Though Wheel of Fortune was our sole purpose for going to Los Angeles this past week, we decided to stay and make a vacation out of it. After all, how can you blog about the entertainment industry and not explore the land where it all goes down? Here’s some of our findings:
Los Angeles is more of an area, than an actual city. Sure, there are some addresses that explicitly have Los Angeles in them, but the greater Los Angeles area actually contains a significant number of towns and neighborhoods, stretching many miles in all directions.
Driving along Pacific Coast Highway (often referenced on TV as PCH) at sunset is as beautiful as it’s been made out to be.
In N Out Burger is extremely overrated.
We went to Bardot Hollywood, a place often mentioned in magazines for star sightings. Much to our disappointment, we saw no one. In fact, we were one of only two parties there. We’re kind of new to the whole clubbing scene. Perhaps 9:30pm was too early to go?
We dedicated a whole day to sightseeing locations featured on Beverly Hills, 90210. You can read more about that here. In case you didn’t know, everything looks so much bigger on TV! We were continually shocked by how small everything—from the Wheel of Fortune set to 90210’s Walsh House—was in reality!
Another day was dedicated to Disneyland, including its California Adventure theme park. We saw a surprisingly low number of characters but Mickey and Minnie made it all worth it (even if it took us all day to find them!).
California Adventure is noteworthy for its recreation of a Hollywood back lot and some classic movie scenes and paraphernalia. Disneyland, however, also has some movie-themed rides like Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean.
We traveled about an hour south of LAX to Laguna Beach. L.C. did not seem to be in town, but we spoke to some kids who went to the same high school. Apparently being on the show is quite uncool. Who knew?
Los Angeles traffic was not as bad as we expected. And the weather was way warmer than it should’ve been this time of year. Guess we lucked out!
One night we went to The Grove and Farmer’s Market, which was bustling with people and energy as well as your typical mall stores and chain restaurants. The Beverly Center, on the other hand, had more high-scale stores but a lot less people.
The Hollywood sign was cool to see in person, even if it was high up on a mountain that we had no idea how to traverse.
Grauman’s Theatre and the Walk of Fame surrounding it was in a surprisingly grimy and sketchy area. The Kodak Theatre, which was only down the block, didn’t seem that nice from the outside, either. How television and movies can deceive you!
We ate at Yogurtland, a self-serve and superior version of Pinkberry and Red Mango, and Pink’s, a hot dog stand that’s nearly 70 years old. Both were incredibly worth it.
We also had lunch at The Ivy, another place famous for star sightings but alas, we had none. In fact, we spent 5 days in La La Land and never once saw a celebrity (unless you count Vanna White and Pat Sajak). Major disappointment!
Key pictures will be posted in the coming days. Back to our usual reporting tomorrow.
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