Category: Travel

The Movie Star Homes Tour began in the Hollywood Hills and included such places as the Magic Castle (a private club for magicians), Bela Lugosi’s house (which had gargoyles), Orlando Bloom’s house, the Hollywood sign, and the Griffith Observatory. Laurence Fishburne had a sign out front saying that security is provided by the Matrix Security Team. James Dean’s former home had a lot of glass block and was very modern. Steven Spielberg’s house was at the top of one of the hills and somewhat resembled a series of flying saucers with circles stacked upon circles.

The house from the original version of Nightmare on Elm Street was on a street lined with established, large trees. The person running the tour felt that the street looked spooky. Where I live, streets like that are commonplace and a street without a tree canopy over it looks odd. I guess it’s all about perspective.

Then we drove along Sunset Boulevard to see Chateau Marmont, the back of Johnny Depp’s house (screened by bamboo trees), the Viper Room (once owned by Johnny Depp) and the Whiskey a Go-Go. We went to Beverly Hills where the first house we saw had been Marilyn Monroe’s when she was married to Joe Di Maggio. We saw houses that either were owned or had once been owned by various stars such as Dr Phil, Nicholas Cage, Tom Cruise, Tom Selleck, Paul Newman, Ozzy Osborne, Frank Sinatra, David Beckham, and Mariah Carey. Some houses we could actually see, but some we could only see the gate.

The house where Michael Jackson died was pointed out to us as were the houses used for the TV series “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”. I especially liked Tom Selleck’s house, which was large, but not at all pretentious. I also thought “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” house was not only fun to see, but quite beautiful too with loads of shrubs of large white flowers (which I think were roses) just outside of the gates.

Then we went to Rodeo Drive and passed the Beverly Hills Hotel (which my mom and I had been to before for dinner with Janice and her mom and her mom’s husband, Raoul). The tour then looped back to Hollywood, pointing out some older apartment buildings and homes there before stopping at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The fella conducting the tour gave us the spiel about it being the most haunted building in Hollywood along with reports of the various hauntings and then he offered to let us off there. We said, “Sure.” Some of the others on the tour got off there too.

We all went inside of the building, but only Janice, Lily, and I got on the elevator and went upstairs to drop off a few items before going to dinner down the street at the Pig ‘n Whistle. We returned to the hotel for dessert and drinks before Janice and Lily headed home. Janice was going to pick me up the next day late in the afternoon. We all enjoyed the tour (which had a relatively small group of twelve in an open-topped vehicle) – especially the stories told by its leader.

At breakfast on Sunday, which I ate at the diner downstairs in the hotel, I found myself sitting next to three guys who were “taking a meeting”. The one fella represented a woman who was a model and was dating a football (soccer) player (who was better known than she was) and wanted to engage the other two guys to market the woman for the fitness business.

All three men sounded so overblown and phony, but I guess that’s just the way it all works. It was fascinating to listen to them and sometimes difficult to keep a straight face. I’m not an aficionado of corporate-speak, so the even more extreme version – Hollywood-speak – was especially amusing to me. But I just pretended to not hear anything they said while eating my eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast with fresh-squeezed orange juice. Mom had said that Janice’s grandfather used to make deals at that hotel, so it seemed appropriate.

After breakfast, I walked down to the Hollywood Wax Museum. At the entrance were Marilyn Monroe and the Wizard of Oz cast – the Scarecrow, Dorothy and Toto, Lion, Tin Man, and the Wicked Witch of the West. The place was quite packed with loads of wax figures from throughout the film spectrum, both classic films and modern hits. The actors and actresses were portrayed mainly in particular film roles with some (like Johnny Depp) in more than one display. It was fun to see, but I have to admit that the wax figures were not, for the most part, as well done as those at Madame Tussaud’s, which was where I went next.

Madame Tussaud’s wax sculpting isn’t always perfect either, but there were some that were uncanny. It took me a moment to realize that the Steven Spielberg figure was wax. He really looked like the actual person. The Hollywood Wax Museum mostly had its figures in displays for you to look at, while Madame Tussaud’s had them here and there where people could walk among them and get their picture taken with them. You could sit next to Tom Hanks as Forest Gump on his bus stop bench or sit down next to Will Smith in a party setting.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford were dressed as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Paul Newman looked quite realistic, but the person who fashioned Robert Redford did not seem to be quite as talented. One of the things I liked was to be able to see a person’s size compared to my own. Who is tall? Who is tiny? I was careful not to bump into anybody.

Since I am a fan of action movies, I enjoyed a room with Daniel Craig, Bruce Willis, and Robert Downey Jr. (among others). The first two Ironman movies had already come out by then so he was represented as both Tony Stark and Ironman, but they didn’t have any of the other Avenger actors as of yet.

Just outside of the museum entrance was a very good Marilyn Monroe look-alike. She can be seen in the photo taken of the entrance.

