LA...Day 5-6

Sunday 2-22

Hollywood Sign

The day started with an attempt to go the Griffith Park Observatory to get some photos of the Hollywood sign but, the park was packed. Luckily in my research, I had noted that Lake Hollywood Park also provided nice shots of the sign. We did not make it all the way to the park, but pulled off to the side of the road to get some photos. It was raining at a pretty good pace and figured it was not worth walking around in the rain for a few hours to get the best shot.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

We visited the Walt Disney Concert Hall since there were good reviews. We did the self-guided tour, which was very boring. In hind sight we probably should have just waited around for the twenty minutes or so and went on the guided tour, it probably would have been more interesting.

There were not a lot of restaurants in the area that were open but we did find a place called Redwood Bar & Grill. It was very dark and kind of dirty with a sunken pirate ship theme. Surprisingly the food was decent, despite the not to clean feeling the place gave off.   

Santa Monica Beach

After lunch, we headed to Santa Monica. Along the way, we saw a lot of celebrity cars heading to the Oscars. We even saw the check-point by the Dolby Theatre (formerly the Kodak Theatre), which is right next to the historic Chinese Theatre, as we drove by.  The famous Route 66 ends in Santa Monica, so there was a lot of souvenirs. The Santa Monica pier was nice. There are free tours available at the Santa Monica Pier, but we were not there at the correct time.

Venice Canals

Near Santa Monica is Venice Beach. We did a drive by of the Venice Beach – it did not look very nice compared to Santa Monica. The nearby Venice Canals were really cool though!

Monday 2-23

Oscars @ Dolby Theatre

A few weeks prior to the trip, I decided to try to get tickets for a tv recording, needless to say I probably should have looked sooner. I was able to get stand by tickets for The Price is Right. People with actual tickets showed up, so after waiting around for about an hour we headed back to the car. The staff did ofter to give vouchers for a future filming, or possibly get us into the afternoon filming (they shoot two eposides a day and they last like 5 hours each!).

We then headed to the Walk of the Stars, which was still dolled up from the Oscars the evening before. I was luckily able to find my favorite star, Matt Damon’s star. It was in the barricaded off area, but close enough to the edge to get a photo. We checked out the footprints and handprints in front of the Chinese Theatre – again I was able to locate Matt Damon!

Chinese Theatre

Staying in the shopping center/parking deck we had lunch at Dave and Busters – it was good. We got our parking validated at Dave and Busters so parking was slightly cheaper, amazingly it was not too much. We have been at other places were parking was a lot more. From the third level of the complex, there was a decent view of the Hollywood sign.

Matt Damon Hollywood Star

We then drove to Pasadena. We stoped by the Norton Simon muesum – it was just okay. It was $12/adult, but free parking. Unfortunally, the gardens were closed due to rain. Next, we drove by the Rose Bowl Stadium, but we couldn’t get too close since there was an event being torn down “Air + Style”. We stopped by Dots cupcakes – yum! Pasadena has a very nice downtown area, but it seemed that you had to pay for parking everwhere!

Since it was rainy we just chilled out for the rest of the afternoon and packed up to head home.

Before heading to the airport, we had some pizza at Maria’s Italian Kitchen - it was tasty. The free bread and dipping sauce were good also.

To end the evening, we dropped the car off and made it to the airport. It was a good thing we had the address of the car place – we didn’t see any signs staying were to return cars were located like most airports have. 

LA...Day 4

Saturday 2-21

Warner Brothers Studios VIP tour

The day started with a trip to the Warner Brother Studios for the VIP tour ($54/adult). The tour lasted around 2 hours and 15 minutes. We got to see sounds stages for Big Bang Theory, Ellen, and some Netflix show. The guide told us that the wait list to get tickets for Ellen is about 2 years and about a year and a half for the Big Bang Theory. There was tons of Batman stuff on display due to the 75th year anniversary. One of the buildings had a Harry Potter exhibit which showed artifacts from the films. There was a stool that you sat on and the staff put the “sorting hat” on your head and a recording would come on and tell you what house you belonged to – I got Hufflepuff.

Warner Brothers Studios VIP tour - Sorting Hat

There was some filming going on in one area, but the guide had no idea what it was for. We got to learn about some tricks of the trade.  There is a pretty large area that has buildings that replicated a neighborhood, school, businesses, etc. During our visit a lot of the buildings were set up for filming of Pretty Little Liars.

Warner Brothers Studios VIP tour - "Friends" 

Another really cool thing we got to see during our visit was the prop building. They had all sorts of really neat things. Also in that building was the “Friends” TV show set. The guide allowed everyone to sit on the “Friends” couch for a photo. Interesting fact – the “Friends” couch was replaced three times throughout the filming for the show.

During the tour the guide mentioned that when George Clooney was filming a lot, he had a favorite nearby restaurant that he often frequented. We checked it out and it was a really cool place! The place is called The SmokeHouse Restaurant. The place was established in 1946 and to this day it maintains a classic Hollywood feel. Clooney liked the place so much that he named his film production company Smoke House Pictures. Oh, the food was reasonably priced, had large portions and was very good. We were told we must try the cheesy garlic bread – we tried it and it was good – a bit different than what you would expect.

Long Beach

One of the people, we were staying with had to fly out-of-town for work so after dropping her off at the airport, we headed to Long Beach. We went to the Shoreline Aquatic Park which was nice – there was a lighthouse (lame), a large park area, and many restaurants in the marina area.  Heading back to where we were staying we drove by “Skidrow” – very interesting is pretty much all you can say – tents/boxes all over the place.


