February 26, 2011

Today was one of our big tour days.

After learning that Charlie Sheen contacted an ABC reporter to set the record straight about what was being reported about him that had prompted CBS to put, "Two and a Half Men" on hiatus, we started the day with a tour of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Sadly, there were only 4 of us on the tour (us, and another couple).  The theater still shows movies and our guide told us hardly anyone ever comes. (There is a multiplex right next door which apparently people do go to -- although I guess most people go where they live.)

I got excited as soon as I came around the corner and saw this:

Our tour guide told us they seat the VIPs for premieres roughly 10 rows back

About half the tour was outside, where the handprints are located, in the forecourt. This is where the headphones we were given, even though our tour guide was just steps away, came in handy because you could hear despite all the tourist chatter.

The most interesting thing I learned was that everyone there has to have been in a film (Frank Sinatra was a film actor, too, you know) and although you may be judged for your body of work, you have to be nominated (and accepted) for a specific film. For example, Robert Downey Jr. is there... for Sherlock Holmes. Cher is there... for Burlesque. Our tour guide also told us that unlike the space out here, to be a part of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the person or group doing the nominating has to pay (at one point it was $2,500; now it is $30,000+.)

Next we went on our bus tour with LA Tours. Our tour guide was very cool and laidback and tried to test us with movie trivia. Dad and I knew most of the answers (he called us "Buffalo" because of Dad's Buffalo Bills jacket.

Our first stop was early in the tour. We were able to see the city of Los Angeles, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Hollywood sign. Dad knew this fact: When the Hollywood sign was originally erected in 1923, it read, "Hollywoodland." The letters that read "Land" were removed in 1949 during a restoration effort. In 1973, those in favor of looser marijuana laws altered the sign read "Hollyweed".

For the rest of the trip, we drove past celebrity homes of past and present. The one I wanted to see the most, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air house, isn't actually in Bel-Air, but in Brentwood, CA (508 Saint Cloud Road).

Artwork etched in the driveway outside the house where Michael Jackson lived and died.

For the remainder of the tour, our guide pointed out sights associated with celebrities on Rodeo Drive and the Sunset Strip, including where Winona Ryder was caught shoplifting, where Elvis Presley gave a waitress a car a tip, and where River Phoenix ODed.

Other than the Hollywood sign and Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the thing I wanted to do most was to eat at an In-N-Out Burger, so that's where we went to lunch. On the way, I snapped a photo which I'd been dying to take.

Where's the vd of the Blvd?

The burger was a little dry since I had it without the sauce, but the strawberry shake was out of this world. And apparently people knew the food was good. The place was packed! I had to stand over people until they got up so I could grab their table!

After dinner, we waited until my brother Charlie's friend Andrew came to pick us up. He took us first to Universal CityWalk, where it started to snow! We got some proof on my camera bag.

You should have heard the little kids, who probably had never seen snow before, scream with delight!

After that, Andrew drove us to his favorite place to take visitors, El Matador Beach in Malibu, CA. We arrived just in time for sunset, which was stunning.

Still kinda of full from our burgers, Dad and I had dinner at another chain we'd been seeing around town, Pollo Loco. (Remember, under the vacation rules, you can eat at a chain as long as it's a chain you can't go to at home.) My chicken cheese quesadilla, although huge, felt a little too processed. I did enjoy my corn on the cob, however.

The big day is tomorrow! -- POSTED BY COLLEEN