Hooray for Hollywood!....Literally!

[jenseib]

Now we were doing a Need to Know. We were going off the beaten path a bit. Albert said this corner store was in a movie and if we could answer it then he would take us to see something else. He told us not to google….but no one knew.



It’s a terrible picture here. I’ll give you a hint….the store is call Bob’s Market.



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Here is a picture taken from the internet….though in the movie it had a different name.



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Another hint….I had recently watched this movie in preparation of an attraction at Universal Studios……



So no one knew what it was and I googled. I then told Albert I knew, but I did end up googling and he told me to keep quiet.



We drove some more and no one still knew what it was and he was trying to give hints. I told Skip…I just watched this movie a few weeks ago and started the 2nd one. I thought he would at least get that as he had known I watched it and had wondered why. Nope..no clue.

Finally Albert told me to tell everyone what it was……The Fast and the Furious.



And then we drove a little further and saw this house.



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Which is also in the Fast and the Furious.



We drove a little further and saw all these cute “doll house” type homes.

Angelino Heights is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California, situated within neighboring districts of Chinatown and Echo Park. This neighborhood is known for its concentration of eclectic architectural styles from three eras: The Victorian, Turn of the Century and Revival eras.

Carroll Avenue is one of Los Angeles' first suburbs, and bears its name well, as it brings the city many tourists and visitors. The houses, or rather Victorian manors, are now used as private homes, as they were in the 19th century.



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I believe this house was used for a movie, but I can’t remember what.



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How about this one…Look familiar to you? Bad picture…sorry.



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This one is from a very scary music video……..



Picture from the internet….



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Did you guess Thriller?



And this next house is the Haskins House.

Built in 1894 for real estate developer Charles C. Haskins, this is the last Victorian built on Carroll Avenue and one of the few "Gay Nineties" houses remaining in Los Angeles.



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And this is another house used in a TV series….one I never watched…. Can you tell?



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From the internet to get a better look….



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Give up?



It’s the house from Charmed.



And this is the Sessions house, built for Charles Sessions, a dairyman. Seen in the first season of the TV series Charmed.



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And this last one….



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It was used in an Adam Sandler movie.



Pretty cool neighborhood..



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We moved along and we were supposed to go by the marina from Gilligan’s Island…but I never saw it…



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But I did see this……



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In reality without cropping and zooming….



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That’s the best we got.



When Stacy took me on that great personal tour a few years back she got me closer.



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So Stacy wins with the Hollywood Sign sighting! Hahahah.



We then whizzed by Capital Records.



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And this is Jack Nicholson’s house.



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One of the ladies in front of us said “wouldn’t it be neat if we saw him standing outside looking down on us?” LOL.

No such luck!



You can see the road is wet.



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California is known for not getting much rain, but this year they have had quite a bit. Which is ironic as the last time I visited it rained as well. I guess I am their rain charm. If I plan a visit, it will rain!

Stacy mentioned how the flowers are doing so well this year and the Poppy’s are out in full force because of all the rain.

Luckily we didn’t get too wet this time around and most of the rain was while we were in the bus.



One of the things we were supposed to see on this tour was “Movie Star Homes”. Now I know a lot of the roads that stars live on are really not allowed for the buses and we had been shown a few and I kind of thought that was it.

Then we made a turn….onto Mulholland Drive! How cool! We wound up it and Albert talked the whole way.



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Oh wait! I lied…we did get one picture of the sign that is a little better.



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And we cropped it but it didn’t come out so well.



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Claire was pretty impressed with seeing the sign.



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This might be Jack Nicholson’s house from another view?



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And that brown roof….Harrison Ford’s house.



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I know we looked at Jason Statham’s home (though I have no clue who he is…and this might have been that. I know his house was near here at least.



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[jenseib]

I took some video as we drove on Mulholland drive.

It’s bad and most of it is just trees going by, but a few good things and you can hear Albert narrate as we drive along, which is interesting.



I think this is Katie Perry’s home somewhere in the mist of this. Hahaha.



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She has 2 houses on her property. One for everyday living and one for just parties.



