Hollywooooooooood!

So our first day out in Los Angeles was to be a trip down memory lane. Well, not exactly. It wouldn't be OUR memories, but more memories of the past and present of music, film and TV stars throughout the ages. Yes, we were taking a trip down Hollywood Boulevard.

Ummmmm......Star Wars vs Halo???

We got the subway a few stops down from Downtown and emerged into the bright sunshine to find ourselves already on Hollywood Boulevard. We headed left and watched the stars pass by underfoot, occasionally stopping for a photo with some of the more famous or outlandish ones along the way. It was great to see some of the most famous names in entertainment history, and also rather funny when James was question by a big American chap standing by a door about why he was photographing a small stuffed rabbit toy on Hollywood Boulevard. "What is the significance of the rabbit?" he rumbled towards James, who merely finished his photo opportunity and mumbled something about it being a long story.

Big bad Boris

There wasn't much else to see on one of the most famous roads in North America, as the area is pretty much run down as soon as you step off it. There were many touts trying to get us on a tour of the celebrity houses that litter the area just of the boulevard. The only other real thing of note was, of course, the Hollywood sign that looks over the area imperiously. We had decided to take a wander up to it and put the good old British legs to good use, but when we mentioned this to a tour operator along the boulevard they just laughed and said that we'd never make it. Well you'll know by now that this kind of thing merely spurs us on, so we set about our little trip with gusto, plus a hastily-drawn map of the area from the dis-believing tour operator.

It was hot, and it was faaaaaaaaaaar. We never made it. We got as close as we could, and we took in a few nice sights along the way, but it was miles away and we came close to getting lost in a suburban labyrinth we had stumbled into. So we took some pics as best we could and wandered back to the busy main street and find something else to look at.

And that's as close as we got!

There was a band, and I'm assuming "was" is appropriate, called The Ramones some time ago. Some long-haired rockers who I have heard of and who James has got a few albums of theirs. One of them, Johnny, is buried in a huge cemetery near Hollywood Boulevard, so we took a stroll round to see if we could find him. We ended up getting separated, due to James's refusal to get out into the sunshine in the middle of the cemetery, and I managed to find his grave by a small lake. It was quite serene there, but baking hot, so I mooched round to find James, show him the pictures and plan our next move.

Johnny Ramone

Our next move turned out to be a wander too/through Beverly HIlls, one of the most luxurious places in the US. We never really got to see some of the amazingly big and plush houses, but it certainly felt like we were out of place with our pink sun-burn, sweaty faces and grubby rucksacks! Once we were through with The Hills we ended up going into a photography exhibition in the LA Arts Museum. It was free of charge so we headed in and marveled at the display of rock 'n' roll photography through the ages. Some truly inspiring stuff.

It was a long bus ride back to the hostel and we were absolutely shattered by the time we got back so the evening was spent at a low-budget Mexican eatery and a can or two of chilled lager. A long and fruitful day!