Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Hollywood
In 4th grade, our school has the students do a "California Landmark Report". When Bethany did this, she chose Catalina Island. It was a decision made with family input. One of the options for the report is to visit the landmark and write about the visit. This made a nice family day trip to Catalina which coincided with Mothers Day. We took a couple of tours, did some shopping, visited the Catalina Island museum, and walked around the city of Avalon.
Anyway, Hayley got input from the family and chose Hollywood. I have lived in California all my life and never visited the tourist sites of Hollywood. It had to happen sometime.
Not too many years ago, I understand that Hollywood was not a great place to visit. However, they have done a lot of revitalization of the area and it was a fun family day.
Highlights:
* Movie at Disney's El Capitan Theater
This is designed to be a movie experience like in the "old days" of movie going. The movie we went to see was The Wild. It started with an awesome organist playing a medley of Disney tunes while we were settling in. We chose to sit in the balcony since the family has never done that before. The curtains opened (multiple curtains of various sorts -- cool effect) and they showed previews of upcoming movies. The curtains then closed and the Los Angeles Zoo had representatives there to give a "wild" bird show. The theater is large and has lots of room for the birds to fly around and show off.
* Hollywood Visitors Center
There is a large shopping/entertainment complex at Hollywood and Highland. This includes the Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards are held. The Hollywood Visitors center is buried in this complex (they are building a new place for them at the front, but they are pretty hard to find right now). A lady at the Hollywood Visitors Center, who grew up in Hollywood, gave Hayley a lot of good info for her report and also gave us brochures with discounts for various tours, museums, etc.
* Hollywood Blvd.
The "Walk of Fame" with stars names on the sidewalk runs along Hollywood Blvd and along Vine. We were not close to Vine, but saw many recognizable stars where we were as we walked around the area.
Another interesting part of this street is lots of people come out in costume to let tourists pay them for photos (seems like $1 per photo was typical). Some were kind of cheesy, but some were really good. The guys dressed as Batman and Superman stand out. Also, there was a good Darth Vader and Storm Trooper (and one really cheesy Darth Vader further down the street). The crowd was well behaved, but it was a crowd to deal with when walking anywhere.
* Graumans Chinese Theater (owned by Manns Theaters now)
Saw the famous walkway with stars hand prints, foot prints, etc. That was pretty cool, but a smaller area than I expected. We had Hayley make a handprint souvenir that she can use as part of her report.
* Hollywood Landmark Tour
We took a 1 hour driving tour to see the Hollywood highlights. Celeste didn't like it much and Hayley was kind of bored. I enjoyed the information. Bethany was about 50% happy with it. Andrew liked how the driver used many voices and impersonations to tell corny jokes and give information along the way. However, it did take us to a great location for a photo of the Hollywood Sign behind Hayley (it is pretty distant for photos while down in Hollywood itself).
I also learned that the original Hollywoodland Realty that built the original sign still exists. We drove through the area a little bit.
* Disney Soda Fountain / Studio Store
We returned to the area next to the Disney El Capitan Theater to visit the Soda Fountain. The store was basically like any other Disney retail store. However, on one side they had a soda fountain with some food and lots of old fashioned ice cream treats. The family sat at a counter and enjoyed a nice mid-afternoon treat.
* Hollywood Entertainment Museum
We had a choice of two main museums with Hollywood history and memorabilia. The one we chose sounded more interactive. I'm not sure that we made the right choice since a lot of the "interactive" exhibits were not turned on. They had a lot of costumes and props that were mildly interesting. The highlight was when we got to visit 3 sets that they have on site: Cheers Bar, X-Files / Mulder's Office, Bridge and Transporter Room of USS Enterprise-D (Star Trek TNG). That part was really cool. We were able to sit and interact with the Cheers and Star Trek sets for photos (no video though). We were only able to look at Mulder's Office and take photos from the edge.
Anyway, Hayley got input from the family and chose Hollywood. I have lived in California all my life and never visited the tourist sites of Hollywood. It had to happen sometime.