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Over here is a George Lucus house. He said it was the beige house with the brown roof…your guess is as good as mine.



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He made it sound like George no longer lives there…but he did say he had a young carpenter build this house….Do you know who that young carpenter was? ….Harrison Ford.



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And this next house is used in Lethal Weapon 2. He said it’s the house that fell down the hill. (I have not seen that movies series, but know bits and pieces about it).



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And I think this next one is Drew Carey’s house.



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We then came to a stop…in front of Justin Timberlakes home.



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My sister Gail was/is a bit NSYNC fan and I texted a picture to her (and the rest of my family).



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She told me to throw Claire over the fence to get a better look. Hahaha.



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The stop wasn’t actually for Justin’s house though. There was an overlook there and we all piled out and took some pictures.



The sky looked so pretty now.



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Off in the distance you could see Hogwarts.



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So pretty…and I took several pictures with the castle in the distance.



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Claire took a pic of Skip and I (I look like a dump) and I told her to get Hogwarts in it too….it’s there….but microscopic.



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Another peek back at Justin’s before we loaded back on the bus.



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And off we went again.





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For the life of me I can’t remember what this house was, but I assume someone famous since I took a picture.



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This home (terrible picture) used to be where Bruno Mars lived, but he recently sold it and moved a little ways away.



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And another home that I can no longer remember who it belongs to.



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And this is where Bruno Mars now lives.



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I believe this is his house again from another angle.



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I am going to state now that I can’t remember the majority of the homes I will be posting now. I should ask Claire…but she is sleeping still at the time I am writing this….



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Albert did talk about a home that slid down the hill and then rebuilt at the top again….I know we drove by it but I must not have taken a pic.



This is a home built into the side of the hill.



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And then we made our way back to civilization and headed towards the Walk of Fame.

 

[Timon]

Looks like a neat tour!

I recognize a LOT of those homes from movies or tv shows. I totally knew that was where Brian O’Connor went for the crappy tuna sandwiches in F & F

I didn't know the Toretto house was an actual house! I thought it was a set, especially since they blew that sucker up

Ooh I think I could tell which house was Lucas’! The huge one on the right side I’m guessing! And yes, that is how Harrison Ford got his start, Lucas needed a stand-in and his carpenter was handy. Such a great story!

You need to watch more shows, this is mostly lost on you

You look like a dump?? Hahahah, I’ve seen dumps, you are less dumpy looking than you think!

 

[jenseib]

Looks like a neat tour!

It really was. I am glad we decided to do it.

I recognize a LOT of those homes from movies or tv shows. I totally knew that was where Brian O’Connor went for the crappy tuna sandwiches in F & F

Yes! Once I read what it was from I knew exactly what the place was and was like oh yeah!

I didn't know the Toretto house was an actual house! I thought it was a set, especially since they blew that sucker up

I don't know if they used the inside or not but for sure had shots on the outside. Like I said, I had just watched the movie a week or 2 before the trip, so it was all familiar right then. Had I not watched it, it would have not made any sense to me.

Ooh I think I could tell which house was Lucas’! The huge one on the right side I’m guessing! And yes, that is how Harrison Ford got his start, Lucas needed a stand-in and his carpenter was handy. Such a great story!

Yep! I knew that story too and Albert did tell it as well.

You need to watch more shows, this is mostly lost on you

hahaha. I did know some of the shows at least, but yeah, there are a lot of "popular" movies I have never seen.

You look like a dump?? Hahahah, I’ve seen dumps, you are less dumpy looking than you think!

I need to lose weight! Nothing looks good on me. I am doing low carb now...and I lost no pounds the first week. hahaha. And I was pretty strict for the most part, though we did go out for Claire's Graduation Sat and I ate rice. I'll keep at it. I have to lose something eventually.

 

[jenseib]

We made our way to the Walk of Fame area where we were going to have around an hour I believe to walk around.



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Albert parked the bus and told us where good bathrooms were and also a coupon for a particular gift shop. If you bought anything there you could present the coupon and get something free.



