Hollywood

MONDAY:

I bought a weekly pass for the Metro (train and bus) and caught the metro red line to Hollywood, with a bundle of tourist brochures and the metro map in my shoulder bag.

First stop was Graumann's Chinese Theatre: a movie theatre built around 1933 in Chinese style, with lots of original paintings on the walls. It's famous for the imprints of movie stars' hands and feet (and sometimes other appendages) in the concrete pavement outside. I did the official tour, which was fascinating, about the architecture and the history. It's still used occasionally for movie premieres, and the rest of the time it's a working cinema. I went back that night and watched The Fourth Kind, just to experience it; but the movie was lousy and I definitely don't recommend it - a part documentary/part recreation of someone's alleged experiences with alien abduction.

Next stop was Ripley's Believe It Or Not (because the Hollywood Museum next door was closed on Mondays). Ripleys was very entertaining for the oddities it contained. It included, interestingly, a portrait of Jesus created by writing the gospel according to John in very small print (remember that portrait I was extolling at the portrait exhibition in Louisville?)

Then I caught the metro to Universal Studios and took their official tour. That was also very interesting, and part of it was like a theme park ride. There were parts where we were told we had to be quiet because there was filming going on, and we did actually drive through the set for Desperate Housewives and see some activity (though as I've never watched the show I couldn't recognise any of the actors).

Then back to Hollywood Boulevarde for dinner and the movie. I had some time to kill and wandered around the shops for a bit. There was also a movie premiere across the street, of a movie called (I think) Old Dogs with Robin Williams. Lots of people and photographers were lined up along the street watching.

I caught the metro home after the movie (see above) with no hassles at all.