Just Like You Imagined

As we walked up to the Chinese Theater, I was surprised to see people staring down on a huge patch of pavement. It was Grauman’s Forecourt (Sid Grauman was born in Indy) where 200 stars have left their mark. I bounced from one block to the other like a kid tasting all 31 flavors of Baskin Robbins at once, calling out each name as if I were the first to discover it. Any concerns I had about being a star-struck tourist were out the window. Rosalind Russell, Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Bill Powell AND Myrna Loy. And my darling, Cary Grant. I was overwhelmed. All these wonderful people whose talents have inspired and entertained me. All of them had been here. It’s creepy, but placing my hand in Cary Grant’s felt like saying “hello”. And adorable Myrna Loy, our hands were the exact same size. These people I’d watched on the screen were suddenly so incredibly real. It was simultaneously overwhelming and comforting, causing my eyes to fill with tears. I only regret not finding Katharine Hepburn. I looked and looked to no avail. (Apparently, she was invited but refused since Spencer Tracey was not asked.) I had a hearty chuckle at Bill Powell’s message: “Sid, old boy, I’m happy to put my foot in it for you.” So much like his characters. Until this moment, nothing had really made this trip feel worthwhile, but now, I didn’t want to leave. I had found my little slice of heaven.

Jenna managed to drag me away. We continued our Hollywood exploration with a tour of the Kodak Theatre (ask for help at the info desk and get $3 off!). Dancing with the Stars had recently wrapped up meaning the stage was open & clear to be part of the tour. It’s a media free zone, so we couldn’t take any photos (post card they gave us above). It was an insightful tour, though, which gave an entirely different perspective of the Oscars. The guide picked on Jenna & I to do a dance number while on the stage. I wish I’d had a great one-liner to broadcast to the empty seats. It was so much smaller than I expected, holding only about 3,500 people. The stage was huge, though, in all directions. (Wikipedia says it’s one of the largest in the US, roughly tied with Elliott Hall of Music at Purdue.) The place was completely drab back stage. They cover all the floors and walls for the Oscars, which seems a daunting task. The highlight for me was the winner’s hallway, where an Oscar winner is taken just after they win an award. They’re left in the hall completely alone, surrounded by photos of other winning moments on the walls. You could almost feel the energy left in the room, and it was easy to imagine towering Julia Roberts in her evening gown screaming and jumping around in her heels. The guide said the backstage crew can usually hear them celebrating. On a slightly nerdier note, the VIP room downstairs had these “fogging” windows so that only the sliver you looked through was clear. It was like an entire wall of an HR computer monitor screen. Kind of cool. As we walked out, they showed a place setting and photos from the Academy Ball, which never reuses a single item from a previous year. It was the most magnificent party scene I’d ever seen. Apparently, this one night costs around $30 million. No wonder.

After a lunch in the mall, surrounded by the movie titles of the Best Picture winners since 1927 (they’re going to have 10 nominees for that category this year), we walked down Hollywood Blvd some more, checking out Grauman’s Egyptian Theater and the Roosevelt Hotel. After a few public transportation mishaps (no maps + no 3G signal in a subway tunnel), we made our way over to Beverly Hills, where we realized the tour we hoped to take only ran on weekends. Oops. We walked through Rodeo Dr, which was a European rip-off with it’s narrow cobblestone streets. We were parched. The 45-minute bus ride (packed) in mid-90 degree heat had nearly broken us. Who knew it was so hard to find a place to get a drink in Beverly Hills? Finally, we found Jack & Jill’s on Beverly Dr. I literally downed 2 strawberry lemonade’s and a water. I may as well have just mowed a lawn somewhere. Jack & Jill’s probably prevented a heat stroke. More importantly, I officially bought something in 90210 hehe. We cooled off a bit and decided to bus it to the Sunset Strip.

We arrived at the Whisky a Go Go, which was a must-stop for me, since The Doors had basically launched their career here. We stepped inside where a band was doing soundcheck. It was SO tiny. I’d compare it to Bottom of the Hill in SF and Radio, Radio in Indy. It was all black with a high, elevated stage in the corner, just like Birdy’s. We felt weird and didn’t stay long but it was incredible to get some context on just how small The Doors started out. We walked down Sunset Blvd, looked in on The Comedy Store and crossed over to House of Blues. I sort of wish we had one of those. Seemed like a great way to spend an evening. I checked out the views of downtown while Jenna deliberated over which t-shirt to buy.

We had seen very little, but both of us were exhausted and decided to head back to the hotel as soon as we got back to Hollywood & Highland. As we merged on to the 101, I realized I had less than a mile to merge across 5 lanes of solid traffic. Thank goodness for a passenger to be my other pair of eyes. It was executed flawlessly. When we got back to the hotel, I just wanted to sleep but Jenna cleaned up and requested we go to Universal CityWalk for dinner. CityWalk is basically an outdoor mall right beside Universal Studios. It would have been nice if it weren’t completely marketed toward tourists and full of screaming 14-year-old’s. We ate at Bubba Gump’s which had a poor kid dressed as a shrimp getting his photo taken with people walking by, furthering my disgust for the place. The food was good, at least, despite a very strange dining experience as we rotated through 4 different waiters, each with a new excuse about why they were replacing the previous guy. That spectacle was probably the most entertaining part of our time there. I peaked in the Universal gate and did feel a little bad that we didn’t try to go. It was easy to think that at 10pm when it was a beautiful 70-degrees, though.

