It’s Always Sunny in California!..Eh?...L’il Bit!

[mom2rtk]

I do think she is part fish. She would love to be a mermaid.
That is so true. DL is a lot better for going with the flow.

Mermaid...... I like that better.

 

[jenseib]

As we cruised towards Stacy’s apartment, I took pictures. I am not sure of the exact order of things, so I might have some of my phone pictures out of order in here, but only those who know the routes we took in CA would be the wiser. LOL.





One thing I had not realized about California was that it has so many mountains and hills. I don’t know why this never dawned on me before, but it just hadn’t. I found it very beautiful.





A quick shot at gas prices…..which really weren’t a whole lot higher than Ohio at the time.



As we passed this building, Stacy said she really thinks this is the building that they use as “General Hospital”, but I don’t watch that show, so I really have no clue. She wasn’t sure either, but she said it really looked the same.



And this is Stacy’s apartment, which I thought looked really cool.



Her building is actually historic and it used to cater to many stars back in the day…. One being William Randolph Hearst. He had a suite there (I believe it was 2 stories and several bedrooms) and he basically housed his mistress there. The suite now is used for special events and we did check to see if it was open as there was an event the night before, but it was closed and we were low on time, so we decided to skip seeing if we could get in there.

We pulled into the parking garage and headed through a small courtyard. It was so pretty.



And then she took me to the front of the building and showed me that courtyard….WOW!







Her lobby was pretty dark, so I didn’t take any pictures, but it is huge. Also they are filming a movie in her building right now so they had rugs covering the floor and the pillars were wrapped to protect it from any damage with equipment coming in and out. Furniture was moved to one side and there were some lighting type things stored in a corner as well.
We took the elevator up to her floor and it was a little creepy. I must say tower of terror came to mind. The elevator doesn’t always line up with the floor right so you might need to step down or step up to get in it.

We got off at her floor and were laughing away and her boyfriend, Mark, opened the door as we approached. We asked if he heard us coming and he sarcastically said no. LOL. We laughed as we knew we had been a bit loud talking and laughing.
Stacy gave a quick tour of the place and then a look out her balcony.





She walked her dog real quick and then we headed back out to sight see a bit more and then meet her boyfriend, Mark, at Universal Studios, where he works at dubbing sound to match the mouth movement in films. (I am sure there is a much more technical term for it).

This fountain was in her small courtyard and I snapped a quick picture.



One of my goals was to see the Hollywood sign and Stacy said you could actually see it from near her place. We drove through a ritzy neighborhood just a few blocks from her house. I believe this is called Hancock Park.



She told me that movies are often shot in many of these homes and also some of these palm lined streets are used in movies as well.









Off in the distance you can see the Hollywood sign. Actually with the naked eye you could see it better than the camera was picking it up.



A little closer.



Stacy drove me over near her old building. She just recently sold her condo there. She has a lot of tales to tell about that place. She had an old lady neighbor who could give the wicked witch a run for her money.



I had to take a picture of the Melrose sign. I never really watched the show…but I think everyone knows it.



And then we passed the Paramount Studios.





It’s so weird how these studios are just randomly in the middle of town.

 

[JKSWonder]

The courtyard of your friend's building looks so familiar....like I've seen it in a movie once before.

Either that or its just deja vu.

 

[luulu1999]

How AWESOME that you have someone that can take you around and show you stuff instead of just trying to do it on your own!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

OMG I'm watching Speed (the movie- I'm home sick with Strep) and I just saw the ballerina clown in a scene - right when the first bus blows up - after Jack is getting coffee and then goes out to his car.

I guess that was a spot they filmed at least one movie!!

I'm going to watch and see if I see any other "landmarks" from your TR in this movie!

 

[dizneeat]

What a beautiful old building your friend is living in. The courtyard is just awesome.

Love the "street pics" - makes me so homesick for CA. We used to go there a lot and loved it.
Yeah - Paramount Studios - I took a tour there once. It's neat inside.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Stacy's apartment building looks amazing. I love the courtyard. Yes they neighbourhood you referred to is Hancock Park. Our friends in Seal Beach took us on a drive through LA one year and referred to Hancock Park as quite a nice neighbourhood. We had eyes as big as dinner plates when we drove through there. We had never seen mansions on that scale before.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

The courtyard of your friend's building looks so familiar....like I've seen it in a movie once before.

Either that or its just deja vu.

You might have. I know they are filming there now, so there is a probable chance they have done it before too.

How AWESOME that you have someone that can take you around and show you stuff instead of just trying to do it on your own!!

She gave me an awesome one day tour!

What a beautiful old building your friend is living in. The courtyard is just awesome.

Love the "street pics" - makes me so homesick for CA. We used to go there a lot and loved it.
Yeah - Paramount Studios - I took a tour there once. It's neat inside.

It really is a neat building and after I got home I did read up on some of the history of it too.
The streets are so pretty, especially in Hancock park.

Stacy's apartment building looks amazing. I love the courtyard. Yes they neighbourhood you referred to is Hancock Park. Our friends in Seal Beach took us on a drive through LA one year and referred to Hancock Park as quite a nice neighbourhood. We had eyes as big as dinner plates when we drove through there. We had never seen mansions on that scale before.

Corinna

It's nice when you have friends out there to show you around more and they know more of the ins and outs. There was some gorgeous houses there.

 

[jenseib]

OMG I'm watching Speed (the movie- I'm home sick with Strep) and I just saw the ballerina clown in a scene - right when the first bus blows up - after Jack is getting coffee and then goes out to his car.

I guess that was a spot they filmed at least one movie!!

I'm going to watch and see if I see any other "landmarks" from your TR in this movie!

