Chapter 3
Hooray for Hollywood

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(Originally posted September 17, 2012)

We descended off the pier toward the boardwalk along the beach.

This water looks so inviting. We were sad when Steve informed us that the Santa Monica beach is rated as one of the worst beaches in the whole area when it comes to cleanliness. Apparently, lots of sewage is released into the ocean along this beach, so it’s really terrible to swim in.

After making our way to the ocean but not going in lest we step in a literal “river of poo,” we walked along the beach under the pier.

Coming out the other side, we came across lots of seagulls.

We were pretty much done with the beach area at this point, so we started the trek back up to where we had started.

Going UP all those stairs was harder than it had been coming down… Luckily, we made it, and we explored the rest of the park up on the street level.

We made our way to the Third Street Promenade both because I wanted to see what it was all about AND because we hoped to see some skateboarding bulldogs. Unfortunately, as it turned out, this wasn’t one of their scheduled days… We did see SEVERAL dinosaur sculptures, however.

There was also this extra-large game of Jenga going on. I think they may have been shooting for a commercial, or else it was just some sort of PR stunt. It was fun to watch for a few minutes at least.

Of the several street performers we walked by along the promenade, the only ones we took a brief interest in were several street dancers who were gathering up children as the grand finale of their act. Since they were lining up all the kids in a line, we were convinced that the last stunt of their show was going to be jumping over this line of kids. Needless to say, that sounded like something we’d like to see because it seemed like a recipe for disaster! To our disappointment, however, it turned out they just had the kids dance instead… Much less death-defying.

When we made it to the end of the promenade, it abutted a big mall. This dolphin statue was part of it and was very pleasant.

This mall was ridiculous. Every single store was one of the really expensive designer brands, from Louis Vuitton to Burberry. We were flummoxed who exactly their customer base was. I’m sure most of the tourists who frequent Santa Monica were thoroughly middle class like us and couldn’t afford to actually buy anything at these stores. And while Santa Monica is a very rich area, we couldn’t imagine the locals wanting to shop at this sort of mall. Not surprisingly, we saw a lot of people window shopping, but no one actually buying.

Finishing up our tour of Santa Monica, we made our way back to the car. We started driving again—this time toward Hollywood! We passed through Beverly Hills on the way and saw some of its famous landmarks. The Beverly Hilton was actually playing host to the Emmy’s the next night.

How posh.

The Chateau Marmont amused us a little. For being such a ritzy hotbed, it wasn’t very striking from the street.

Being still ignorant about L.A., I didn’t have the slightest clue where we were going. Before too long, however, we pulled into a parking garage. After taking an elevator and several winding escalators, we ended up in an outdoor mall that I would later learn was Hollywood and Highland. We walked down the strip a short way and were greeted with a familiar sight that I don’t think I had ever seen in real life.

The Hollywood sign was there in all its glory, representing so much for the entertainment business! We decided to grab a Starbucks because Tracy and I were definitely starting to feel the effects of our early morning. We thought this sign was hilarious and were sure the heads of Starbucks marketing probably wouldn’t appreciate the wording of the advertisement for the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

PSL’s are our favorite Starbucks treat, and we got a Grande to split. Our caffeine in hand, we were able to go back out and enjoy the Hollywood sign a little more thoroughly.

Hollywood and Highland was BUSTLING. Of all the places we went in California, this felt the most like being back in NYC… It’s funny how the whole mall seems like it was placed almost haphazardly amongst all these Hollywood landmarks.

There’s El Capitan Theatre.

I would love to see a movie there sometime, and I think it’s really cool that it’s owned by Disney now. I wish we could have taken the time out to go to the Disney soda fountain and store next door. That too will go on my list for next time!

As we descended to street level, we suddenly found ourselves on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! This was the first (well deserved) star I saw.

Here’s another Disney legend whose star I felt happy to see.

We continued walking down the street, and we quickly ran into another landmark that was very familiar despite the fact I’d only ever seen its replica before! In my mind, it screamed “Disney…”

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