 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Day 8: Tuesday 24th April 
There is something very decadent about eating pastries in bed, which is what we did for breakfast that day. Heather phoned her parents again and we were relieved that Ashley had finally made it home. There are several things that you have to do when you are in Los Angeles, and going round a big studio is one of them (it is Hollywood after all). We chose to do the Warner Brothers tour for the simple reason that Heather is a mad E.R. fan and this was where it is filmed, so we phoned to book our tickets and then drove across town to the studios. It is very strange driving through Los Angeles, so many of the streets, buildings and districts are familiar through films and music, I felt like I knew the place even though I had never been here before. There is the Hollywood sign, Sunset Blvd., Hollywood Blvd., Venice Beach, Compton, the Chinese Theater etc. I think Los Angeles must be one of the most recognizable cities in the world. We decided to leave early for the tour so we could have a look around and so I could get used to driving the car, and so we drove down some of these famous roads and looked at some of the famous buildings. Thanks to my expert navigator we found the studios with plenty of time to spare, picked up our tickets and boarded the little electric buggy that was to take us around the studio lot. Our first stop was the Warner Bros. museum. This was full of costumes and relevant documents dating back to the very beginning of the company's films, and the nice thing is that nothing is behind glass, so you can get really close to everything as long as you don't touch. There were costumes worn by John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart and Clint Eastwood, to name a few, but what fascinated me the most were the costumes from the most recent Batman films, and some of those from their enemies such as Poison Ivy and the Penguin. Then it was back on the buggy for a drive around the various studios. We had a wander round the set of Friends and sat in the bleachers where the audience would sit, then we went on to where all the props are made and stored which was like walking through a massive antique shop. We also had a wander through the wardrobe department which houses the biggest selection of Hawaiian shirts I have ever seen, as well as some truly ridiculous costumes like a foam rubber bag of popcorn. Finally we drove round some of the outdoor sets, they have a village square that has different period houses on each side, including the cafe used in the film Casablanca and the shop used in Small Soldiers. 
Finally we reached the place Heather had been dying to see, the place where they shoot the external shots for E.R. I think I must have used up an entire film taking pictures of her there, and she had to be practically dragged away, but she was so thrilled to be standing on the set of a programme she watches religiously every week, it was wonderful. So, after a couple of hours looking round we eventually got back to where we started from and had a brief look around the merchandise shop where Heather bought some E.R. scrubs as a memento of our visit. It had been hours since we had eaten so we had a drive around until we found the Studio City Center mall, parked the car, and went in search of food. The temperature was 96° in L.A. that day, hotter than either of us had experienced for many years, and so it was lovely to walk into an air conditioned shopping mall and cool off. Lunch was at Johnny Rockets again for another fix of vanilla milk shake, and then we decided to go our separate ways to shop because I find looking for clothes about as exciting as Heather finds looking for CDs. Strangely enough the mall did not had a good music store, so I braved the heat once more and walked down to the Virgin Megastore we had passed earlier. Managed to find a CD and a DVD that I was after, and then I just wandered aimlessly around the mall, looking in any interesting shops, until it was time to meet up again. The drive back was not as straight forward as the drive there due to poorly sign posted exits on the freeway, so we did go a little out of our way but saw a bit more of the city. Dinner was at Swingers again, and then settled down to watch the John Carpenter film Vampires. As I was standing outside our room having my last cigarette of the day I noticed a group of guys wander through the courtyard carrying guitar and drum cases. They put them into a room just along from ours and then started a heated debate about who had the nerve to jump into the pool from the first floor. Much to my amazement one of them climbed onto the railings and jumped, much to the delight and cheers from me, his fellow band mates, and a few other guests who had heard the argument. Unfortunately the manager did not find it so amusing and threatened to call the police. I got into conversation with the band, thanking their soaked friend for providing the most rock and roll thing I had seen since arriving in L.A., and it turned out they were from Chicago and had flown in to do one gig that night. The band are called exo, and I blagged a CD from them which, if you like punky rock music, is worth having a listen to, so take a look at their web site. |
|
 |
 |