Janice picked me up at the hotel as planned and we went to the Hollywood Forever cemetery to visit her mother’s grave. Margaret is buried next to Don Adams (of “Get Smart” fame). She always enjoyed a good laugh, so I figured he was keeping her entertained. There is a bench on her grave from which one can view a lovely lake. She’s also not too far from Tyrone Power, who was a favorite of hers. We also checked out other nearby graves of Marion Davies, Johnny Ramone, Jayne Mansfield, Cecil B. Demille, and a memorial to Hattie McDaniel right next to the lake.

We fed a few ducks and geese with some bread and then went to the main mausoleum to say “hi” to Rudolf Valentino (who always has fresh lipstick prints on his marker, despite being wiped off daily) and so I could see where Margaret’s funeral took place. Margaret’s parents are both in one of the mausoleums.

While passing through Beverly Hills on our way to UCLA, we drove by the ‘Witch House’. It really did look like a house where a fairytale witch would live. At UCLA, we picked up Lily from a weekly group that she went to at the school. We joined one of Lily’s friends and her mother and went to a very nice Japanese restaurant for dinner. Both the tempura and sushi items we had were delicious.

The following day was Monday and my final day in Hollywood. I slept in a bit, then had breakfast, checked out of the hotel, locked my luggage up in a room at the front desk and went on the Double-Decker Fun Bus Tour that left from in front of the Kodak Theatre. The Fun Tour covered Hollywood and West Hollywood. It was a sight-seeing tour with a lot of humor.

The tour leader singled me out, asking whether or not I was married. I said I wasn’t, so he pointed out a place where I could get a hot pink wig, and Frederick’s of Hollywood, where I could get a “really sexy” outfit and I would be “married in no time”.

We covered Hollywood Boulevard and then went to where several film studios – Sunset Gower, Sunset Bronson, Raleigh Studios, and Paramount Studios – were located. We also passed the rundown apartment building where Judy Garland, her mom and sisters lived when they first arrived in Hollywood and she was part of the Gumm Sisters (her real name was Frances Gumm).

Pinks, the popular hotdog place at the time, had a long line along the sidewalk outside to get in. We went by the super expensive antique shops on Third. An item that might be $60 on Melrose Avenue could be $200 on Third. Third was also where the hotel that Mom and I used to stay in some of the times we went out to visit Margaret was located. We passed the building and the hotel appeared to be closed.

We went along Sunset Boulevard again. In addition to Whiskey a Go-Go and the Viper Room, our tour guide also pointed out the House of Blues and the Saddle Ranch Chop House. All along the way, he continued to make pithy comments and flirt with me.

There were two locations of Mel’s Diner. The one on Sunset Boulevard was featured in the movie American Graffiti. The other one was next door to the Hollywood Museum on Highland, just off of Hollywood Boulevard. We were shown the one on Sunset on the tour. When the tour ended (same place it began), the tour guide actually asked me out. I said “thanks” but was leaving town that afternoon.

Since I was at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland, I walked the short distance to that Mel’s Diner. Once I was seated, I could see an autographed photo of Leonardo Dicaprio on the wall of the small booth I was in. The server saw me looking at it and asked me if I was a fan. “Definitely”, I responded and then she told me I was sitting in his favorite booth. I asked if that meant I would need to move if he came in and she said that most likely, he would just join me. I came close to suggesting she give him a call.

After lunch, I collected my cases and sat out in the comfortable sitting area behind the hotel, which is actually the main entrance, until the airport shuttle arrived.

Next time – a memorable trip to the Canadian Rockies.

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A first cousin of my mom’s lived out in the Los Angeles area. So Mom and I visited her every once in a while. While there, we would sometimes do some touristy things like visiting Universal Studios, going to Disneyland, running out to Santa Monica or Malibu, spending some time in Hollywood or Downtown LA, and visiting both the original Getty Museum and the newer one. When Margaret passed away, Mom could no longer travel and I decided not to go out for the funeral, but to visit at another time when I could actually spend some time with Margaret’s daughter, Janice, and her daughter, Lily.

After my trip to Turkey, I had enough miles to fly out to LA for free. I also found a wonderful deal at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which was just across the street from Grauman’s Chinese Theater. I flew out for a long weekend so I could do more touristy things when Janice and Lily weren’t available (such as when Janice was at work). She offered me the use of Margaret’s condo, which she had not yet sold, but I figured the hotel would really be better since I wouldn’t need to rent a car and drive anywhere and could just run across the street to the theater to catch various tours. I could also see loads of tourist places along Hollywood Boulevard.

I flew out on a Thursday and took a shuttle from the airport to the hotel, where I had lunch at the diner in the hotel. The diner was a throwback to the diners in the 1950s both in style and menu items. Mom and I had eaten there once before, so I already knew what I wanted – the grilled cheese sandwich and chocolate malt. The sandwich had five types of cheese on Texas toast (so was huge) and the malt was created by hand and served with the remainder of the drink in the metal shaker. I would not be going away hungry.

The hotel room was actually a Junior King Suite on the 12^th floor of the hotel, facing Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood Hills. That was the great deal. I was able to get this Junior King Suite for less money than a regular room usually cost. I think it might have been because Cannes was going on at the time, so a good share of the Hollywood community was out of town in the south of France instead of making deals or staying at the hotel. Instead of two rooms, this was one large room with the bed at one end and a sofa, chairs, a desk, fridge, and large TV at the other end.

