From Vegas, we took a bus to Los Angeles. K didn't want to fly as he thinks it's a waste of time to go through airport security, collection of luggages etc. The bus (actually more like a van) which he booked online from London took us straight into Koreatown. Which we later found out the owners are Koreans, that's why. When we alighted we were surrounded by Koreans and shops selling everything Korean. I thought we might have arrived in Seoul!
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| LA - The road to Hollywood |
Colette whom we booked our Air BnB with was so kind to pick us up in her cute green car. She is a very hip lady, in her 50's but you can't really tell. She still goes surfing every weekend at Venice beach or Malibu. How cool is that? She rattled on a list of things we should do and see and gave us so many suggestions on the way to the apartment we could barely take it all in.
This is our first Air BnB experience and when we stepped into the studio apartment - "wow" is all we could say. It was furnished exactly to the pictures we saw and it was so clean and neat - you know it's gonna be a great stay. In fact - wait - before we leave the place, let's take some photos first! In true blue Singaporean fashion.
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Isn't it beautiful? With exposed red bricks and all the vintage Parisian furniture around us.
I thought we were back in Europe! |
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| I do love this wall. And the bed. |
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| She loves Coco Chanel and the painting on the left is of her! |
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| Coffee table books of all things French |
"A big city of nothing"
This was what my ex-colleague Sue told me about LA. She said "don't spend too much time there" and so we allocated 3 days in LA. Perhaps with Sue's advice, I went with no expectations. Turns out? I did enjoy LA. K on the other hand, agrees with Sue and told me he didn't quite enjoy LA. Later on our host (an American lady) in San Francisco told us she lived in LA for a couple of years and she didn't like it. She said "It is too big and you need to really explore the nook and crannies to find the cool places. Too much work!"
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| Japantown |
The first evening we went out and explored Japantown. This is much smaller than Koreatown. I would call it "quaint". The disappointment that night for us was Chinatown. We imagined it to be as bustling as Leicester Square in London and so went in full anticipation. When we arrived, there was no one in sight. We walked further in and saw a group of older Asian folks practising some tai-chi in the distance. Another group of boys were playing basketball. Where is the buzz?! Where are the dragons and phoenixes and pagodas with crowded restaurants lining the streets? We stopped this teenage guy who was out jogging asking where the lively part of Chinatown was. He looked at us and said "but this is residential - you won't really find any activity in Chinatown at this time of the day. Oh dear, we were totally wrong then. He asked what we were looking for and we said we would fancy some Chinese desserts. He did recommend us a place called Phoenix which we went to, before we took the bus back.
We did so much on the second day! To be honest we saw so much I am not sure I remember everything. We bought tickets to the hop on, hop off tourist bus and started our day in Hollywood Boulevard. It was a very vibrant street - even Spiderman was there!
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Ahh my hero fought Spidey!
Wait, since when does Spidey wear a waist pouch?! |
The bus started from Hollywood Boulevard. Before that, some photo taking time.
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| Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber |
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| "The hills are alive!" |
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| Colette used to do flowers for the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. So cool. |
The bus brought us to Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive (the expensive shopping street) amongst others and pointed out along the way famous places associated with stars.
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| Santa Monica Boulevard |
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| At a typical road junction - lined with palm trees |
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| We were told this is the most expensive suit store in the world- Bijan. The yellow car outside permanently is a tribute to the designer who collaborated with Bugatti - the Bijan Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport |
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| Dolby Theatre which has been hosting the annual Academy Awards since 2001 |
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| The Comedy Store which started the career of many comedians |
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| Forgot the name of this place, but the bricks are engraved with the names of people who have performed here, such as Elvis, David Bowie amongst others |
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| We were told this is the late Michael Jackson's doctor's practice |
All these places and more were part of the red bus route. K planned to do the green route (towards the beach later in the day). On the way to grab lunch, we were approached by this guy promoting their Movie Stars Tour. I had already asked K if he were interested in this (being nosey here, I know). He was indifferent but I guess the salesman had a way to convince us to sign up for it and we agreed. It was cheesy I admit but good fun nonetheless. We had a small open top van and all 8 of us climbed in and off we went.
Before we started the tour on celebrities' homes, the guide brought us to a good spot to see the Hollywood Hills and of course the famous sign. Interestingly the sign was not meant to be a permanent fixture. It was put up by a real estate company. People used to be able to go right up to the signs to take photos but the residents soon signed a petition to stop people from doing so as it got too much for their neighbourhood.
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| Nearby we saw the Hollywood lake (manmade) and a dam |
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| You have to know that California has been experiencing a drought for 4 years now so water levels are very low :( |
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Good skills K, for taking this shot. He was telling me where to place my fingers.
"Left finger, up a bit! Right finger, more to the right!" |
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| I didn't have the same photo skills so I told him "just point in the distance!" |
From there he drove us to see celebrities' homes. I felt like part of some gossip mag already! Or maybe a stalker!
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| Katy Perry's home. |
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| This used to be Britney Spears' home. She later sold it to Quentin Tarantino. |
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Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel's home.
They had a visitor that afternoon and our guide was trying to see who it was. Someone famous too? |
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| A good view from the Hollywood Hills |
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| Bruno Mars' front gate hah |
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| The late magician, Houdini's home. Now owned by Hollywood. |
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| Beverly Hills is a separate district by itself, with their own sign |
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| A peek into Tom Cruise's new home worth USD 60mm |
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| Arnold Schwarzenegger's home. It was here when the drama unfolded... |
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| Ellen Degeneres' front gate. I like her house. |
We saw a few other houses too, and finally the tour ended and the guide dropped us on Rodeo Drive.
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| Rodeo Drive, the posh shopping district. The place where celebrities love to shop. |
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| In the Pretty Woman movie, if you recall Julia Roberts walking into a boutique and was turned away, this is the store on Rodeo Drive. We drove past the hotel which she and Richard Gere stayed at in the movie too. |
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| A hotel with a statue of the iconic Marilyn Monroe pose. |
After two tours in one afternoon, we thought we could do one more - the green loop which would bring us to Santa Monica beach and pier. Yes, so much for "a city of nothing". In fact, I think I will continue in another post on the beach scene in Los Angeles!
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