We made our way to the gift shop as that is where the good bathroom was. I was trying to walk fast so I could get that part over with and get on with our shopping and looking around. I got behind the slowest couple. They would look, walk stop and a few times I almost walked into the lady. I finally said, can we get around you and we took off. And then I guess she decided she had to go and was on our heels.



We then did a little shopping and I bought some magnets and some T-shirts for the grandkids… here is Ella wearing hers.



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Gracie flat out told me she didn’t want to wear hers so not sure if she ever has or not. She’s picky on clothes and if it’s not pajamas, she usually fights to wear it. Hahahaha.



We each made a purchase so that we could use our coupon. We got I Love Hollywood pins…and I think something else, but if so I can’t remember what it was.



We then headed out to look at the stars.



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Both Skip and Claire loved looking at these (I did too).



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Here’s our guy!



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Claire said this area was so much different than she had pictured it to be.



We then went in front of the theatre to look at the prints and signatures.



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I guess I have a thing for Harrison Ford. Hahahaha



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Grauman's Chinese Theatre.



There are a lot of stories about how the hand/foot prints came about, but basically it became an advertising gimmick. Which obviously worked.



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My favorite pirate!



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We all wandered around the area looking at all the different names.



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Claire has a thing for Will Smith, so we had to stand and admire that for a minute.



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I had to take this one as I have a friend with almost the same name. Different spelling of first name and last name is just slightly different….but many people think this is her name.



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I do love Star Trek…but I am more of a Next Generation fan.



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And this is a must photo!



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Claire then wanted to see Marilyn Monroe. I never even knew she was a fan??? So we looked and looked. I knew I had walked over it but couldn’t find it now. Skip said he knew where Marilyn was and walked us away from the area. Um??? Where are you going? He said he saw her over here somewhere. NO! We are looking for her prints…..Ahhhhh



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I figured he saw one of those people dressed up as a star.



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We then walked down a ways to look at some more stars. My sister in law is the biggest Elton John fan…obsessively so.



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She said when she was there she laid down on top of his star. Hahahah.





Oh look…Harrison Ford….



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I just might have a little bit of a crush on him…..



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And then Skip found Trump….really just randomly. No security around it like Stacy thought, so maybe the vandalism has stopped?



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He’s so dorky….we got a “Tada!” from him.



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Look across the street!



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[Woth2982]

I love the tours of the Stars homes, even when I can't see them. I stopped taking pix of them because I can never remember whose house it is! We did drive my Marilyn Monroe's house and they said when the new owner went to renovated they found it was bugged and the investigation to her death was re-opened! I don't know what happened with it, and I am far too lazy to google, but I always thought her death wasnt accidental. Funny about all the Harrison Ford stuff! My dad looks like him so I always think of my dad when I hear his name lol.

 

[Timon]

We got a pic of this one on our honeymoon

Looks like so many names have been added since then, might have to make a trip back one day

Claire said this area was so much different than she had pictured it to be.

LOL! This sums up what we both thought of everything we saw in Los Angeles

 

[jenseib]

I love the tours of the Stars homes, even when I can't see them. I stopped taking pix of them because I can never remember whose house it is! We did drive my Marilyn Monroe's house and they said when the new owner went to renovated they found it was bugged and the investigation to her death was re-opened! I don't know what happened with it, and I am far too lazy to google, but I always thought her death wasnt accidental.

That's cool! I always thought there is more to it than what was released too.

Funny about all the Harrison Ford stuff! My dad looks like him so I always think of my dad when I hear his name lol.

Oh wow! You must have a really good looking dad!!! hahaha

We got a pic of this one on our honeymoon

I think I took it last time too.

Looks like so many names have been added since then, might have to make a trip back one day

I think there were even more than the last time I was there.

LOL! This sums up what we both thought of everything we saw in Los Angeles

Until you see it, it is hard to understand just how it all is. I was shocked about the mountains for some reason. And you see Hollywood stars here and there and then you realize it is just a normal looking place around it.

 

[jenseib]

We moved on and looked for more names.



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This is the same area I walked before and I had seen Walt Disney’s back then, but at some point we gave up and turned around so we wouldn’t be late back to the bus.



