Labor Day in Hollywood

For Labor Day weekend we decided to make a trip down to southern California. Despite growing up in the state neither of us had been to the L.A. Universal Studios or done any of the Hollywood/L.A. scenes other than Disney. So we drove down and stayed in a really cute hotel in Burbank. I had yelped good places to eat in the area and we restaurant-hopped the entire weekend. Such fun! What can I say, sometimes the best part about vacation is getting to eat out and try new places. We ate the most delicious chocolate coconut cupcake ever at this little place http://www.joansonthird.com/. I'd seen it on the Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate" series. It lived up to the hype, I was craving them the rest of the weekend! We also frequented a cuban bakery called Porto's more than once. Yummy. Really, everything there was so delicious, it just makes me sad there are only two locations and they're both in L.A.

The first afternoon we took one of those Hollywood Star Homes tours and I have to say, I really enjoyed myself. I thought it would be creepy and weird but it was actually very interesting and a very good time. Even if it was 3 in the afternoon with no top on the van.

The tour took us down Hollywood Blvd, Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Blvd, through Beverly Hills, Bel Air, etc. We drove by lots of celebrity homes, including Courtney Cox, Tom Cruise, Jennifer Aniston, Christina Aguilera, the Playboy Mansion, Simon Cowell's new home, the old homes of Lucille Ball and Jimmy Stewart, etc.

The tour guide also took us down what he called "any street" which is where the outsides of homes in many Hollywood films have been filmed. The home the Halloween films were filmed at is below, creepy! I'm sure the current occupants just love these tour buses that come by every 30 minutes!



The outside of the home Michael Jackson was living in most recently. Recognize this view from the media?





View of Los Angeles. Nice smog.



The postcard view of an L.A. sky.



Friday night we were on the waiting list to see Jimmy Kimmel Live but didn't quite make it in. Gerard Butler was the celebrity guest for his new movie The Gamer.

Saturday we headed to Universal Studios.



Our favorite ride was by far the Simpson's simulator ride, really great fun. And because the lines were so short we were able to go on it several times.



The Mummy ride was also pretty fun, although what is it now with simulated rides now trying to scare us by installing little feather things they blow air on during certain parts of the rides to simulate spiders or scorpions or whatever, freaky!!!

Normally there are huge lines at amusement parks on weekends, especially on holiday weekends. But for some reason the park had practically no lines. I don't remember waiting longer than 5 or 10 minutes for any ride, other than the Simpson's. And that was only like 20 minutes. We got through the park in record time and didn't even have to stay until closing to try everything. And we did every single show/attraction they had.

We went on the Universal Studios park tour which took us through sets from different films and showed us how they do some of the special effects. Very neat.

Gabrielle's house on Desperate Housewives.



Sunday morning we drove back to Beverly Hills to visit the Greystone Manor, which is where many famous Hollywood films have been filmed, such as Batman and X-Men. These are the actual gates the batmobile drove out of in the movie.





We headed for a bite to eat and tried a fun little cafeteria-style restaurant that had blueberry mint lemonade that was so tart and delicious. Then it was off to Venice Beach. Traffic. Oh yes, let's talk about traffic, shall we? Our hotel was within a few miles of pretty much everything we went to go see. And yet somehow it seemed it took us an hour to get there! The freeways are ridiculously crowded and there are fender benders around every corner. And there are just not enough lanes to support the population, very frustrating.

We got to Venice Beach and waited for a spot in the packed parking lot. After 45 minutes of just waiting we finally got in, paid our fees, and set off for the sand. Perfect day on the beach. Perfect clear skies, perfect sun, and a light breeze, just enough to keep you cool while reading a good book in the sun. I'm reading "Wicked" by the way. Different and somewhat odd as I'm not much of a sci-fi reader, but a fascinating book. My review for that will be on GoodReads soon.

Once we were sufficiently baked, we took a stroll down the famous Venice Beach trail. Such interesting people watching.





And that was our Labor Day. Lots of driving, lots of site seeing, lots of good food, good company, and over all just a fun weekend getaway.