The hotel was built in the 1920s and was the site of the original Academy Awards ceremony. It was also the site where Shirley Temple learned her special tap dance on the steps. It is considered to be the most haunted building in Hollywood with the most haunted floor being the 9^th. I was offered my choice between a room on the 9^th floor and the 12^th. Not wishing to share my room with any ghosts, I chose the 12^th floor. Although Suite 1200 is haunted, that was not the room I was given.

After lunch, I checked out the stars on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Then I went across the street to the Chinese Theater to explore the hand prints and footprints and take a tour of the inside of the theater. The interior was mainly red, gold and black. There was a film being shown at the time. So, although we could briefly look inside of the theater itself, we couldn’t take photos. We could spend time in the lobby, the ladies room (which was very, very fancy and large), a party room, and some other rooms, including a special VIP room for celebrities to see the film without intermingling with the regular audience.

The theater was built in the 1920s as a movie palace. The Academy Awards were held there three times. The two lions that sat out front of the main entrance were original Ming Dynasty. There are several stories regarding how the idea came about for the footprints and hand prints in the forecourt. However it began, it is fun to explore.

Before I left the forecourt of the theater, I booked the Warner Brothers VIP tour for the next day at the booth there. It would be leaving from the theater. After that I continued down that side of the street as far as Cherokee, checking out what was then known as the Kodak Theatre along the way. The columns on each side of the stairs from the street up to the theatre listed all of the “Best Picture” winners. This theatre was built in 2001 for live performances and to host the Academy Awards.

On the other side of Hollywood Boulevard were lots of souvenir shops, a Disney shop, the Egyptian Theater, the El Capitan Theater, a few pubs, a McDonalds, and a small grocers where I could buy a few things to keep in the hotel for snacks or meals when I didn’t want to go out. That night I had dinner with Janice and Lily in the hotel’s main dining room. The room was very “old Hollywood” traditional in feel with lots of dark leather seating. The food was fairly traditional too.

The Warner Brothers tour the next day was quite fun. We saw several exterior sets from TV shows “ER”, “The Waltons”, “Growing Pains”, and “Harry’s Law” which starred Kathy Bates. We also saw interiors from “Friends” (Central Perk) and “Harry’s Law” (the courtroom). Leonardo DiCaprio had just finished the J. Edgar movie, so we could still see some of the exterior sets and the soundstage for interiors.

The museum had loads of props and costumes from “Chuck”, “The Mentalist”, The Matrix, the Batman movies, Inception, The Departed, and the Harry Potter movies. They also had older costumes belonging to John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, and Clint Eastwood, plus newer costumes that had been worn by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, and Leonardo DiCaprio. In the car section, they had cars from “Chuck”, “Get Smart”, The Matrix, Gran Torino, Austin Powers, Batman, and the flying car from Harry Potter.

Janice and Lily thought it would be fun to do the tour of the Movie Star Homes together. None of us had ever done it before. So I booked it for 3pm on Saturday.

The first thing I did on Saturday was to take the subway (underground) to Hollywood & Vine. Janice’s grandfather had owned a large nightclub called the Florentine Gardens from roughly 1938 to 1948 not far from that famous intersection. The club featured such performers as the Mills Brothers, Ozzy Nelson’s Orchestra, and Sophie Tucker. Yvonne DeCarlo (who later played Lily Munster on TV) was once a chorus girl there and Marilyn Monroe married her first husband there when she was still Norma Jean Baker. Various gangsters, including Bugsy Siegel, spent time there as well. It is still a nightclub and still called the Florentine Gardens. So I decided to go and take a photo. The subway station at Hollywood and Vine was pretty interesting too.

When I got back to the Hollywood and Highland neighborhood, I visited the Hollywood Museum. They had loads of costumes and props from both old and new movies and television series. I especially enjoyed seeing items belonging to Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Tyrone Power, Bob Hope, Mae West, Jean Harlow, Cary Grant, Shirley Temple, The Social Network, “The Sopranos”, “Lost”, “Star Trek”, Leonardo Dicaprio, Bruce Willis, Mark Wahlberg, Star Wars, Planet of the Apes (the first one and the remake), Dream Girls, items from the old horror movies, and items from the Indiana Jones movies. They also had an actual Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Writer’s Guild award. Hannibal Lector’s cell from Silence of the Lambs was there too. Several floors were jammed full of stuff and it was all well worth seeing.

On the way back to the hotel, I grabbed some lunch and took some time to write in my journal and relax before meeting up with Janice and Lily to go on the Movie Stars tour.

Next time – the Movie Stars Tour, overhearing a couple people “taking a meeting” at breakfast the next day, exploring the Hollywood Wax Museum, Madame Tussaud’s, and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, visiting UCLA, dinner at a Japanese restaurant, the Double-Decker Hollywood Fun Tour, and lunch at Mel’s Dinner.

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