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And as we passed Madame Tussaud’s we found the Marilyn Skip had been talking about. Hahahah… Oh this makes sense now.



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We told Claire to go and take a pic and put her hands down but she thought that was too embarrassing.



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We then headed back to the bus and waited for everyone to return. The one family…the one that was spread out all through the bus….brought back take-out food. I guess there was some place in the area that has some great food and they wanted it. I knew we would be stopping for lunch later and I wasn’t sure if they just didn’t know that or if this was just food they really wanted…but they started eating on the bus, so they were hungry I guess. LOL.



Off we went again with Albert pointing out more things to us. I will admit I don’t remember them all anymore.



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This apartment had some significance, but I liked it as it reminded me of Stacy’s old apartment building.



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And this was Ed McMahon’s house.



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Now I didn’t catch everything that Albert said and Skip said he didn’t get it all either, but it was something about Ed being broke during the last few years of his life. His house was going to be foreclosed on and Donald Trump basically paid it off…several million and allowed Ed to live in it for the rest of his life and I think he said Ed’s family could continue to live in it as well. I do know Albert said he wished he had a friend like that.



Orange tree!



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I totally laughed at this store’s name. I guess it is kind of like Hot Topic. When I posted it on facebook, Stacy said she had just been there to get a gift for a teen.



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We now pulled into the Original Farmer’s Market, which is next door to CBS. The Farmers market is basically the original farmers market in the area, started back in the 1930’s I believe. Now it still has food stands and such but also a shopping complex.



We now had another hour or so to get lunch. Albert suggested the Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill. I figured we could go into the market area and each get different things to eat and try and I started walking that way. Skip asked me where I was going and I told him and he said “What about this BBQ place?” OK…if you want to go there we can. I was pretty sure he didn’t know what the market was about, but I was going to let him choose today.



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Albert had told us to tell them we were with a tour bus and they will try to serve us faster, so that is exactly what we did.



Claire is super picky and she was able to get a steak here. She was one happy camper.



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This was probably her favorite and best meal during the trip….mainly because she was hardly eating anything else at all.



Skip got a big salad.



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And I got pulled pork and it was very good.



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We inhaled our meal. The day had already been long and lunch was pretty late, probably around 1:30. I had actually brought snacks in my bag and we all had a snack earlier today, which held us over for lunch.



We really enjoyed the meal and then we headed out. We had time till we had to meet Albert, so we walked over to look at the market area. Skip kept asking why and I told him I wanted some pictures.



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As soon as he saw what it was and all the different dining options he asked why we didn’t just come over here to eat!



Hahahahaha



Yeah, I tried that and you vetoed me…but that’s ok, lunch was good.



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Even Claire found a few food booths that had items she would have eaten. Well now he knows and if we ever come back, that is where he would want to eat.



We still had some time, but Albert was a stickler about being punctual. He said he would not hesitate to leave you if you were late.



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We were not the first ones back either, but not the last. There seemed to be 2 different families that always were the last back to the bus. Albert told us in all his years driving he only left someone once and they do have a protocol and have to call into the office to let them know they are leaving and the time that he is leaving. He said they really have to stay on schedule as much as they can or at least so they can get you back to your hotels at a certain time…so if someone is too late, then that means part of the tour may be skipped.

The last ones arrived and technically they still had like 2 minutes, so they were not late.



Off we went once again, as we passed CBS again there were a bunch of people lined up to go in. Albert said it could be for the Price is Right taping or a talk show.



On to Sunset Blvd.



The Laugh Factory is a popular Hollywood Comedy club.



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And then the famous Chateau Marmont.



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I just thought the name Pink Taco was funny. It’s supposed to be real good.



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The Comedy Store. This is/was owned by Pauly Shore’s mother (who I believe has actually died)



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This is “the” comedy club and all the elite either start there and/or come back to visit. These signatures are those who have performed here.



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Pink dot is basically a grocery delivery and I guess has been in several movies.



