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Day 332, 1 June 2013, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. This being the home of the motion picture, it's movie trivia time... "Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody gotta have a dream...." Did you get it? Of course, the opening lines to "Pretty Woman". Obviously "Hooker" wasn't at the top of the list for Julia Robert's character in but she got there in the end. As did Brad Pitt, in real life. We took a tour of the Homes of the Stars and passed the Pollo Loco chicken joint where Brad Pitt had his first paid gig as a performer in Hollywood. Yes. He was dressed up as a chicken and stood in the street, not too far from our motel (first place the clerk has been behind bullet proof glass...), and encouraged the chicken eaters of Hollywood to walk right in. Rumour has it whenever he gets something catered here in Tinseltown, chicken from Pollo Loco is on the menu. Our Starline guide was a font of useful information just like that and it was actually pretty cool seeing sights we'd only heard about in the news - The Viper Room, The Ivy and Mel's Diner. We drove around lush, fabulous Beverly hills - you know you're in Beverley Hills when a feeling of Zen-like calm descends. It's not the massive mansions that does it however - it's the fact that the trees on both sides of the street match. Yep - one street was a sea of purple - it's Jacaranda time here in LA. The next street had matching palms and other streets were similarly matching. We knew the second we drove out of Beverly Hills when the streets got scruffy and any old tree was a good tree. One of our favourite homes (or should I say gates - a lot of these places were seriously "Gates of the Stars") - was Ringo Starr's - easy to identify - it has a row of stars over the top. Jackie Chan's gate has JC entwined in the metalwork. Russell Crowe's Hollywood crib is typically Russell - no glimpse of the house, a presumably massive driveway and a guard hut. I'm sure if we'd got close enough, a guard would have hurled a phone at us a la Russell! We even passed a house created in the style of our favourite Spanish architect - Gaudi! Known as the O'Neill House it was a breath of fresh air after all the Gone with the Wind style homes (including, as it happens, the house where that was filmed). One of the guide's favourite spots in Beverly Hills should actually be called Suicide Row - he got quite 'twilight zone' about this street - on one side is the home where Marilyn Monroe was found dead from an overdose. Right next door is where Michael Jackson died and just over the road from these two is the home Elvis owned at the time of his death (albeit he died at Graceland) - go on, cue the spooky noises. Once the guide calmed himself, we cruised down Rodeo Drive in the open top van and waved regally to the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel - where Julia Roberts got all princessed up in Pretty Woman. We even saw one of the most expensive cars in the world - a Bugatti worth US$1.2 million - wow - Great advertising as the owner of the upscale menswear store just leaves it parked outside and allows people to paw, pose and prance around next to it. Probably has it cleaned every day to get the sticky paw prints off it. We of course claimed the moral high ground and simply took pictures as we were driven past. Much cooler. Near the end of the tour we passed the Jim Henson Production Company and gave a wave to Kermit - all done up as Charlie Chaplin on the roof. Very cute. Now we seriously do feel the glamour of Hollywood - it's hard not to because it's everywhere. Our motel is just at the start of the Hollywood Walk of Fame (that's the star's names inside a star on the pavement). Bit of a trick to that caper - if invited to join the walk of fame, the star him or her self has to pony up $30,000 for the privilege. Still - very cute seeing Lassie and Bugs Bunny along with regular folks like Penn & Teller, Fleetwood Mac etc featured on the walk. The real fame (and no bill to pay) comes when you're invited to leave your hand and foot prints and your name in the wet cement in front of the Graumann Chinese Theatre - real fame certainly starts there... Donald Duck, Jack Nicholson, just to name a couple. In any event, we couldn't come to Hollywood without checking out the homes of the stars and two hours later we adjourned for the afternoon, rousing ourselves for an actual meal in a restaurant - Rafaello's Pizza Joint on the corner of La Brea & Hollywood. Old school. Chianti bottles, Wurlitzer jukebox and pizza and pasta with a side of Napa Red. Bliss.
PS - Hollywood sign photo off the internet - our shots were just a touch too far away! Though later in the day we found that as you walk along Hollywood Boulevard, up near Hollywood & Vine, you look to the left and the sign is right on up there.
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