I thought writing about Los Angeles would be easy as I only have great things to say, but there’s so much to mention.
We LOVED Los Angeles.
Hollywood Boulevard – Chinese Theatre, Dolby Theatre
This not only has all the Hollywood stars on the pavement but it is is also home to the Chinese theatre, where you can also find signatures and handprints outside the theatre. It’s also home to the Dolby Theatre where the Oscars are held and you can see the Hollywood sign through the streets.
There’s also a gazillion shops with tourist merchandise, a shopping mall, a Hard Rock Cafe and several coffee shops. It was a very tourist-y area but we were in a really good location for seeing all the main sights of LA and for metro and bus connections.
Celebrity Homes Tour & The Hollywood Sign
Our first full day in LA was spent doing a bus tour of the city and of Celebrity homes, which meant we got to see a lot of the city, allof the sights, and districts in LA.
We also saw the Hollywood sign, which was slightly surreal.
Farmers Market & The Grove
We really loved the Farmer’s Market! On our first trip we devoured some homemade lemonade, before wandering round and grabbing food obviously. Before walking behind to the Grove, an outdoor shopping centre, with some dancing fountains. The Grove is beautiful, some of the shops are high-end but there’s also some high street American brands too.
Universal Studios Hollywood
We had decided to do two studio tours including Universal Studios in Hollywood. This was the more theme park style studio, but it is the home to Harry Potter World which was a dream.
It was a really cool experience, not to mention the Harry Potter theme is on repeat so it feels like you’ve fallen into the films. Olivanders was especially good, with a female actress as a wonderful Olivander who picked out a young girl to choose her wand. We then queued for the HP ride, which I really enjoyed, but seeing a 3D HD version Harry and Ron is always welcome. We did the whole studio tour which showed many sets from over the years alongside a 3D King Kong and Fast and Furious experience – they were separate experiences as a combined experience they would just be too crazy.
Warner Brothers Studios
I could literally write a whole blog post about this tour alone. The Warner Brothers studio was potentially the best part of the road trip in California. I mean, what didn’t we see?
We saw the Friends’ set, the Ellen set, Batmobiles, the Lois and Clark: New Adventures of Superman Daily Planet set, DC films costumes and props. Then we saw all the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban props and costumes, got sorted by the sorting hat, held an Oscar, saw props from the West Wing and Phoebe’s guitar (!!!!) and had lunch in Central Perk. What a dreamy day.
If you EVER get a chance, GO, definitely definitely go. Just for driving through the outside of the studios on a golf buggy, the experience is worth it.
Malibu Beach
We spent a night at an apartment on Malibu beach, which was such a great plan. We’d booked to stay in an apartment on the beach and while it was only a short distance from Santa Monica pier, Malibu beach and pier was so much quieter.
The pier is small and old fashioned, with only one restaurant and two shops on the whole pier. After walking along the beach and watching the surfers we wandered up the pier, where we saw some dolphins swimming (how insane). Then we strolled back to Malibu Farm to have the most organic healthy delicious food.
I highly recommend everything we did in Los Angeles especially the Warner Brother’s Studio tour if you’re a film/TV buff and want to see a working studios. You should also visit Malibu Beach. I have never felt so calm as I did those few days at the beach.
Have you been to Los Angeles?
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