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Mel’s drive-in is located in the original Ben Franks coffee shop building. Ben Franks was a gathering point for teens during the infamous Riot on Sunset Strip. In the 1960’s and 70’s many bands such as The Doors, The Shadows of Knight, and The Rolling Stones would hang out here after performing shows nearby at places like the Sea Witch, Whisky-A-GoGo or Pandora’s Box.

It still is a hangout for the stars.



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[Timon]

Oh man, those strawberries looks amazing!! I would eat those for lunch!!

Ha, that's Wahlburgers on Sunset! I love that show! I remember the episode where they were opening that one.

 

[jenseib]

Oh man, those strawberries looks amazing!! I would eat those for lunch!!

They do look good!

Ha, that's Wahlburgers on Sunset! I love that show! I remember the episode where they were opening that one.

You have such a good eye. I didn't even notice that. I don't remember Albert pointing that one out either.

 

[jenseib]

You all probably have heard of this place. (My favorite pirate used to own it).



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You probably have heard of the Roxy too.



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Gil Turner’s is a well know liquor store and it’s not unheard of to find a star or 2 in there.



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We then moved off the Strip and I can’t remember what this is…maybe a Hilton? I know he talked about Paris Hilton a few times…Or maybe famous people’s apartments. LOL. I can’t remember now.



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And we then rounded the corner…..



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And we are in Beverly Hills!



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And this song continuously went through my head.

Side note…speaking of Hef….Albert said his house, the Playboy Mansion, was sold and the new owner actually wants to demolish it, but people are protesting it. Albert didn’t know what the current situation is and if it even is still standing.



Now in Beverly Hills buses are restricted to certain areas so we could only see a small part.



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I think we went by the high school too if I remember right….aka 90210!



Then Albert took us down a residential road. I think technically it’s not supposed to have buses, but I have read many tours do go by this house.



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Is that not the coolest thing ever???...In Beverly Hills!



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Now Albert called this the Hocus Pocus House and said it was in that movie, along with a very old movie of Hansel and Gretel and then in Clueless as well. It’s actually called the Witches house and was NOT in Hocus Pocus from what I read….yep I googled it. Since I have been home and googled it some more, the Wikipedia description has changed slightly. It used to list which movies it had been in and which it had been rumored to be in. Now it’s hard to find info on what movies it has been in….but definitely in Clueless.



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It started out as a movie prop and then it was turned into a studio office and then it’s believe sometime in the 1930’s it was moved to Beverly Hills.



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Albert let us out and we got to look around.



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[jenseib]

As you can tell, I was obsessed with this house.



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We were then called back to the bus.



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Albert said if you wanted to see what the inside looks like that the home is open every year on Halloween. Again I have googled and I do not see anything that states that other than it’s a big attraction for trick or treaters on Halloween.



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I did however find this site with picture the inside. I have no affiliation with this site, but it was pretty interesting to see.



https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/exclusive-look-inside-witchs-house-beverly-hills/



This is across the street…the poor neighbors.



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We moved on.



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This is where Whitney Houston had died….and her daughter.



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I think down this way was the way the (old) Playboy Mansion. Buses couldn’t go down that way.



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I don’t remember what this place was, but it must be significant if I took a picture on the fly like that.





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Now we were on to our next stop; Santa Monica Beach!



Oh goodie! Last time with Stacy we went to Venice Beach and I could see the Santa Monica Pier from the distance. Now I could see it up close and get a few pics.



Albert pulled in and parked and gave us a certain amount of time (around an hour I believe) and we headed out. We decided to take a look at the beach first and then head to the pier.



holly160 by Jenseib, on Flickr



Now I took a couple of pics of these life guard buildings at Venice Beach last time and I just thought they were so neat. It’s something we see in movies, but never in real life when living in Ohio. I ended up making a canvas print of it (and 3 other ocean/beach pictures I took at Venice Beach) and it hangs over my bed.



bedpics by Jenseib, on Flickr



I actually hung those when we had our old bed. We got a new one last fall, which is why they are kind of covered now….

Anyone know what that top picture is? 50 useless points to the first one who knows!



holly270 by Jenseib, on Flickr



It was pretty cool to see.



