Los Angeles

After saying a sad goodbye to Latin America, my next stop was LA, Tinseltown, you probably couldnt get anywhere more different. I was staying at my cousin Matts house in West Hollywood which was a great location, with loads of restaurants and a great bar, The Rosewood and right next to the famous Farmers Market (I had never heard of it) and The Grove Shopping Mall which as I would later find out is "the place" to shop in LA. After getting myself settled and wandering through the neighbourhood, I then went to explore HOLLYWOOD. I had planned on walking along Hollywood Blvd and Sunset and Rodeo and all the rest but then I found a car tour for cheap and so jumped in that. Hollywood is as touristy, tacky and cheesy as you think it is going to be but my driver got so excited over all the places that he took us, it was hard not to laugh. Every person who looked like they might have been in showbusiness was asked if they were and others just asked if they had seen ayone famous. We did get one hit, the lady who does the make-up for one of the female judges of America's got Talent, that was great! We travelled along Hollywood and The Walk of Stars, past the Chinese theatre which does actually look pretty cool and I believe its even better inside. The tour went up into the Hills where all the celebs stay and we were taken on a tour of the celebs houses. I dont know if they were the real ones, they could have been anybodies but we were shown a lot of the big names. Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Michael Jacksons old haunts, Jen Anniston, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, the Hiltons, Beckham, the Addams Family house, Fresh Prince House, the house they shot the Godfather and Scarface in and many more. I was slightly disappointed with most of the houses though, they all appeared to look much the same. The same towers, turrets, pillars, roofs etc. and all in the same dull pastel colours. I understand that when people were moving to Hollywood in the beginning, this was the fashion and must have looked incredible in the 30s, 40s and 50s but I just think that if I had all this money to throw at a new house, I would want to make it look different to everybody elses. After cruising around Beverly Hills, Bel Air and the other illustrious areas, we headed along the Sunset Strip to Rodeo Drive and all the glorious shops that it contains. It was here that I found out that Rodeo Drive is no longer the place where all the celebs go to shop, thats The Grove. I walked through the Grove most days on my way to the market but the only celebrity that I saw was Slater from Saved by the Bell who was also there most days filming for a tv show. But after getting my photo taken with him and getting his autograph and giving him a big hug, he was kind of old news. Hollywood looks pretty cool at night all lit up with the Hard Rock Cafe, Capital Records, the Chinese Theatre and a Pig N Whistle Bar!! As cheesy as it was, it was cool going to Hollywood, all these places that I have seen on the tv, all the names on the Walk of Stars that I have seen or heard, the big Hollywood sign on the hill which the city no longer wants to subsidise although surely its the best form of advertising available, its fun to visit. As well as Hollywood, Matt and I took a trip into the hills behind the city where all the fit people of LA, which is everybody, goes jogging. As bad a rep America gets for obesity and its totally deserved, there is not a fat person in LA, or if there is, they all go into hibernation for the winter. We also took a trip out to the Santa Monica pier, at the very end of Route 66. I took a dip in the sea, didnt exactly go for a swim but now I can say Ive been in the North and South Atlantic and North and South Pacific. Santa Monica pier is Blackpool pier with sunshine and from what I saw, there is more clowns on the pier than in all of Blackpool. The beach is like Miami's south beach, wide and long with the better sand and surf further north in Malibu. The area round my cousins house is pretty cool so I wandered there a bit. It had the market and the Grove but it also had LACMA a large art museum close by (though I didnt visit) and the La Brea tar pits (la Brea is 'the tar' in spanish) which are still open, preseved and still being excavated by archaeologists. There is a cool museum there too with all the remains from the pits including Sabre tooth cats, American lions, massive bears, mammoths, mastodons and more along with many giant bird remains like condors and such. That was interesting and I spent a whole afternoon there. There is also the Miracle Mile along Wilshere, which still has some old buildings from the 1950s in their art deco style. I also visited Petersons Car museum which if your a fan of cars, is a must. I am by no means a petrolhead but some of the old cars on display are beautiful along with some of the super cars of today. We also spent many a night in the Rosewood bar which I feel deserves a mention as Martin, the barman from Clydebank with a Peterhead accent, was able to find me the closest thing Ive had to Tennants since I last had Tennants. And of course, what trip to California would be complete without a trip to see Mickey Mouse. On my last day in LA, in the pouring rain, the only day it rained the whole time I was there, I got the bus out to the original Disneyland to see the whole gang. You got to love Disney, everything about the place is fantastic (except the price) and more so with the fact that this is the original Disney. One of the main benefits of going in the rain is that queues for all the rides are shorter and for the water rides, non existent. I was able to go on Big Splash Mountain 3 times in a row without getting off!! I have a feeling that my good friend Tosh may have had a heart attack had he been there with me...I attempted to go on all of the rides available and I did a pretty good job of it. Space Mountain is still the best in Disneyland and the Haunted House was cool all decorated for christmas. Nobody does Christmas better than Disney. My two weeks in LA flew by but it was great being there. I saw all the places that we hear about and see on the telly. I saw people who were and are on the telly. I saw big houses, big cars, big letters on a hillside, glitz, glamour and action...showbiz! I had a fun time hanging out with my cousin having not seen him in 15 years and a fun time being in the city where you can be anyone you want to be. If Miami is pretentious then LA, as you may expect, is every bit as, if not more. Everybody dresses to impress, all the time. Whether its going for brunch, a big thing in LA, taking your dog for a walk (though I dont get the point if the dog is tucked under your arm), going for a jog or going to the movies or a bar, everybody is decked head to toe in either the latest designer gear or in a style that says "look at me". Nothing wrong with looking good, but why not throw on a pair of comfy trousers and a tshirt if your just going to the shops or for a walk in the park? It has its good and bad points I suppose. Im still suffering from whiplash in my neck. People also seem to like for you to know what they do without you even asking. Not since Brisbane have I had so many people tell me they were in the industry although these individuals werent trying to get a cheap beer off me. Yet despite the yeuch of showbusiness that parades itself throughout the city, LA is a pretty cool place. If nothing else, I can say that Ive been and seen it and I would like to go back, so it cant be that bad.