and "LAND" would light up individually, before lighting up entirely. Below the Hollywoodland sign was a searchlight to attract more attention. The poles that supported the sign were hauled to the site by mules. Cost of the project was $21,000 (about $250,000 in 2011 dollars.)  The sign was officially dedicated on July 13, 1923. It was not intended to be permanent. The expected life was to be about a year and a half, but after the rise of the American cinema in Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the sign became an internationally recognized symbol, and was left there.

In the 1970s, the sign reached its most dilapidated state.  Over the course of more than half a century, the sign, designed to stand for only 18 months, sustained extensive damage and deterioration.  In 1949 the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce began a contract with the City of Los Angeles Parks Department to repair and rebuild the sign. The contract stipulated that "LAND" be removed to spell "Hollywood" and reflect the district, not the "Hollywoodland" housing development. The Parks Department dictated that all subsequent illumination would be at the cost of the Chamber, so the Chamber opted not to replace the light bulbs. The 1949 effort gave it new life, but the sign's unprotected wood and sheet metal structure continued to deteriorate. In 1978, in large part because of the public campaign to restore the landmark by shock rocker Alice Cooper, the Chamber set out to replace the intensely deteriorated sign with a more permanent structure. Nine donors gave US$27,700 each (totaling US$249,300) to sponsor replacement letters made of steel, guaranteed to last for many years.  The new version of the sign was unveiled on Hollywood's 75th anniversary, November 14, 1978, before a live television audience of 60 million people.  We were literally in a residential area of Hollywoodland and it didn’t look like many people come up this way for a view of the sign.  We were lucky. 

After our busy morning we were hungry.  So the guys too me to this cool little deli that had a great hamburger and a great arugula and parmesan cheese salad.  Some of the awesome history behind Little Dom's includes facts that the vintage wooden bar was purchased by owner Warren Ebbink in Pennsylvania and the benches inside are actually railroad booths.  The deli had character and I felt like I was sitting in a movie set somewhere as all the décor seemed like original vintage.  Now that we were fed and watered we headed to the Griffith Observatory. 

The Griffith Observatory sits on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in L.A.'s Griffith Park, it commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. The observatory with an extensive array of space and science-related displays.  12.20 km2 of land surrounding the observatory was donated to the City of Los Angeles by Colonel Griffith J. Griffith on December 16, 1896. In his will Griffith donated funds to build an observatory, exhibit hall, and planetarium on the donated land. Construction began on June 20, 1933, using a design developed by architect John C. Austin based on preliminary sketches by Russell W. Porter. The observatory and accompanying exhibits were opened to the public on May 14, 1935. In its first five days of operation the observatory logged more than 13,000 visitors. The first exhibit visitors encountered in 1935 was the Foucault pendulum, which was designed to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. The exhibits also included a twelve-inch (305 mm) Zeiss refracting telescope in the east dome, a triple-beam coelostat (solar telescope) in the west dome, and a thirty-eight foot relief model of the moon's north polar region.  Included in the original design was a planetarium under the large central dome. The first shows covered topics including the Moon, worlds of the solar system, and eclipses.  During World War II the planetarium was used to train pilots in celestial navigation. The planetarium was again used for this purpose in the 1960s to train Apollo program astronauts for the first lunar missions.  The observatory closed in 2002 for renovation and a major expansion of exhibit space. It reopened to the public on November 3, 2006, retaining its art decoexterior. The $93 million renovation, paid largely by a public bond issue, restored the building, as well as replaced the aging planetarium dome. The building was expanded underground, with completely new exhibits, a café, gift shop, and the new Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater.  One wall inside the building is covered with the largest astronomically accurate image ever constructed (152 feet long by 20 feet, called "The Big Picture" (http://bigpicture.caltech.edu), depicting the Virgo Cluster of galaxies; visitors can explore the highly detailed image from within arm's reach or through telescopes 18 m away.  Since the observatory opened in 1935, admission has been free, in accordance with Griffith's will. Tickets for the show Centered in the Universe in the 290-seat Samuel Oschin Planetarium Theater are purchased separately at the box office within the observatory. Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.  We spent an hour or so walking around looking at ll the lunar information, reading about the planets, looking at moon rock, weighing ourselves to what we would weigh on each planet and then finally getting to the roof and soaking up the views of Downtown LA, where the ‘June Gloom’ had cleared a little more for a better view. 

Our final and last stop was going to be Hollywood Boulevard where there are a lot of tourist attractions in this area and definitely worth the visit, even though it is SUPER touristy, this is what you expect and want to see in LA.  Home to The Hollywood Walk of Fame which consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood.  The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others. The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. It is a popular tourist destination, with a reported 10 million visitors in 2003.  The Walk of Fame runs 2.1 km east to west on Hollywood Boulevard and as of March 20, 2012 the Walk consists of 2,466 stars. These are spaced 1.8 m intervals, each consisting of a coral-pink terrazzo five-point star rimmed with brass inlaid into a charcoal-colored terrazzo background. In the upper portion of the pink star field, the name of the honoree is inlaid in brass block letters. Below the inscription, in the lower half of the star field, a round inlaid brass emblem indicates the category of the honoree's contributions.