We’re in this Together

After discovering studio tours were only M-F, we decided to spend our last morning in Santa Monica. I got my first taste of the 405, possibly the worst road ever. I know I don’t drive a luxury sedan anymore, but the roads in LA were jolting, like driving on train tracks. It’s bad when the road is more annoying than the traffic. We were traveling to this bike rental spot, but we soon realized that their address wasn’t on an actual road, but a walking path on the beach which meant there was nowhere nearby to park. Oops. We drove all the way down to the Santa Monica Pier to park. It was a gorgeous day, the temps about 10 degrees cooler than inland. We were caught a bit off-guard walking along the water. Jenna got completely drenched, as the seemingly harmless waves nearly took us out. For a Saturday morning, the beach was relatively empty. It was just the kind of relaxing we needed. I finally persuaded Jenna to rent bikes with me. It was awesome. We took off on our 2 cruisers down the bike path toward Venice Beach. It made me yearn for a bike. The trip was about 3 miles one-way. We stopped for a slice of pizza and I had my first taste of Dr. Pepper (yum). Lunch took a bit longer than we realized. We didn’t have enough cash for longer than an hour rental, so there was nothing leisurely about the return ride. We were out of breath by the time we pulled up to the shack. I was still happy we rented the bikes, but next time, I’ll know we need 2 hours. (R. Cronk mural below.)

We walked around the pier for a bit. I was taking in all the historical photos scattered around. I nearly started explaining them to a stranger because Jenna had sneaked away. We stopped at an artist on the pier who was doing these great little paintings on glass for only $10. He started one of the actual pier while we were there and by the time we’d circled back, he was finishing it up. I was almost jealous I’d pointed him out to Jenna. I sort of wanted it for myself, but having a studio does keep me from buying things I don’t need. We stopped at a stand selling Route 66 shirts. (Santa Monica pier is the official end of Route 66.) Standing next to us was a man who had just finished the trip on his motorcycle, and he claimed to have made amazing friends along the way. Anyway, the man running the stand said he made these shirts showing the “End of Route 66” sign because they were taking the sign down and he decided it was too California to let it be forgotten. Well, due to the number of shirts he’s sold, they’re bringing the sign back. Kind of interesting.

As we neared the start of the pier, I wanted to stop in to see the historic carousel. It’s a registered historic landmark, and the pier itself was having its centennial celebration (officially, 4 days later on 9-9-09), which was a cool surprise. I looked to Jenna and said, “I’m going to see how much it is to ride the carousel.” She rolled her eyes. It was only $1, so I insisted we ride. The women taking tickets gave us judging looks, no doubt partially hating us and themselves for this job. Oh, how we laughed. All the stress of the trip…heck of being an adult…melted away for those few minutes. I picked my favorite black horse and reveled at the wind created by this seemingly boring ride. It was magic. Magic I recorded.

We were still laughing as we walked out of the building when my phone rang. Amy & I had played a round of phone tag earlier in the day. I was giggling as I answered, telling her about the ridiculousness of what we’d just done. What I didn’t see coming was the reason for her call. She and Alex are expecting! Jenna is the only one who truly saw the shock on my face. I didn’t know it was possible to be simultaneously truly happy for someone and freaked out. I was only freaked out because I’m weird about things, mainly things like babies. But gosh, what a whirlwind 15 minutes that carousel stop turned out to be. (Congrats Amy & Alex!)

We grabbed some cold beverages for the road and decided to leave southern California at long last. Our return route would take us up the 5, so we could get to SF by dark. Sallie had described the route as straight & flat and that was no joke. We watched temps climb and climb until we peaked out at an even 100F. We were truly in a desert, surrounded by death and scorched hills. As we approached an incline, a sign read to turn off A/C for the next 7 miles to prevent engine overheating. We decided to risk it but passed 6 broken down vehicles along the road as we did. It was an easy drive home, and though the scenes were bleak, they were still new sights to be seen. Eventually we entered farmland, where we saw huge lemon tree groves and possibly the biggest herd of cattle ever (we guess 5,000-head). I wish we’d taken video, as it was surreal to see so much livestock in one place. We had to figure out our own detour since Bay Bridge was closed that weekend, so we cut through Hayward, crossing over the San Mateo bridge (should be nicknamed the eternity bridge). Even with detours & stops, we managed to make it back to SF in about 6 hours, so we made incredible time. We were even able to set aside our bitterness about the NIN show cancellation and listen through 2 or 3 albums.

Memorabilia

Sunday was a beautiful day in SF. Perfect temps, a slight breeze. It was a day that all others could be modeled after. I took Jenna down to the Warf so she could buy more Crazy Shirts, before we traveled down to Lower Pac Heights for a City Guide walking tour. A lovely lady Barbara walked us around for 2 hours telling us the history of Victorian architecture and the families behind the homes we were seeing. I need to take more of those. I showed Jenna around Japantown since it was nearby and we walked over to Fillmore for dinner. I dropped her off at the airport at 5am the next morning, and that was the close of phase 2 of our adventures.