Having spent most of our time on this California trip ocean-bound, we decided it was time to head to the city. Michael had never been to Hollywood, so we braced ourselves for some terrible California traffic (even on a Saturday!) and headed for Tinseltown. I'll be honest - Hollywood has never been my favorite spot in SoCal, but it's really something we needed to do so that Michael could appreciate the gilded sleaziness of the place first-hand. We parked at the Hollywood and Highland complex, which I would definitely recommend to those driving up for a visit. It is the home of the Dolby Theater where they host the Academy Awards, and is also probably the cleanest areas around with relatively-cheap parking. Our first stop was to Grauman's Chinese Theatre to see the footprints and signatures of Hollywood legends. I said hi to the Duke for Sue and my Mom. We also took a stroll along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which passes right in front of the Chinese Theatre. While there were many stars that we could have snapped a photo of, I also took this one for my Mom: Our last stop was to visit the most famous landmark in Southern California - the Hollywood sign! This was by far our favorite part of the trip.
The sign was built in 1923, and actually extended to spell out "Hollywoodland", which was an advertisement for a housing community under construction in the neighborhood. Never meant to be permanent (some say only 1.5 years), the sign had fallen into disrepair by 1949 when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce offered to remove the last four letters and repair the sign. The one we see today is a completely brand new sign made of steel, erected in 1978. A fantastic timeline and more history can be found here, for those interested.
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AuthorBecause why not get married and move to Paris to really kick off your thirties? Archives
December 2016
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