Hollywood - Would I ?

'Hollywood is a bit grotty and unsafe' were the only words i'd heard recently about the the place where people come to become stars and as we were on the bus pulling away from Santa Monica Boulevard i was beginning to feel nervous already. Getting off the bus, we only had two blocks to walk and we began to understand what the naysayers were meant. It did feel a little unsafe until we walked past Jim Henson Workshop. Muppets aren't that menacing, are they.

Two minutes later we arrived at the Hollywood Walk of Fame! The first two are the Beatles and Elvis Presley.  We turned right and instantly realised that those who had previously booed Earth's most famous street must be clinically insane! It was brilliant. It makes Piccadilly Circus look like a lightbulb, we loved it instantly.

Almost every couple of metres there's a star. We knew that it was cheesy to get excited about glorified pieces of concrete, but it was honestly very cool. Here are a few of the best.


About half way down lies the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. It is very grand looking and is perfect for the premieres it hosts. Priya told me that our holiness Arnold Schwarzenegger signature was in the pavement outside. We found it and it turns out, for a man mountain he has rather small shoes. Perhaps too many steroids?


Outside there were entertainers and lookalikes everywhere, allowing people to pose with them for tips, ranging from Ironman to Maraline Monroe. In front of us there was a large crowd gathered around a star. It was Micheal Jackson's. Fans were holding a memorial for him and it felt nice that we could be a part of it.



Being LA it was still hot, so what better than to have a few nice cold drinks. We jumped into a cab to Sunset Boulevard in search of the famous Rainbow Rooms and Viper Lounge, River Phoenix style. Being a Sunday the area was quiet, but still enjoyable. The Rainbow Rooms was pure biker/Rocky Horror, with photos of famous rockers on the walls.



We moved on to a gig venue playing some of the worst teenage American rock ever, but of course still sampled the delights of the bar. Moving further down the street we found a quiet pub where we got talking to a very chatty homeless artist who talked us into drawing us a piece. He was nice and talked a good game, so we agreed. Soon later some girls sat down behind us making a fair racket, we turned round to see what was going on and they were being filmed by a professional camera man. As it turns out they were filming for the Hills, so perhaps we might be on the TV sometime soon!

Soon enough it was time at the bar and time to go home and I had to admit I felt sad that we'd left it till the last minute to go to Hollywood, but extremely pleased we did it in the end.