Not too many years ago, I understand that Hollywood was not a great place to visit. However, they have done a lot of revitalization of the area and it was a fun family day.
Highlights:
* Movie at Disney's El Capitan Theater
This is designed to be a movie experience like in the "old days" of movie going. The movie we went to see was The Wild. It started with an awesome organist playing a medley of Disney tunes while we were settling in. We chose to sit in the balcony since the family has never done that before. The curtains opened (multiple curtains of various sorts -- cool effect) and they showed previews of upcoming movies. The curtains then closed and the Los Angeles Zoo had representatives there to give a "wild" bird show. The theater is large and has lots of room for the birds to fly around and show off.
* Hollywood Visitors Center
There is a large shopping/entertainment complex at Hollywood and Highland. This includes the Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards are held. The Hollywood Visitors center is buried in this complex (they are building a new place for them at the front, but they are pretty hard to find right now). A lady at the Hollywood Visitors Center, who grew up in Hollywood, gave Hayley a lot of good info for her report and also gave us brochures with discounts for various tours, museums, etc.
* Hollywood Blvd.
The "Walk of Fame" with stars names on the sidewalk runs along Hollywood Blvd and along Vine. We were not close to Vine, but saw many recognizable stars where we were as we walked around the area.
Another interesting part of this street is lots of people come out in costume to let tourists pay them for photos (seems like $1 per photo was typical). Some were kind of cheesy, but some were really good. The guys dressed as Batman and Superman stand out. Also, there was a good Darth Vader and Storm Trooper (and one really cheesy Darth Vader further down the street). The crowd was well behaved, but it was a crowd to deal with when walking anywhere.
* Graumans Chinese Theater (owned by Manns Theaters now)
Saw the famous walkway with stars hand prints, foot prints, etc. That was pretty cool, but a smaller area than I expected. We had Hayley make a handprint souvenir that she can use as part of her report.
* Hollywood Landmark Tour
We took a 1 hour driving tour to see the Hollywood highlights. Celeste didn't like it much and Hayley was kind of bored. I enjoyed the information. Bethany was about 50% happy with it. Andrew liked how the driver used many voices and impersonations to tell corny jokes and give information along the way. However, it did take us to a great location for a photo of the Hollywood Sign behind Hayley (it is pretty distant for photos while down in Hollywood itself).
I also learned that the original Hollywoodland Realty that built the original sign still exists. We drove through the area a little bit.
* Disney Soda Fountain / Studio Store
We returned to the area next to the Disney El Capitan Theater to visit the Soda Fountain. The store was basically like any other Disney retail store. However, on one side they had a soda fountain with some food and lots of old fashioned ice cream treats. The family sat at a counter and enjoyed a nice mid-afternoon treat.
* Hollywood Entertainment Museum
We had a choice of two main museums with Hollywood history and memorabilia. The one we chose sounded more interactive. I'm not sure that we made the right choice since a lot of the "interactive" exhibits were not turned on. They had a lot of costumes and props that were mildly interesting. The highlight was when we got to visit 3 sets that they have on site: Cheers Bar, X-Files / Mulder's Office, Bridge and Transporter Room of USS Enterprise-D (Star Trek TNG). That part was really cool. We were able to sit and interact with the Cheers and Star Trek sets for photos (no video though). We were only able to look at Mulder's Office and take photos from the edge.
Labels: Day Trip, Family, School
# posted by - Rob @ 9:56 AM 
Comments:
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see - if you'd been raised with relatives from Germany showing up every year for a month at a time, you'd have fancied yourself a tour guide as well.
There are new sights to see since I've had to do that, but gol, in my teens & early twenties, it seemed a lot of my summer was spent at amusement parks & various sights around LA, translating everything into german :)
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There are new sights to see since I've had to do that, but gol, in my teens & early twenties, it seemed a lot of my summer was spent at amusement parks & various sights around LA, translating everything into german :)
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