Hollywood(Land)

Took the day off of work to go see a taping of The Ellen Show in Burbank. (Fun!) We had some downtime between when we picked up our "first come first serve" tickets and when the show actually started.

My friend and I are huge Audrey Hepburn fans so we decided to go on a hunt for her star. My friend had seen it before but I had not. Luckily she sort of remembered where it's located. It's a little bit of a walk from Hollywood and Highland which is where we started but we found it! It is located near my new favorite building, the Redbury @ Hollywood and Vine. This building is so interesting. Check out their website here. It is so beautiful and I wish I could just go in and take tons of pictures. However, I don't think it's one of those places where you can just roam around snapping picture without going un-noticed (or getting tackled by security). Haha.

Here are a few pics from the day.

LA Reading Pick- Ask The Dust by John Fante

Weekend Getaways: Manhattan Beach

Weekend Getaways: Manhattan Beach!

Two birthdays to celebrate this weekend, so we headed up to Manhattan Beach. We left straight after work and headed up to Los Angeles. It was a very relaxing weekend. Relaxed by the pool, homemade mimosas, a wonderful dinner and the Observatory.

TheView:


The Dinner:
2 people had recommended C&O Cucina located in Marina Del Rey. Very crowded with locals. It was small inside but they also had a huge patio area. We didn't get there until around 9pm. There were tons of people waiting. We thought the wait would be over an hour. However, they move super quickly and we only had to wait about 10-15 minutes. We sat on the patio which was awesome. They serve you free garlic knots that are to die for. Our server warned us they were like crack and very addicting. They were. The food came out very quickly. They also passed out copies of lyrics to That's Amore. When the song comes on, the servers sing along (so do the guests) and clink glasses with the restaurant go-ers. Very fun atmosphere. I definitely recommend it!


http://www.cocucina.com/


Griffith Park Observatory:
We drove up there at night and enjoyed the night views of Los Angeles. We missed the last Planetarium show of the night so we ended up coming back the next day to see the show. I've never been during the day and the building is just so beautiful. Glad we came back!







View of the Hollywood sign from the Observatory.



All in all, it was a nice relaxing weekend. I didn't spend a lot of cash either. I took out money and did not put anything on my card. I even came in under budget. Came home with $10! Woo hoo!

Happy Monday Travel Peeps!!

Day Tripping- La La Land

Hooray for Hollywood!

I know, I know. The economy sucks! But that doesn't mean you can't try new things and visit new places. Since I (like the rest of you, I'm sure) am currently on a budget, the big trips are on hold. Most recently, I've decided to give Hollywood another try. They've actually cleaned it up a bunch in the last few years. I've taken 2 separate day trips to Hollywood recently and here's what I've found:

Griffith Park Observatory:

http://www.griffithobs.org/

Admission is free! Woo hoo! Located in Griffith Park above the neighborhood of Los Feliz, the Griffith Park Observatory over looks the city of Los Angeles (including the Hollywood sign). It has great views of the city and the stars if it's a clear night! They have a ton of exibits on astronomy including the planets, stars, the moon, etc. All for free. For approximately $7, you can check out a show at the Planetarium located within the Observatory. http://www.griffithobservatory.org/psoplanet.html A very interesting show and I definitely recommend seeing it while you are there. You can also check out the ginormous telescope (only open on clear nights) and check out the stars and planets live and in action.

The view of LA from the Observatory

Pink's Hotdogs:

Hollywood's famous hot dog stand. Opened in 1939. Tons of celebrities grab a Pink's hot dog while they are in town. There are autographed pictures all over. The line is crazy long and it's literally a big "stand". No inside dining. They do have an outdoor patio with lots of seats. Any kind of hot dog you can imagine, they have. The dogs are all named after celebrities. Vegetarians, don't worry, they even have a vegi dog! Woo hoo! And yes, we did stand in line for 45 minutes to get a freaking hot dog. Don't judge. We wanted to say we'd been there, done that. :)

http://www.pinkshollywood.com/

The Grove:

The Grove is such a cute outdoor shopping center. I love it there. They have a ton of shopping places, a few pricy restaurants, a water show (think a tiny Bellagio watershow), live music, a trolly, coffee and icecream stands, etc. The Grove is a good "people watching" place. The Farmer's Market is also next door.

http://www.thegrovela.com/

The Grove @ Christmas time

Universal Studios:

Soooo expensive! However, I got in for free since there was a travel industry day. Yayyyy me! It was fun, but there is not a ton of things to do. The rides are more about the special effects rather than speedy rollercoasters. Be careful of all the rides because pretty much all of them squirt water in your face. Seriously. The Backlot Tour is fun, but I've been on it so many times, that it's not as exciting as it used to be. I would say go if you've never been. But if you are looking for speedy roller coasters, try Disney or Knott's in Orange County instead. Universal is more about special effects and movie making.

We did get to meet the Grinch and take pictures with the "Who's" since they had "Grinchmas" going on. ;-)

http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/

Pantages Theater:

So this one's gonna cost you. However, you should definitely see a show here if you can. The theater is amazing. I saw Lion King there and also Wicked....TWICE! Both shows were amazing and the theater was beautiful.

http://www.pantages-theater.com/?gclid=CNPu4omDkJgCFRYiagodDXDYng

Disney Soda Fountain & Studio Store:

Located on Hollywood Blvd near Hollywood & Highland. Fun old fashioned icecream parlor with a Disney flare.

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/el_capitan/soda_fountain/main.html

***Just in case you are wanting a picture of the Hollywood sign......it is NOT lit up at night. Take your pictures during the day! I'm just saying....

If you would like to get close to the Hollywood sign, check out this website for the best places to view it: http://www.hollywoodsign.org/see.html They show you directions to see the sign. I personally took the Beachwood Canyon one which leads into some really cool houses. I would definitely like to check out the Lake Hollywood one. And of course I've been to Hollywood & Highland but that is pretty far from the sign.

**The Capital Records building was built in 1956. It was the worlds first circular office building. It resembles a stack of records (vinyl 45's) on a turntable. The needle at the top has a red blinking light that blinks in Morse Code to spell out the word Hollywood. It has done so since the building opened in 1956.

There are a ton of other things to do while in LA/Hollywood. Melrose Ave has funky hip shops and cafes, Robertson Ave is famous and most likely filled with Papparazzi because of the famous expensive shops such as Kitson. There's Rodeo Drive, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood & Highland, Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Fashion District are just a few more highlights.

Another thing to do is to just drive around. Drive up into the Hollywood Hills or Beverly Hills and gawk at the mansions!

Have fun discovering Old Hollywood!

Movies to see:

All of them! It's Hollywood biatches!

(However, The Holiday is a good one!)