Of all the stars on the Walk to date, 47% have been awarded in the motion pictures category, 24% in television, 17% in audio recording, 10% in radio, and less than 2% in the live performance category. An average of twenty new stars are added to the Walk each year.  The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce credits E. M. Stuart, its volunteer president in 1953, with the original idea for creating a Walk of Fame. Stuart proposed the Walk as a means to "maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamour and excitement in the four corners of the world."  By 1955, the basic concept and general design had been agreed upon, and plans were submitted to the Los Angeles City Council.  By March 1956 the final design and coral-and-charcoal color scheme had been approved, and between the spring of 1956 and the fall of 1957, 1,558 honorees were selected by committees representing the four major branches of the entertainment industry at that time: motion pictures, television, audio recording, and radio. A requirement stipulated by the original audio recording committee (and later rescinded) specified minimum sales of one million records or 250,000 albums for all music category nominees. The committee soon realized, however, that many important recording artists would be excluded from the Walk by that requirement. As a result, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was formed for the purpose of creating a separate award system for the music business. The first Grammy Awards were presented in Beverly Hills in 1959.   While Joanne Woodward is often singled out as the first to receive a star on the Walk of Fame, in fact there was no "first" recipient; the original stars were installed as a continuous project, with no individual ceremonies. Woodward's name was, however, one of eight drawn at random from the original 1,550 and inscribed on eight "display" stars that were built while litigation was still holding up permanent construction.  The Joanne Woodward legend may have originated, according to one source, because she was the first to pose with her star for photographers.

Radio personality, television producer, honorary mayor of Hollywood, and Chamber member Johnny Grant (1923–2008) is generally credited with implementing the changes that resuscitated the Walk and established it as a significant tourist attraction. Beginning in 1968 he stimulated publicity and encouraged international press coverage by requiring that each recipient personally attend his or her star's unveiling ceremony. Grant later recalled that "it was tough to get people to come accept a star on the Walk of Fame" until the neighborhood finally began its recovery in the 1980s. Grant also instituted a fee of $2,500 (now $30,000) payable by the person or entity nominating the recipient, to fund the Walk of Fame's upkeep and minimize further taxpayer burden. In 1978, in honor of his 50th anniversary, Mickey Mouse became the first animated character to receive a star. Other animated recipients are Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Woody Woodpecker, Snow White, Tinker Bell, Winnie-the-Pooh, Shrek, Rugrats, and the Simpsons.

Four of the stars, which weigh about 136 kg each, have been stolen from the Walk of Fame. In 2000, James Stewart's and Kirk Douglas's stars disappeared from their locations.  One of Gene Autry's five stars (it is not clear which one) was also stolen from a construction area. Johnny Grant later received an anonymous phone tip that the missing star was in Iowa, but it was never found. The most brazen and ambitious theft occurred in 2005, when thieves used a concrete saw to remove Gregory Peck's star from its Hollywood Boulevard site. The star was replaced almost immediately, but the original was never recovered and the perpetrators never caught.  Random acts of vandalism occur on the Walk on a regular basis, ranging from profanity and political statements written on stars with felt-tip markers to attempted removal of brass emblems with chisels. Closed circuit surveillance cameras have been installed on the stretch of Hollywood Boulevard in an effort to discourage mischievous activities.

Each year, an average of 200 nominations are submitted to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Walk of Fame Selection Committee. Anyone, including fans, can nominate anyone active in the field of entertainment; as long as the nominee or his or her management is in agreement with the nomination (a letter of agreement from the nominated celebrity or representative must accompany the application). Nominees must have a minimum of five years' experience in the category for which they are nominated and a history of "charitable contributions". Posthumous nominees must have been deceased at least five years. At a meeting each June, the committee selects approximately 20 celebrities to receive stars on the Walk of Fame during the following year. One posthumous award is given each year as well. The nominations of those not selected are "rolled over" to the following year for reconsideration; those not selected two years in a row are dropped, and must be re-nominated to receive further consideration. Living recipients must agree to personally attend a presentation ceremony within five years of selection. A relative of deceased recipients must attend posthumous presentations. Presentation ceremonies are open to the public.   A fee (currently $30,000), payable at time of selection, is collected to pay for the creation and installation of the star, as well as general maintenance of the Walk of Fame. The fee is usually paid by the nominating organization, which may be a fan club, or a film studio, record company, broadcaster, or other sponsor involved with the prospective honoree. 

Also located on Hollywood Boulevard is Grauman's Chinese Theatre.  It is a movie theater at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.  The theatre was commissioned following the success of the nearby Grauman's Egyptian Theatre which opened in 1922. Built over 18 months, from January 1926 by a partnership headed by Sid Grauman, the theater opened May 18, 1927, with the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's film The King of Kings. It has since been home to many premieres - including the 1977 launch of George Lucas's Star Wars - birthday parties, corporate junkets and three Academy Awards ceremonies. Among the theater's most distinctive features are the concrete blocks set in the forecourt, which bear the signatures, footprints, and handprints of popular motion picture personalities from the 1920s to the present day.  There are many stories regarding the origins of the footprints. The theater's official account in its books and souvenir programs credit Norma Talmadge as having inspired the tradition when she accidentally stepped into the wet concrete.   There are nearly 200 Hollywood celebrity handprints, footprints, and autographs in the concrete of the theater's forecourt.

It was a busy part of town.  ‘Famous’ people to be seen included Storm Trooper, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Priestley, Cat Woman, Superman to name a few and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get my picture taken with Elmo.  I asked for a photo and was told as we looped arm that he works on tips which I had already put 2USD in my pocket for the photo.  They have a tough gig, you see people get their photos taken and don’t tip at all, but I am sure they must make some form of money for them to keep doing it.  When we were driving past the Walk to get to the car park we saw a Tom Cruise but when we got to the walk he was gone.  Now I would have paid 5 bucks for that photo, he looked pretty authentic.  Instead we Googled where to find his star and walked the whole block and couldn’t find it.  We didn’t think to look across the road on the other sidewalk until our second pass and found nothing, crossed the street and found Tom in all his glory and a photo with him, well the star, which will be the closest I will ever get to the man himself.

So this rounded off a great first day in LA.  I am so lucky to have Eric and Christine showing me the sights including where movies have been set, movie tid bits and where the stars used to or do live.  It is like I am on an insider’s tour of LA.

That peeps was the Highlights of Hollywood.