It was windy and chilly, but we walked around and went up near the ocean.



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The water was cold!



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Heck it was even kind of cold outside.



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Such a beautiful area.



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There were a few swimmers, but for the most part just people walking along the edge or wading.



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We headed back up the beach.



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We headed up to go up to the pier to check that out.



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Ok..in that last picture…see girl in the light blue/white shirt with her back to us…she is near the guy with the Iowa sweatshirt. You can only see a portion of her…… I have a story…..



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Now for my story…..



We ended up right behind her and her friend as we went to go up the steps. That shirt thing she was wearing was cut like diagonal at the bottom, getting longer on one side. The wind was blowing and whipping and I couldn’t tell if it was ripped or cut that way on purpose. I am not sure if this was supposed to be a dress or a swimsuit cover up or just a shirt.

As we got behind her the wind whipped it up and I saw pure fanny. Wait…what the heck? Doesn’t she have a swimsuit on? Maybe a thong…..Wind whips again…nope, she has NOTHING on…I got the full on moon. I nudge Claire and point her out.

OMG…she has nothing on under that shirt!

The thing is, even without the wind blowing, the short side of the diagonal cut was still not really covering much. I now nudge Skip…Oh Lordy…take a picture. Hahahah. Nah, I didn’t take a picture.



There were some people behind us and they were just laughing hysterically and the girl would glance back every once in a while with a look and then she would put her hand on her rear like she was trying to flatten the fabric down. But then she let go and we all saw her rear again.

Skip wanted to know how she couldn’t feel all that air on her butt?



We got to the top of the stairs and parted ways….but come on…How do you not realize you have nothing on down there and that the wind is blowing your dress/shirt up for the world to see all.



Skip had been hoping to see some Californian crazies or weirdos and he got his wish.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Sounds like you had fun on your tour!

holly112 by Jenseib, on Flickr



Something else was filmed there too but I can’t remember what now.

A bunch of movies, but Terminator 2 was another big one.

I’m not a sports fan…but obviously this is a stadium.

The LA Football Club stadium! It's super new - only 1-2 yrs old. They demolished an old basketball arena (it was crazy seeing it partially gone and some of the seats still in place on the un-demolished portions!

I believe this is a space/aircraft museum over there.

Also where they have one of the space shuttles! They are designing/building a new structure so it can be put upright and a ramp around the outside so you can walk up to the top.

And I believe down there was something worthy of a picture…and look how great the picture is! Hahaha.

Maybe USC? Certainly looks like it and makes sense with the location you would have been.

This is an old firehouse house that has been restored and turned into a restaurant.

Haha - that is 1 block from my office! I don't think you would have driven right by based on USC - Downtown, but close! Would have been hilarious if I was walking in front of the restaurant when you took a photo though!

Also, Mark Geragos (the lawyer to the stars) has the offices on the top floors. We almost ended up moving into the top floor, but couldn't get leasing worked out (it would have been very cool since we are a Fire Engineering company)

holly121 by Jenseib, on Flickr



Albert said the name lights up at night and it’s really neat looking.

It is! The inside is also GORGEOUS! All wood and an all wood organ! Totally contrast from the outside!

Albert said if you wanted to see what the inside looks like that the home is open every year on Halloween. Again I have googled and I do not see anything that states that other than it’s a big attraction for trick or treaters on Halloween.

Halloween in SoCal is really insane, so I can imagine! Great weather and people go all out. We have literally over 1,000 trick or treaters (as in we buy 1,000 pieces of candy, give one per kid, and run out every year). We've started working with our neighbors and made a whole Harry Potter experience (walking through Platform 9 3/4 made from a PVC frame and tablecloth, then by a 7 ft inflatable dragon, and through the Great Hall - with 100s of floating candles (hanging from our pergula). And our neighbors do the Forbidden Forest, with a moving spider and snake!

 

[jenseib]

Sounds like you had fun on your tour!

We really enjoyed this tour and I am so glad we ended up doing it.

A bunch of movies, but Terminator 2 was another big one.

Ahh.. that might have been the one he mentioned.

