Hooray for Hollywood!



My trip finally took me to Los Angeles. This last stop was the only place where I had not previously made a hotel reservation. In San Luis Obispo, the night before I was to drive down, I got on my trusty computer. Booking.com, Trip Advisor, and Hotwire were my go to websites. I wasn't even sure what part of Los Angeles I would stay in. The websites and serendipity led me to the ideal location and hotel.


Le Bon Hotel in good, old Hollywood! Hollywood is not a separate city, but a neighborhood, part of Los Angeles. This boutique hotel would be home for the next four days. 



I was in Room 208.


See my cute, little room! The bed was very comfortable.


The bathroom was almost as big as the rest of the room.


I turned on the television once on my trip and it was in this room. I felt I owed it to Hollywood. Survivor was on. In so many ways, the program was perfect, but I couldn't watch it very long.


Both in Los Angeles and San Francisco, my hotels were close to a Trader Joe's. This was so helpful, as I bought meals and snacks here. 


Trader Joe's was also attached to the deck where I parked my car. Love the line from "Go, Dog Go!," which I read to Luke incessantly when we were in Haiti.


Hollywood was a good location because it was fairly close to the people I wanted to see. It is also a fun, funky place and the hotel was reasonably priced.


When Luke heard I was staying in Hollywood, he wanted to know if I was close to the Walk of Fame. I was happy to tell him it was practically right outside my hotel door. Hollywood and Vine host about 2,600 stars with two being added each month. Here are a few of them.



Orson Wells's masterpiece, Citizen Kane, is based on the life of William Randolph Hearst, owner of the Hearst Castle, which was on my original itinerary. 


Besides being a great actress, Marlene Dietrich was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom for her support of the Allies during World War II. This German-born, naturalized U.S. citizen did heroic work during the war. Here is some information from Wikipedia:

Dietrich was known to have strong political convictions and the mind to speak them. In interviews, Dietrich stated that she had been approached by representatives of the Nazi Party to return to Germany but had turned them down flat.[33] In the late 1930s, Dietrich created a fund with Billy Wilder and several other Germans to help Jews and dissidents escape from Germany. In 1937, her entire salary for Knight Without Armor ($450,000) was put into escrow to help the refugees. In 1939, she became an American citizen and renounced her German citizenship.[1] In December 1941, the U.S. entered World War II, and Dietrich became one of the first celebrities to help sell war bonds. She toured the US from January 1942 to September 1943 (appearing before 250,000 troops on the Pacific Coast leg of her tour alone) and was reported to have sold more war bonds than any other star.[34][35]During two extended tours for the USO in 1944 and 1945,[34] she performed for Allied troops in Algeria, Italy, the UK and France, then went into Germany with Generals James M. Gavin and George S. Patton. When asked why she had done this, in spite of the obvious danger of being within a few kilometers of German lines, she replied, "aus Anstand"—"out of decency".[36] Wilder later remarked that she was at the front lines more than Eisenhower. 

 

Larry King was in Peoria in November 2017 with his good friend and Bradley alum, Charley Steiner. Larry donated $1 million to Bradley University's sports communication program.


I told Luke his name could go on this star one day!


I had a great time seeing my nephew John at Poquito Mas in Burbank where we had a delicious lunch. I was about John's age when I lived in California. John graduated from Bradley University, where he majored in theater and did the Hollywood semester. He returned to Los Angeles to get some more experience.


Here is a star for the legendary Johnny Cash, a favorite of John's.


I had fun walking around Hollywood.


As I walked, someone handed me this. Huh! A personality test. This looks interesting.


But on the other side. Maybe not.


Fighting for justice in Hollywood. Wait, what does that say? Psychiatry: An Industry of Death? Scientology strikes again!


Southern California is not without its problems.


Tents under the freeway.


Problems mixed in with the beauty, just like everywhere.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hidden Sidewalks: Walk # 37, Hollywood Bowl & Hightower Loop

Image
The second of Charles Fleming's Secret Stairs walks that I took led me through "the back side of the Hollywood Bowl, into one of the city's few walk-street communities, with no access to cars." The contextual information I share below comes from his book. Above is High Tower, which contains an elevator. Look familiar? More on this below. First I passed by Highland Towers where William Faulkner lived and possibly wrote the screenplay adaptations for "To Have and Have Not," and "The Big Sleep." Heading up into the hills. The first 103 steps. An accidental action photo. It really does seem sometimes like you are walking through people's property. I saw very few folks, whether residents or fellow tourists, on my walks. Above and below is the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Samuel Freeman House , constructed in 1924. I actually did get a little bit lost here beca
Read more

Greatest Photo Hits

Image
In December 2017, I took a two-week trip to California. I started up north at the redwoods, and traveled down to San Francisco, onto Big Sur, and ended up in Los Angeles, where I went to college in the early 80's. You can read all about it in this blog. But if you'd like a fly by, here are some photos that summarize the trip.  In Tiburon after riding a bike over the Golden Gate Bridge. The mighty redwoods. The other San Francisco bridge. Along Highway 1 California, not Ireland. More redwoods. WPA mural inside Coit Tower. View from Coit Tower. Coit Tower Getting ready to ride over the Golden Gate.  San Francisco skyline at night. Coit Tower on the left and below. Santa Con in San Francisco! Kirby Cove . Thanks to Duncan Smith and friends. Big Sur Was fortunate to go on a silent retreat at New Camaldoli Hermitage. The Star in the Family, Uncle Wrigh
Read more

College Friends

Image
In 1979, I left Peoria for college. Because of all kinds of fortunate circumstances, I was able to attend the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where I met these three great folks above: Miles, Myra, and Duncan.  I spent three years as a Trojan, and while I graduated from the University of Wisconsin, I've always considered USC my alma mater too. Freshman year, I lived in Marks Tower. Here it is below. I lived on the fifth floor of Marks Tower with my roommate Cecelia, who was the valedictorian of her class of 600 at Mater Dei in Santa Ana. Lots of memories from this dorm: gazing at the flame burning at the Coliseum for our hostages in Iran; vacating the dorm in the middle of the night because of a bomb threat (related to the Iranian hostage crisis; USC had 600 Persians --ie Iranians--attending the school and the politics were complicated); when we had a little bit of a water backup on our floor (see below). There's Myra, stranded nea
Read more