You would think it would be a good idea to take the bus from Las Vegas to Los Angeles for 5 hours and take in some sights along the way while on “the interstate”. We saw solar farms, salt lakes, barren mountains and desert, and desert and some more desert. The desert in springtime still looks like the desert and the Eagle’s Hotel California’s line “on a dark desert highway” came to mind. Seriously, the downtime was good. It allowed me to organise my photos, start the next blog and even catch up on some sleep I had missed from the night before. (This holidaying caper is tiring!)

We were staying on Sunset Boulevard, about halfway between downtown LA and Hollywood. Apparently a lot of wealthy stars live on or off this boulevard. I don’t think they lived too close to where we were staying! There seemed to be a large Multicultural/Hispanic influence here. Unrelated, we saw on the news there had been 2 fatal shootings within 20 miles while we we here! The hotel was clean and comfortable and we found a great Thai restaurant downstairs. It was nice to have some vegetables with the crunch in them and build up the iron levels. We had a lay day the next day and got laundry done and excess baggage sent home. In the morning we had a great walk around the Silverlake area which was close to the Dodgers stadium. Ruthie of course took me up some really steep stairs because of the view. We could see the Hollywood sign here so the workout was worth it.

The next day we had a tour booked of downtown LA, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Marina Del Ray, Beverly Hills and Hollywood.

There were so many homeless around downtown LA. In some places it was tent city. Apparently the current LA homeless figure is 53,000. The old Broadway seems a bit rundown but they are spending money on restoring the many old theatres in the area including the theatre Michael Jackson filmed his Thriller film clip. LA is hosting the 2028 Olympic Games and they have to have it presentable by then. Some of the shopkeepers from the area will not have their leases renewed. We then went to the beach area of Marina Del Ray where millions of dollars of boats were kept in the marina.

Venice Beach was the next stop. Ruthie was excited as this encompassed Muscle Beach as well. Apart from some guys playing basketball and tennis and showing off their “surfing style” on the skateboard and some doing chin-ups, there weren’t too many muscles. (Or any sign of the Governator – Arnie.) I offered to take my shirt off but that was met with a definite no. It was however a nice stroll along the beach promenade.

Off we went to Santa Monica. Strangely we crossed over some canals that reminded me off Venice, Italy. The reclusive Howard Hughes had a house here that was also owned at some stage by Carey Grant and Joan Fontaine among others and had many famous visitors over the years including Grace Kelly. Howard Hughes had also built houses here for his airline workers and these small cute houses are now worth a fortune. Ruthie was delighted as the wheel on Santa Monica pier came into view. The pier was packed, even in this low season. There were many buskers entertaining the crowds, young and old. On our drive out of Santa Monica we were eagerly trying to spot any celebrities who either reside or visit this area. We part followed the route of the OJ Simpson chase and I had forgotten that he actually had a driver leading the police that day on a merry chase. (We saw the trial court used for his case as well in LA). The humour of this soon disappeared when we drove past the house where his wife was murdered. A quick stop at the Farmers Market owned over a long time by the Gilmore family which started off as oil fields. Yes LA is built on top of oil reserves and we saw evidence in the form of a tar lake in the middle of town. We drove on the same freeway used for the movie Speed and the opening scene of La La Land! We passed so many parking lots that offered film crew parking and saw a few police officers that our guide told us were studio cops! There must have been filming happening somewhere nearby which is a regular occurrence in LA. We passed the building Richard Gere worked in Pretty Woman which was meant to be in Chicago but this LA building had a similar sculpture to the one in Chicago. Also the building used for the Oscars until the early 2000’s

Our next drive by was Rodeo Drive Beverly Hills and just the usual array of retail outlets where we couldn’t afford to shop, some of which you need to make an appointment to shop, but Ruthie was thrilled to see the Beverly Wilshire Hotel used in Pretty Woman. Also a similar drive down Melrose Avenue . Then it was time for Hollywood! There are some beautiful properties up there in those hills. It’s funny how the earlier stars were a bit more moderate in the size of their properties. It’s a shame that some of these are being demolished for the current crop of stars to build huge McMansions. Our tour was quite intimate. There were only 4 of us plus our driver. Our tour guide was an older man and his knowledge on the older stars was fabulous but he wasn’t so up to date with current stars. He had been a staff writer for Variety magazine and now he had his own tour business. OK so just a list of stars houses or front gates or hedges we saw including the exclusive Marymount girls school – our guide mentioned Dean Martins daughter having attended but Ruthie googled the alumni and interestingly the alumni include 3 Kardashians notably Khloe did not graduate and she is now reportedly worth several billion. (We passed Erewhon Health Food store and we’re reliably told the Kardashians shop there!)

The apartment Johnny Depp allegedly threw his iPhone at his girlfriend.

Al Johnson’s grave is a huge monument on an LA Hill. None of the younger generation know who he is or why this monument is in such a predominant position.

Alfred Hitchcock

Gregory Pecks grave is in The Cathedral of our Lady of the Angel’s in LA.

Dean Martin’s Estate (huge)

Jerry Lewis

Peter Falk (his Rolls Royce still sits in the garage)

Elizabeth Taylor

Elvis’s LA residence

Frank Sinatra

Gene Kelly

George Gerschwin

The Beverly Hills Hotel which was used on the cover of the Eagles Hotel California album

The house where Michael Jackson died (he was renting this for $25,000 per week!)

Ringo Starr (his front gate has stars )

Ossie & Sharon Osborne then purchased by Christine Aguilara.

Gene Kelly

JLo and A Rodd’s house. (Previously owned by Meryl Streep)

The Mexican restaurant the Manson’s ate at the night before they killed Sharon Tait.

The house where Fresh Prince of Bel Air was filmed.

The infamous Beverly Hills toilet block where George Michael was stung by an undercover policeman.

The tattoo parlour used in LA ink.

We finished up at the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and were in awe of the concrete casts of past legends. The next morning our Uber got caught in crazy LA traffic on the way to the airport. We weren’t entirely sad to leave this huge horizontal city.