The LA Football Club stadium! It's super new - only 1-2 yrs old. They demolished an old basketball arena (it was crazy seeing it partially gone and some of the seats still in place on the un-demolished portions!

Oh cool!

Also where they have one of the space shuttles! They are designing/building a new structure so it can be put upright and a ramp around the outside so you can walk up to the top.

I wondered if this is where it was. I don't remember if he mentioned it or not, but I knew there was one in CA. That would super neat to go to after it is done.

Maybe USC? Certainly looks like it and makes sense with the location you would have been.

I think that's it! Is that where Forest Gumps bench is? I remember him saying it was at a collage.

Haha - that is 1 block from my office! I don't think you would have driven right by based on USC - Downtown, but close! Would have been hilarious if I was walking in front of the restaurant when you took a photo though!

Also, Mark Geragos (the lawyer to the stars) has the offices on the top floors. We almost ended up moving into the top floor, but couldn't get leasing worked out (it would have been very cool since we are a Fire Engineering company)

That would have been really neat! Too bad it didn't work out.

It is! The inside is also GORGEOUS! All wood and an all wood organ! Totally contrast from the outside!

I googled pictures of the outside at night and it does look super neat. I will have to google pictures of the inside now.

Halloween in SoCal is really insane, so I can imagine! Great weather and people go all out. We have literally over 1,000 trick or treaters (as in we buy 1,000 pieces of candy, give one per kid, and run out every year). We've started working with our neighbors and made a whole Harry Potter experience (walking through Platform 9 3/4 made from a PVC frame and tablecloth, then by a 7 ft inflatable dragon, and through the Great Hall - with 100s of floating candles (hanging from our pergula). And our neighbors do the Forbidden Forest, with a moving spider and snake!

Stacy has always been a Halloween fan but she goes all out too. She has props and dummies and all that good stuff.

Now your neighborhood sounds like sooooo much fun!

 

[jenseib]

So now we checked out the pier.



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Claire and I went into some shops and I bought a couple of magnets.



We met Skip outside and took a selfie.



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Well that wasn’t very good. Let’s go over here and try another.



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We walked around and I took pictures from different areas.



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Claire and I stopped to use the bathroom at some point…OMG!

This bathroom made the one in the Latino area look clean. Mostly the smell though. Claire walked in and walked out and said no thank you. I held my breath and went. Why oh why are the bathrooms so gross?????



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After we looked around a bit we headed back.



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I thought the angle of that road in the distance was pretty cool.



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We headed back to the bus a little early and waited for the rest. Albert said that the exit out usually had a long wait with traffic so he would be going to go the wrong way on the one way entrance and go out that way. LOL. Hold on to your butts!



holly97 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

[Timon]

I swear, almost everything you did/saw on this tour, we did on our honeymoon LOL! We just drove our car around though as we drove down for our wedding/honeymoon but that was an eternity ago

How do you wear a dress or long shirt without underwear or shorts or something?

 

[bcwife76]

haha flappin' fanny! My goodness, guess she likes the breeze...up there (and honestly, up the front too!)

That house in BH is SOOOOO cool!! I don't think we've ever driven by it before!!! I'm glad you took so many photos of it, so so cool!

Oh and that apartment building you took a pic of but can't remember why it's famous (but that it reminded you of an apartment your friend lived in) was the apartment from Pretty Woman. That fire escape ladder was the one she climbed down in at the beginning of the movie and the one Richard Gere climbed up at the end.

You really saw so many iconic places!

 

[jenseib]

I swear, almost everything you did/saw on this tour, we did on our honeymoon LOL! We just drove our car around though as we drove down for our wedding/honeymoon but that was an eternity ago

I am glad we didn't have to navigate around this time. I can see a lot of arguments between us...hahaha

How do you wear a dress or long shirt without underwear or shorts or something?

exactly!

haha flappin' fanny! My goodness, guess she likes the breeze...up there (and honestly, up the front too!)

It was just the weirdest thing.

That house in BH is SOOOOO cool!! I don't think we've ever driven by it before!!! I'm glad you took so many photos of it, so so cool!

It really is! Definitely one of my favorite sights of the day.

