Say Goodbye to Hollywood

Date: 17/07/2010

Time: 08:54 PT

Location: Hollywood

Population: 123,436

Taco Bells: 5

Weather: 101F: 38C

TV show: Channel 1007, KABCHD: Rookie Blue: Signals Crossed, Andy has her undercover skills tested then she is brought into help with a citywide sting operation; Andy and Dov attempt to impress Sergeant Boyko, but they leave an informant's life in danger and it's up to Andy to save her.

Word of the day (English): Palladian: Pertaining to wisdom, knowledge or study.

It's 9:50 PM and I am Professor Henry Higgins with Rachelle as Islisa Doolittle. The TV phenomenon that is Glee has sweepted the American nation as it has in the UK. The up shot is that it is perfectly acceptable for four adults to belt out show tunes at the tops of their voices, what was not so acceptable were the voices themselves, the males especially. I am getting a little ahead of myself, the day was not spent sitting in the garden singing songs from Les Miserables: that would come later.

At 1 on the dot we headed out towards the Getty Center (see Photo) which is just off the route 405 which, from the Getty Center, you can see dissecting Los Angeles right down the middle. The 405 is the Californian equivalent of the M25 and is a continuous traffic jam!! The Getty is Priscilla's favourite place in the state of California and I can certainly see why. The building sits on top of one side of a narrow valley, at the bottom of which lies the 405 and on top on the other side lies Beverly Hills and below Hollywood. you ride a tram from the car park to the Museum weaving its way up one side from the valley floor to the summit. To be honest the view is the main selling point of the museum which contained art, but not as we know it. From the balcony on the far side you can gaze on an unobstructed (apart from the smog, which is actually a rather large obstruction) panoramic view which stretches from the Pacific on the right to the snow topped San Fernando Mountains on the left.

More of Dimmock's famous water fetchers were on show, the count was 5. Is this a sign of an American obsession?!? Up high on the Valley, the sun beats down ferociously so we lasted about an hour up there and then descended back down the Valley to make our way to Hollywood.

All that I knew of Hollywood was the sign, one of the images that immediately comes to mind when thinking of California. I suppose when a town is upstaged by it's sign it aught to be an indication that the town may not be up to much, but I was still excited to go down Hollywood boulevard. But I have never been so underwhelmed in my life. Hollywood seems to be a place where all the girls are looking for husbands and all the husbands are looking for girls. how the girls seem to go about looking for husbands is to dress as prostitutes, which explains the fact that every other shop, rather than being Starbucks, is a trashy clothing boutique. I could see why photos of Hollywood are of the sign and not the place. So we got out of there as fast as possible, after 2 games of bowling (I lost both again. I'm sure there is a room in Priscilla's home in Boston full of Bowling trophies that she hasn't told me about). The drive up to the sign was a majestic wive through Beverly Hills. judging by the houses I think the kids must ask santa what he wants for christmas. You can drive up to the top of a Valley just below the Sign, a vantage point which gives you a perfect view of the sign and of the Valley floor below (here the smog was a blessing as you couldn't pick out Hollywood Boulevard).

We finally headed home for a BBQ accompanied by alcohol which lead to raucous singing (details will follow). today seems to have been about seeing things for the wrong reasons. We went to a museum to see the view and to Hollywood to see the sign. Tomorrow we're heading for Santa Monica and the Pacific cost and then a film at a cemetery in the evening, normal stuff here then.

more to follow,

Chris.