That is too funny.....Now I am going to have to go get that movie and watch it.

 

[wiigirl]

Following along....just caught up

 

[jenseib]

Following along....just caught up

Yay!!!

 

[Timon]

Love Stacy's building!

Lucky you to have such a great friend that you can laugh with and have a good time together! I only met her briefly but she seemed pretty awesome

Looking forward to the rest

 

[CraftyMommy]

I watch General Hospital. They use shots of the LAC+USC Medical Center as the outside of the GH building.

Do you know what movie they were working on in Stacy's lobby? It would be neat to see it.

 

[coneygoil]

This TR is so exciting! It's fun seeing other cities and hearing how life is there. And seeing all those studios (even though it was just the gates lol), so cool! Can't wait for more

 

[mickeystoontown]

The HOLLYWOOD sign! Oh my gosh, how neat that you were able to see it and take pictures of it. Wait, I forgot to talk about the courtyards in Stacy's building. Wouldn't you love to walk through that every day?

Oh and when you said it was weird to see the studios just pop up like that while driving reminds me of when we went to San Antonio and were looking for The Alamo. We were just driving along in town, looked to our left and there it was.

 

[jenseib]

Love Stacy's building!

Lucky you to have such a great friend that you can laugh with and have a good time together! I only met her briefly but she seemed pretty awesome

Looking forward to the rest

She is a lot of fun. As kids we did a lot of laughing...and you know I like to goof off and laugh!
I swear that whole day I had a smile on my face. Being with one of my best friends and touring an area I had wanted to see since I was little.....it was just a great day!

I watch General Hospital. They use shots of the LAC+USC Medical Center as the outside of the GH building.

Do you know what movie they were working on in Stacy's lobby? It would be neat to see it.

So you are saying she's wrong.....I'm not goona tell her!

Oh gosh, I think she told me, but I don't remember anymore. I'll have to ask her again.

This TR is so exciting! It's fun seeing other cities and hearing how life is there. And seeing all those studios (even though it was just the gates lol), so cool! Can't wait for more

It was neat to see so many new and different things. Amazing how the town is built up right around the studios. I would love to tour one of them in the future...I may have to ask her how to go about that.....but I did get a tour of Universal this trip.

The HOLLYWOOD sign! Oh my gosh, how neat that you were able to see it and take pictures of it. Wait, I forgot to talk about the courtyards in Stacy's building. Wouldn't you love to walk through that every day?

Oh and when you said it was weird to see the studios just pop up like that while driving reminds me of when we went to San Antonio and were looking for The Alamo. We were just driving along in town, looked to our left and there it was.

I have more Hollywood sign pics coming up. It was so neat to see such a landmark. And her buidling is really neat. Old but so much history and I really thought her apartment was pretty big inside. They haven't lived there all that long yet, so I didn't take pictures since she still had some boxes to unpack.
Thats funny about the Alamo. Yeah I would picture it to be out in the middle of nowhere.

 

[jenseib]

Stacy tried to get me a closer look at the Hollywood sign. I just kept taking pictures one right after another. I was sure one would turn out decent. LOL.







This one is probably the best one I got.




She even dropped me off along the road and then drove up and turned around to pick me up so I could try some shots, but there were too many trees in my way.



We then set off again and I believe this is the Capital record building if memory serves me right.



And then we passed the Hollywood Tower and as any good Disney fan should know, this was the inspiration for Tower of Terror…..Ok, I actually forgot till I saw it that there really was a Hollywood Tower! OOPS!







We soon were passing the Hollywood walk of fame with all the stars on the side walk!




We found a parking spot and got out and of course my search was on! There are a LOT of stars but soon I found the one I was looking for!

You wouldn’t even believe how hard it was to get a picture. So many RUDE people walking all over his star!!!!



I was so happy to have found it and we then made our way down to see the Chinese Theatre and I took pictures along the way.

Notice the creepy Mickey in the corner of the picture. Also a bad imitation of Captain Jack Sparrow. They had tons of people dressed up as characters along the way and you could get your picture taken with them for a fee.



Minnie just does not look right.



They did have a dead ringer for Michael Jackson and Johnny Depp though.
We passed the Dolby theatre and they were setting up for the Oscars for the following Sunday. They had bleachers out front and Stacy said they closed the road down and put the red carpet right there.





And the theatre is just down the road.





And this is the first one I see!





There was quite a few people looking around and we searched and searched the names. I swore Walt had one here, but I think I was wrong. After I got home I looked it up and didn’t see his name on the list.

I did however find another one of my favorite stars.



There were a lot of names that I didn’t recognized too. It was really interesting. I had heard that sometimes they move these around so that the more popular ones are easier to get to. I am not sure if that is true or not, but some did look like they could be dug up and moved.

We soon were running out of time so we headed back towards the car.

Again we passed the Dolby Theatre.





And I took a few shots as we walked.



Yes, this is where Jimmy Kimmel is filmed.



And my favorite star once again.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love how completely different from each other the Hollywood sign photos have turned out. Mickey and Minnie actually looked relatively authentic compared to the ones we saw at Santa Monica pier. I never managed to find Walt Disney's star.

Corinna

 

[Dizzy4DL]

Love your shot of Walt's star, the lighting was almost perfect!

 

[dizneeat]

Guess what, I am repeating myself - I LOVE your photos of the Chinese theatre and Donald's footprints!!!!!

You are right, that Minnie just doesn't look right and Mickey isn't himself either, but believe me they are much better than the ones we saw.

You took great pics of the Hollywood Sign too.

Walt's Star? I just love your photo and may have to borrow it for personal use. May I???