Darren getting ready to check out Santa Monica Pier
The Classic Santa Monica Pier Picture
Friday morning, we woke up early (thanks to the time change), and decided to do our own Hollywood sightseeing tour. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and rainy outside. Who says it never rains in Southern California? First, we drove to Beverly Hills and checked out Rodeo Drive and the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The Beverly Hills Hotel
Then, we headed to historic Hollywood Boulevard. Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame were of course full of tourists, but they were fun to see, especially Brad Pitt and Matt Damon's hand- and foot-prints!
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Brad Pitt and Matt Damon's prints
Our friend Tina had recommended that we do the Kodak Theatre tour, which turned out to be a great idea for the rainy day. The Kodak Theatre opened in November 2001 and was built to be the first permanent home of the Academy Awards®. It was definitely fun to see inside the theatre and the VIP areas. Unfortunately, they were doing work on the stage, so we did not get to see any of the backstage area.
Getting ready to do the Kodak Theatre Tour
The staircase outside the theatre
After our tour, it appeared that the rain had stopped for a while, so we decided to drive to Robertson Boulevard and check out all of the hot celebrity spots. We walked by The Ivy and saw Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, Prince von Anhalt, being interviewed by the paparazzi. Then, we checked out the shops that young Hollywood is always shopping in, Kitson and Lisa Kline. Darren was quite happy that Michele could find nothing to buy at either place, because it surely would have put a dent in our travel budget!
The Ivy on Robertson Boulevard
Saturday, our hosts Kevin and Joanne were excited to show us around their city. We decided to try to find some of the houses used in famous television shows. The first one we went searching for was the "Brady Bunch" house. We spotted it right away. There is now a fence in front of the house, but it still looks exactly the same!
The "Brady Bunch" House
Next, we searched out the apartment complex from "Melrose Place". We went inside but did not see the famous pool from the show, so I don't think they shot any of the inside scenes here.
The "Melrose Place" Complex
We then took a break from house searching and went to check out Griffith Park. Griffith Park is a 4,000 acre park which includes the Griffith Observatory, the Greek Theatre (an outdoor concert venue), and numerous trails and recreation areas. We got some great views of the city, including the Hollywood sign. Then afterwards, we headed over to Beechwood Drive, where we could get some great pictures of the famous sign.
Views from Griffith Observatory
Hollywood Sign as seen from Beechwood Drive
To complete our sight-seeing for the day, we then found the house from "Happy Days". Again, it looks exactly the same! And our final stop of the day was the Little Brown Church of the Valley. This is the church where Ronald and Nancy Reagan were married. It is open 24 hours a day to the public. Recently, you may have seen paparazzi photos of Britney Spears there.
The "Happy Days" House
The Little Brown Church of the Valley
Sunday was all about Dodgers baseball. We had strategically planned our trip to Los Angeles so that we could see both the Dodgers and the Angels while we were there. On Sunday, the Dodgers were playing the Cardinals. The weather was gloomy in the morning but fortunately started clearing up for the game. It was very cool to see Dodger Stadium which was opened in 1962. Our seats were in the outfield in the "all you can eat" section, so we were able to have as many of the famous Dodger Dogs as we wanted. It was well worth it! The game was incredible and ended up going into extra innings. The "Boys in Blue" did not let us down and ended up winning the game in the tenth inning!
Dodger Stadium est. 1962
View from our seats in the outfield
Monday was Memorial Day and our last day in L.A. Fortunately the weather was finally nice! We were able to put the top down on the Mustang, and then we decided to check out Malibu. We drove to Kevin and Joanne's favorite area near Pepperdine University and did a nice little hike around the area.
Enjoying the beautiful day in Malibu
The amazing houses on the beach in Malibu
At lunchtime, we decided to check out Neptune's Net, which is a famous seafood restaurant and bikers bar on the beach. The food was pretty good and we had a nice view of the beach, plus it was fun hanging out with all of the bikers and surfers!
Neptune's Net in Malibu
The beautiful Malibu beaches
Our final stop of the trip was Angel Stadium in Anaheim. This is a much newer stadium than Dodger Stadium, and it is really nice! The Angels were playing the Tigers on Monday, and we had club seats this time. We had great views of the stadium, especially of the bullpens, plus we got to have some good food delivered to us. It was a much slower game than the one on Sunday, although there was some good defense to watch. At the end of the ninth inning, the game was tied at 0-0. So, once again we got to see extra innings. This time, the Angels won the game in the 12th inning. And since it was a holiday, we got to watch the fireworks next door at Disneyland as we drove home.
Outside Angel Stadium in Anaheim
View of the bullpens from our seats
We had a great trip to Los Angeles. Next time, we hope to have more time to do some hiking, because there are some great trails in the area. And hopefully we will have better weather too! To view more pictures from our trip, check out our album on Kodak Gallery:http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d7zvi5.ahecf2hx&x=0&y=-kqvihm&localeid=en_US. To see more on the baseball games, check out Michele's blog at http://natsgirl.mlblogs.com/. Now it is off to plan something fun for June!
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