A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

During last week in LA, we ended up at the Hollywood Walk of Fame many times as it was just two stops up on the Red Line.

It was rather interesting both day and night. Not only for the stars in the sidewalk but because of the people traversing them.

I don't know how the guy in the Darth Vader outfit was able to stand out in the heat of the day. The 'fat-period' Elvis stayed stubbornly close to the Chinese Theatre. Marilyn Monroe was perfect down to the birthmark. But I would've found it rather creepy actually chatting to any of them, much less pay them money to be in a photo. Perhaps, that's my loss.

I also struggled to find a star I wanted to stand near. It just seemed like it should be a star from old Hollywood. I walked right over many favourites without a single desire to pose near their stars. This star caught my attention though. All About Eve was probably the first film I watched with the sole intent of seeing Bette Davis. Now, that we are witness to international, super-CGI big budget eye candy like the present Superman III, I long for films which actually had memorable dialog. After all, being able to deliver the line, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night," has got to be reason enough to be given a sidewalk star.

Labels: Hollywood, Los Angeles, movies, stars

I just tried to check on my fish and found that my web cam stopped at 3:00 am last night. I sometimes end up far away from the PC on Microsoft update day. I wish they wouldn't force the PC to reboot!

Things here in LA are peachy. Last night's nearby blaze in Griffith Park is under no longer a threat. The sky is back to a clear blue and the afternoon temperature is still right up there in the 90's F.

Last night we took a bus downtown via the Silver Lake area. It's cute but I'm partial to hills rather than the straight as an arrow avenues and boulevards here. We walked around downtown a bit and ended back up on Hollywood / Vine as it's an easy commute from our hotel area at Santa Monica / Vermont.

This morning I was proud to be up and about early. Well, actually it was 9 o'clock before we left the hotel. We did the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. It lasted more than two hours and was okay but the guides are really told to stick to what the passengers might be interested in. Frankly, it's been a few years since Friends occupied any of my viewing time so they might want to tone down that aspect. I'd rather have seen stuff from the lot in the 1940's but then again, I'm far from normal.

We went downtown and ate at the Central Market. It'd been a while since I had a shawarma plate.

In a while, we've got to head up to see Wicked. I hope it's worth the $80 tickets!

Labels: Hollywood, Los Angeles, musical, Warner Bros

The routine now includes an afternoon nap. I guess that's fine as this is vacation. It's better to do morning things and the evening ones for it just seems too hot in the afternoons. It's presently in the high 90's Fahrenheit. In fact, the TV is on and we're getting good television shots of the 150-200 acre brush fire in Griffith Park. Still, we've not seen any yellow smog while here.

Last night, we did go to Venice Beach and walked north to Santa Monica. We took a familiar bus back towards our hotel, stopping in West Hollywood on the way. We didn't stop at Beverly Hills as none of our movie-star friends are in LA at the present time.

This morning, we went for a tour of the Kodak Theater. It was interesting to see the location and behind the scenes of the modern Oscars. We also bought tickets at the Pantages for tomorrow evening's performance of Wicked. If you had the choice of Hollywood Walk of Fame stars, whose would you stand near for a photograph? I decided on Bette Davis. After that, we followed the directions from www.metro.net to find a specific vitamin / sports supplement shop but ended up at the wrong address. Still, the air conditioning works well in most buses and although all the streets look the same from the window, I feel as if we're seeing some of real LA.

Labels: Hollywood, Los Angeles, weather

It's 5:00 pm and I'm just sitting by the pool in sunny LA. There's not a hint of cloud in the sky and it's as blue as robin's egg.

We had a nice flight down yesterday afternoon and have managed to avoid renting a car. Yeah, even in Los Angeles. It took a few rail connections to get to the hotel by Metro but it can be done. This Ramada is at Santa Monica/Vermont on the red line.



We started the day with a nice breakfast. Then ended back up by Hollywood/Highlands but decided to go backstage at the Kodak Theater when there are fewer crowds and the weekend's over. We also went up to Universal City Walk but didn't go in for the rides as we did that once in Florida. Yeah, I know there are new and more exciting rides now. Then, we used our transit passes, which cost just $14 a week, to go downtown. Just a walk from Union Station there was continuing celebration because of Cinco de Mayo.

We're resting and will be out again after this burning sun sets. I'll mention that in tomorrow's blog entry.

Labels: Hollywood, Los Angeles