California Part 4: Hollywood Hills

Statement of fact: you cannot visit the Los Angeles area and not see Hollywood. It's at least a one-time experience! We drove up from Santa Monica through the hills, passing through Beverly Hills and Bel Air along the way. Needless to say, passing through these extremely luxe neighborhoods was a beautiful experience. Yet, it was surreal to see so many gated houses, perfect streets, and everyone driving Porsches (seriously...).

This photo is not mine. View original image here.

We headed to the Griffth Observatory, a beautiful building that sits on the edge of the Hollywood hills. From there, you could see the Hollywood sign and look over the city itself. We honestly could have spent hours sitting on the lawn people watching. It was so beautiful. When we walked around the back of the observatory, we noticed that there was a fashion photo shoot happening on the side of the building.

 

We had to see the Chinese Theater, of course. I could not believe how many people were in Hollywood. The closer we got to the theater, the more people seemed to crop up. Also, side note: did you know that Shirley Temple is still alive?? I didn't either...

This is the El Capitan theater where tons of movie premieres are held. When we visited, they were setting for the premiere of Planes.

The Dolby Theatre is where the Academy Awards (aka the Oscars) are held each year. I really wish I could have gotten more pictures because it was so massive and beautiful, but again, the amount of people around made it impossibly to stand and observe for more that a few moments. Also, this theater is right across the street from El Capitan, and sits next to the Chinese Theater so there are three major theaters right in the same location. I definitely knew I was in Hollywood!

The Walk of Fame was pretty cool to see; I had no idea how many stars there were on the sidewalk! When we decided that we had soaked up as much of Hollywood as we could, we turned back and ate lunch at a great little restaurant called Urban Masala. It featured Indian cuisine and they even had a tandoor oven! It was great to find a place that was set apart from the McDonalds, Popeye's, and other fast food chains that seemed to dominate the block. Plus, their food was pretty darn good!

Stay tuned for more!