It's a California Adventure! (with added Las Vegas) Day 11

[Lizzybear]

Pre-trip
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10

27th September 2008

I was feeling a little ill this morning (probably just heat and tiredness, plus I didn't drink as much water as I usually do yesterday) and was glad we had nothing strenuous planned for the day! We ended up driving back to Secret Stash as we realised last night we were overcharged ($30 instead of $15) on a book and they adjusted this with no problem. After this I actually felt worse so I ended up just sipping water and also took some Rennie and Ibuprofen. Steve (bless him) went and got me a croissant and some orange juice from Starbucks which I made myself eat and felt a lot better for it. By now it was getting close to the meeting time for our 'Hollywood Tragical History' tour which is run by Dearly Departed Tours Since the meeting point wasn't far from our hotel we walked there, stopping at the Disney Soda Shop on the way as I wanted to buy a couple of pins that had just been released that day.

Once at the meeting point we got ourselves some water from Starbucks for the tour and the Dearly Departed bus soon arrived. We were pleased that we had Scott as our tour guide as he owns the company and is very enthusiastic about what he does. He actually lived in England for 5 years and had visited Liverpool as he was doing research about the James Bulger murder but also to see the Beatles stuff.

Saw this car from the meeting, it pretty much sums up LA I think!

The bus was full (definitely advisable to pre-book this tour as it's very popular, a few people who came on the day were turned away) and we set off around 1pm. Over the course of the next 3 1/2 hours we saw loads of interesting sites and homes, the emphasis (though not the entire tour) is on the macabre so it's not for kids (or those who wouldn't want to hear actual 911 calls or view autopsy pictures!) but we thought it was really interesting and would recommend it to anyone who wants a 'different' tour of Hollywood.

Apparently Hef and the 'Girls Next Door' enjoyed the tour aswell!

From THAT scene at the end of Pretty Woman

The only remaining house on Hollywood Boulevard is back there!

John Marshall High School, as seen in many many TV shows and movies

The playing field was where the famous 'We Go Together' scene from Grease was filmed

Site of the Manson murders!

Paramount Pictures

Hollygrove Orphanage where Marilyn Monroe once lived

The old Desilu studios, the sign used to hang from that bracket (I love Lucille Ball and think it's really sad that it hasn't been kept intact)

There were some stars homes included in the tour aswell, including the not quite so famous Norwood Young! His classy abode is called Norwood Court aka The House Of Davids (for obvious reasons!)

He was having a yard sale (honestly!) Among the offerings were green leather dungarees, zebra print Gucci jeans and a purple longhair fur waistcoat. Obviously a man with impeccable taste

I swear if I could have got this chair home I would have bought it then and there!

The park where George Michael was arrested...

...and the restrooms!

The Osbournes old house, now owned by Christina Aguilera

Enormous estate and mansion which used to be owned by a wealthy family who donated it to Beverly Hills and it's now a public park

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[Lizzybear]

Apartment complex where Lindsay Lohan used to live

As seen in one of my favourite movies: Night At The Roxbury

Whisky-a-go-go, basically where the LA rock scene was born

River Phoenix overdosed here

Loads of famous comedians started off here

The Halloween house (which apparently does nothing for Halloween, what a waste!)

Nightmare On Elm Street house (the woman who moved in here had to restore the interior of the house completely but kept the front as it was in the film)

Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio used to frequent this florist and bought their wedding flowers there

Hotel where Janis Joplin overdosed

The tour finished at around 4:30pm and we were both starving so we headed straight back to the hotel and drove to Souplantation. It was in a shopping complex which had a multi-storey car park.. Now I don't know what it is about them but they seem to totally elude some people, like the woman in front of us driving a Hummer who quite clearly couldn't handle it at all! I know it's not nice to laugh at other people's misfortune but it was like something out of a sketch show, I wonder if she's still trying to get out of the car park now! Once parked up we made our way to Souplantation and proceeded to stuff ourselves with yummyness for the princely sum of $26, honestly if they had this place in the UK we'd never eat anywhere else! I have to say thought it makes me sad to see how much waste some people leave, I mean as in huge piles of stuff that looks untouched. After dinner we paid our $1 (nice!) parking fee and drove back to the hotel, stopping at High Voltage on the way back.

It looks way smaller in real life than on TV and they definitely make the area it's in look nicer..!

Apparently they usually have walk-in appointments available, though obviously it isn't the same artists as on the show. Probably not somewhere either of us would consider though, there are better places in the area. After our little excursion we headed back to the hotel and I did a load of laundry and we both packed before going to bed, busy day tomorrow!

 

[mark&sue]

so many good photos it feels like i have been on the tour with you. sounds great.


susan

 

[jjk]

the tour sounds facsinating,great pics

 

[florida sun]

Wow, just feel as though I did the tour for free, thanks Lizzy

 

[natalielongstaff]

Wow what a great report

 

[Minniespal]

Another great report with lovely photos.

 

[cap'njack.]

Wow, great pics. I love seeing famous places.

Kat's tattoo place looks tiny...I'm not convinced I'd go somewhere like that either...I think there are better, lesser known artists around tbh

 

[SusanEllen]

Good for you, Lizzy and Steve! You took advantage of being in Holly-weird, going on the Dearly Departed tour. Strange how much of the history we choose to remember is tied up in the macabre, isn't it.? My sister, a friend and I went on what turned out to be the inaugural Haunted Hollywood tour, the only visitors on the very first van on the very first day of the brand new Starline tour and our guide was Dr. (?!) Larry Muntz, the psychic research guy from TV (though none of us knew who he was at the time). He was working out the patter for the guide/drivers and as we were willing to stick around longer than the 2 hour tour time we ended up getting a 4 hour special tour of some truly strange Hollywood sites and heard some frightening stories about Hollywood greats, near greats, and wannabes--an unplanned and priceless experience the three of us will always remember.