We moved into our new digs in Hermosa Beach, a lovely little beach community south of the airport and just north of San Pedro.
It is a two bedroom apartment a couple of blocks back from the Ocean and has peek a boo views of the ocean from one balcony, and the rest of the Hermosa Beach and San Pedro on the back balcony.
The first day we went up to Santa Monica and had a mooch round the pier, before I packed my parents off on a Hollywood Tour. Unfortunately they missed the changover bus to do the Downtown tour (which only goes every 1.5 hours - New York this aint!) so were back in Beverley Hills waiting for me for a couple of hours. Poor little things!!! Meanwhile I was hooning round West Hollywood (WeHo) killing time, and spotted James Brown, the celebrity hairdresser and Kate Moss' BFF speaking with an American accent outside of The Abbey.
Thursday we went to the Warner Brothers Tour in Burbank. This should have been a 50 minute drive from the beach, but we were cursed by a crash on the I-5 which meant it took 45 minutes longer. We got there just in the nick of time for our timed pre-booked tour and were whisked off on a giant golf cart into the guts of the Warner Brother's studio.
We really enjoyed the tour. Unfortunately the bulk of WB's production is TV these days, and they were shows I had heard of but not really seen: Heart of Dixie, The Mentalist, Pretty Little Liars etc. That was the majority of stuff being filmed whilst we were there. But there were plenty of references to some of their other shows and films across their 90 years of production.
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| Warner Bros famous water tower being prepped for a movie... |
We visited three main sets; New England, Mid West and New York.
But all of the buildings in the lot can and have been used in different productions. All the offices on the lot can be interchanged for fronts of motels/schools/police departments etc. It really bought it home to me just how much TV and Film is done on set.
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| New York |
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| New England |
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| Heart of Dixie getting ready for a night shot including zombies... |
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| One of the many sound stages. Each production is captured on a board outside the stage. |
We then went through the mill to see where they create the sets, and store them for striking etc. Then onto the props room which was awesome, as was the car showroom with cars from (amongst others) Gran Torino, all the Bat Mobiles, the Shaguar from Goldmember and the Rolls Royce from the remake of Arthur.
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| Plethora of vases |
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| Gran Torino |
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| Matrix bike and car |
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| Batmobile |
Stage sets we went to were Ellen and Heart of Dixie. We also got a glimpse of Caesar's Palace for the Hangover 3...(Let's hope it is better than 2...)
The highlight of the tour was gates 2 and 3 which is were the cast of Blazing Saddles ran out onto the street at the end of the movie, and the set of Central Perk from Friends, which they have kept just for tourists. Mum and I got to sit on the sofa with faux cups of coffee. It was wicked!
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| Central Perk |
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| Central Perk |
Then it was off to the Griffith Observatory to show my parents the amazing view of the city. Alas we hadn't realised it was the night of a free lecture, so half of LA was already up there. There wasn't a parking space nearer than a mile and a half away, so we sacked that off. Bizarrely I found out the next day, that two friend's from London had done the WB tour an hour after us, and then went up to Griffiths - so basically they were stalking us around Hollywood without either of us knowing!
So we decided to go straight to Hollywood and Highland to get ready for our Cirque De Soleil experience. Dad had already been to the Chinese Theatre, but mum enjoyed seeing hand and foot prints of some of the most famous actors and actresses in the world.
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| Hollywood sign from a distance |
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| ah - used to love Harold Lloyd |
We really enjoyed Iris, the film themed Cirque show created specifically for the Kodak Theatre (Now Dolby Theatre) where they host the Oscars every year. It wasn't the best Cirque I have seen, but it was the first I had seen at a theatre, so I guess it wouldn't be as dramatic as at the Albert Hall! Alas the show is closing after less than 18 months as it hasn't made a profit. Shame, as it was good fun, and the comedy/clown segments much better than normal, as there was speaking and not just miming!
The theatre itself was immense. It was massive. I couldn't stop thinking about all the famous people who had sat there (thought probably not where we were as we were in the cheap(er) seats).
A great couple of days sightseeing for the oldies and for me!
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