Oh and that apartment building you took a pic of but can't remember why it's famous (but that it reminded you of an apartment your friend lived in) was the apartment from Pretty Woman. That fire escape ladder was the one she climbed down in at the beginning of the movie and the one Richard Gere climbed up at the end.

Ahhh! That rings a bell. I bet that was it!

You really saw so many iconic places!

We did. It was a really good tour.

 

[jenseib]

Off we went again.



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He said we had a choice of stopping at Venice Beach or heading back towards our hotels. We all chose to stop. I told Skip he would see his weirdos here.



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But sadly he didn’t.



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It was a lot quieter here today than my last visit here.



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My last visit was on a Sunday and this was a Wed. so I think that is why it was quieter.



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Here is a little something to look at. Hahaha.



holly101 by Jenseib, on Flickr



We bought some drinks and then headed back to the bus again. We drove down the road and Albert pointed out “Hotel California” but I couldn’t even tell which building he was talking about.



And here is why this is called Venice.



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They tried to make it like Venice Italy with canals.



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Albert said there is one road with lots of bridges in a row going over the canals and that is used a lot in movies when you see a car chase and they are bunny hopping up and down.



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He pointed a few things out as we sped along and then said we were on our way back to Anaheim and he was going to stop talking now. The bus was quiet and several people were resting their eyes or reading their phones. Claire and I got a tap on our shoulders and we turned around.



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Skip’s buddy was sound asleep and Skip was the pillow. Hahahaha



As we got into Anaheim Albert said he would drop us each off at our own hotels. We stopped at 2 or 3 before we came to ours.



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Skip was very impressed with the tour. We all were actually, but this was his favorite day by far. I had to laugh as when I had first suggested doing a tour of LA he wasn’t sure he wanted to be included. And then of course that is his favorite thing.

It was the perfect tour for us to see a lot of touristy things without having to struggle to find them or drive to them. Like I said before, not always the greatest for pictures, but it gave us all good taste of Los Angeles and surrounding areas.



Claire and I decided we wanted to head back over to Disneyland and catch Mickey’s Mix Magic tonight. So we changed our clothes to something warmer as it was getting pretty chilly now. Skip couldn’t believe that we were going to go anywhere yet tonight. It wasn’t that late when we got back and why not? We had enough days on our tickets too. Since we didn’t go to early entry like we originally planned we still had an extra day to use or lose.



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Evidently this was a popular time to come to the parks…but we made it through security easily and pulled up our tickets on the phone and headed in.

I wanted corn dog nuggets, but I wasn’t sure where to find them. We looked at several places and no one seemed to know if they even existed. Oh forget it! I’ll get a regular corndog.



And it wasn’t that good! This is all I ate of it.



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I wasn’t even thinking! A few weeks before the trip I had gotten very sick with the flu. The last thing I had eaten was hot dogs…and that night all of them and more came right back up…and I vowed I would never eat hot dogs again. With a few weeks now past and I was feeling normal the thought never even came to me…till I tasted it. Then the memories all came back and the fact that this corn dog wasn’t that good and very greasy….I just couldn’t eat any more and I had a stomach ache for quite some time. UGH!



So we decided to just chill and wait for Mickey’s Mix Magic and plopped down on the sidewalk next to some other people.



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You can see the projectors.



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After a bit a CM said we should move to the middle of the street as that is where the best view is. OK, but I want to sit for now. But she insisted we move, so we did.



Looking back.



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Looking forward.



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We plopped down here and waited. I was having a lot of issues with my feet and legs this trip. Not only from the ankle issue but just in general. I guess I am getting old. My body has never hurt as much as it did this trip. I was stiff and my legs and feet were in pain a lot if I stood for very long and also if I sat too long.



We were hoping the fireworks would go off tonight! I had heard from others that they didn’t the night before. The rain and wind had been the cause and we wouldn’t know if they were going off until it basically started. That was one reason I wanted to come tonight. If the fireworks didn’t go off then at least we had one more chance to try it tomorrow too.



Another projector.



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Um…these balloons may cause a problem.



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