Hollywood

Where: Hollywood, California
When: June 1996
With: Dad & Ashley

Continuing on our family road trip through California, we had reached the Los Angeles portion of the trip. My dad clearly wasn't excited about this bit as we barely spent one day in the city of angels before shipping off along the Pacific Coast Highway. So after an evening around Santa Monica, he decided that our morning was best spent seeing the iconic sights of Hollywood, a safe bet with two kids. 

Despite the fact it no longer has the sheen it did when the word "Hollywood" became synonymous with the movie industry in the 1920s, I was very excited to see it as I was a kid who liked to see iconic landmarks. And frankly, even this really quick, crappy view of the Hollywood sign over the hills of this LA suburb was enough to have me star struck.

We focused our short morning in Hollywood at its most iconic area: the Walk of Fame. Over 2,600 pink stars are embedded into the sidewalks over 18 street blocks with golden names emblazened in the center. A star is given to those individuals with achievements in the entertainment industry, from actors and musicians to singers and directors.

After our three days in Disneyland, it was no surprise that we found these particular stars. This family is a one trick pony. 

The other stars I felt compelled to take photos of were a bit, well, unexpected. I was, in fact, a Nick-at-Nite kid and I watched shows like I Love Lucy just as much as anything modern on TV. I also loved any Abbott & Costello movie. So while these photos may look like they were taken by a 75-year-old tourist, in fact, it was 13-year-old me. 

Ah finally, a couple of "modern" actors. 

As we wandered the sidewalks (carefully, I may add, as it wasn't the best area), we happened upon another Hollywood icon, the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. This theater has been around since 1927 and has played host to hundreds of movie premieres. While its exterior is very iconic, it appears we only found it necessary to take a picture of ourselves with one of its dragons.

While we didn't go into the theater, the outside has another Hollywood mainstay: a collection of cement blocks honoring entertainment icons. Individuals that have, again, contributed to the entertainment industry are invited to imprint their hands, feet, and any other iconic item (i.e. Groucho Marx's cigar or Whoopi Goldberg's dreadlock) into wet cement and sign and date it for posterity.  Again, I honed right in on Abbott & Costello.

And with that, we completed our wander through Hollywood. Our stay was brief, but couldn't have been a better area to explore for our morning in Los Angeles. While it'd be interesting to return and see how many more names on the sidewalk I can identify, I think our visit covered the bases for awhile.