 Dinner was had at DuPar’s Restaurant. The menu had a nice selection of items. I tried the chicken pot pie and it was tasty. The desserts looked very temping, had they had carrot cake or red velvet cake I would have tried it!

LA...Day 3

Friday 2-20

Santa Barbara County Courthouse

We started the day by heading to Santa Barbara. There was lots of free parking all around town, just keep an eye on the time, we were warned that the parking ticket rates are very high. After parking, we visited the Santa Barbara County Courthouse for a free one hour tour. The courthouse is Spanish Colonial Revival style and was completed in 1929. The previous courthouse was destroyed by an earthquake. The Spanish-Moorish “palace”, as it is known, has a clock tower that you can climb up, or take the elevator, which provides 360 degree views of the surrounding landscape. Lucky us, we got there pretty close to when the tour starred at 10:30am. The tour was really good and informative.
 

After walking around the downtown shopping area, we headed to the water front for lunch at the “Lucky Penny”. The building is covered in pennies and looks really neat. For lunch, we had the wood-fired brick oven three cheese pizza and homemade chips – very tasty!  After lunch, we went to Sterns Wharf and walked around the waterfront area. We visited the Channel Islands National Park Outdoors Santa Barbara Visitor Center site, which was great. There were couches to sit for you to spend time looking out at the marina. Other than the views, there was not much of anything else at the visitor center.  The building that housed the NP site also houses the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, which we did not visit.

Channel Islands National Park Outdoors Santa Barbara 

Heading back towards LA, we made a pit stop at the Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center at Channel Islands National Park in Ventura. The visitor center had a bookstore, a 25 minute park movie and some displays.  Inside, there was a display of marine aquatic life and a really neat five story (stairwell) exhibit of what could be seen at each level of the sea floor which was rather interesting. Once to the roof, you were rewarded with a pleasant view of the ocean. The visitor center also had a small outdoor garden that was available to learn about plant variety in the area. We had hoped to get to spend a day at one of the Channel Islands, but the day of the tours did not align with our visit very well. I am guessing that there are more tours offered in warmer months.

Paramount Ranch - Santa Monica Mountain National Rec.

Continuing towards LA, we decided to drop off and visit Paramount Ranch, which is a part of the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area. In 1927, Paramount Pictures purchased 2,700 acres of a ranch for use as a “movie ranch.” Paramount Pictures sold the ranch when changes to the studio system took place. A man by the name of William Hertz bought the southeastern part of the ranch in 1953 and built a permanent western town using Paramount Pictures old prop storage sheds. After the permanent town was built television companies began producing westerns at the ranch (The Cisco Kid, etc.). William Hertz sold the property in 1955 and the Paramount Racetrack opened a year later. It was considered one of the most challenging tracks in the US, but it closed 18 months later, after three fatal accidents. After the track closed ownership changed several times, which filmmaking continuing.  The National Park Service purchased a portion of the original Paramount property in 1980 and restored it. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was shot at the site from 1992 to 1997. Enough with the history, now more about our visit! The ranch was just okay. There were quite a few of trails there, but if was very obvious that most are used by horses. There was a horse trailer with a sign saying you could rent a horse to take out on the trails. There were a couple of people there taking what appeared to be engagement photos and some girls taking photos of each other. There were a lot of signs stating that you need a permit to take professional photos at the site. It should be notes that most of the track still winds through the grasslands of the park.

For dinner, again with friends, we headed to “The Stand”.  I had the apple slaw turkey burger with onion rings – very tasty! The guys really like the “fire fries”, I am not a huge fan of things hot so I did not try them.

LA...Days 1-2

Wednesday 2-18

We had a late night flight out to LA. Our plane left the airport a little late due to a late arrival and the plane had to de-ice. The pilot was able to take “shortcuts” and we are able to land at our scheduled time. After waiting a while for the rental car bus, we had the fastest car pickup ever. We rented with Alamo and there were a lot of check-in kiosks. There were not a lot of choices of vehicles, but we ended up with a Chevy Cruz. The car was decent in all matters. We stayed at a friends’ place in northern LA for the entire trip.

Thursday 2-19

Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana

The goal for the day was to check out two national park sites. Along the way, we visited the Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana. There was a $5/person fee to enter the grounds. Bob Hope was buried at the Mission. There were a lot of displays to view. We spent probably about 45 minutes at the site. The Mission was founded in 1797, but many problems (1812 earthquakes and gold prospectors) caused the grounds to fall in to disrepair before being restored.
  

Cesar E. Chavez NM

César E. Chávez National Monument was the first NP site that we got to visit. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere. The site is relatively new to the NP system and is still being developed. Currently, the site has a lot of photo displays, a short but very informative video, and garden where Chavez is buried.

For a little variety, we headed to Bakersfield for lunch and a different roadway to drive back towards LA. Lunch at La Costa Mariscos was very good and the décor was really nice, too. I had the chicken fajita burrito and they let me substitute the rice and beans with a salad and fresh vegetables (carrots and broccoli). Mike had the port burrito. We splurged on Fried Ice Cream dessert – yum!

The last visit for the day was King Gillette Ranch at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The NP visitor center is located at this site. The land was once owned by King C. Gillette – the razor magnate. The Spanish Colonial Revival style mansion built in the 1920’s and other structures still remain on the site. There was a short trail that provided a 360-degree views of the surrounding area. The “Biggest Loser” is filmed at this site. 

King Gillette Ranch - Santa Monica Mountains

We had dinner with friends at Jerry’s Famous Deli. I had a salad and it was good – large portions on everything.