Los Angeles, Beverly Hills & Hollywood
When my sister entertained the thought of visiting California for a business trip, I thought she was bluffing. I didn’t actually think she was serious about flying to Los Angeles to meet the CEO of the toy-making company MGA Entertainment. I told her I’d go with her to California if she actually managed to book a meeting with the CEO, never thinking it would come to fruition. Then, while in Boston, I got the news that a flight had been booked for me! It was actually happening! Funny to think how in the span of two weeks I’d go from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific on such short notice.
Upon arriving at LAX airport, one of the first things we did was head out to the shore; there was just no time to waste in seeing the Golden Coast first-hand. Our journey first took us to Santa Monica Pier, home to one of the best boardwalks in the country, complete with shops, restaurants and a small amusement park!
The majority of the day was spent on the beach, tackling waves. I was amazed by how tall the waves were as they came up the shore. Some of the waves would come up 8 feet tall or higher, easily towering over my height. Needless to say, my body took quite a beating from this activity but it was extremely fun and exhilarating! By the day’s end, the Santa Monica beach was left with a gorgeous, unobstructed view of the setting sun.
My love for amusement parks pushed me to ride the roller coaster on the Pier. Despite being a short ride, the roller coaster runs the track twice and is still plenty of fun.
There’s also a really large Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant on the Pier that I simply had to visit. Inspired by the movie Forrest Gump, this restaurant chain was established in 1996 and has grown to 43 restaurants worldwide! Being a fan of the movie, it just made sense to dine here before leaving the beach.
As you wait to be served, you can browse through the attached gift shop, play a game of mini ping pong (since Forrest is a table tennis pro) and sit on a bench next to a box of chocolates with Nike shoes planted to the floor. This was my best Forrest Gump impression:
The following day was my sister’s meeting with the CEO of MGA Entertainment. While she did that, I explored some of California’s canyons and smaller towns.
Next up, the Grove! The Grove is a strip-mall style shopping district that is entirely for pedestrians — no cars allowed. It boasts some big designer names and high-end retailers. The central area of the Grove is an outdoor patio, complete with an animated fountain and bridge. I found the attention to landscaping and design amidst the luxury retailers a true breath of fresh air.
While the Grove is not more than ten minutes to walk end to end, there’s a free trolley that travels from the main entrance to the farmer’s market. It’s pretty unnecessary, but such a wonderful addition to the experience.
The Grove is also home to one of the classiest movie theatres I have ever seen. There’s chandeliers, balconies and lots of marble. We ended up watching the movie Boyhood here.
The topic of high-end shopping districts brings us to the most luxurious of them all — Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. This street is the epitome of high-end luxury goods.
Even if you’re not into fashion or shopping in general, it’s hard not to be impressed by this street. There’s an incredible amount of wealth and prestige concentrated into this small area.
People will drive their expensive cars down the street for the sole purpose of showing off to the masses.
The prices for even the most basic of products were astronomical. As you could guess, the majority of people on this street are just window shoppers.
Nevertheless, there’s no denying that it was fun to pretend I was one of Beverly Hills’ elite for an afternoon. It amazes me how Los Angeles is a pretty normal city from the outside but has these ultra-wealthy pockets scattered throughout, mostly all thriving on retail shopping.
What’s more is that while I’m sure large, enclosed shopping malls exist in California, the consistent warm weather promotes strip-mall layouts and breezy mall complexes that keep people predominantly outdoors when they shop. This is different from Canada as our winters gives preference to enclosed complexes since the weather is not friendly year-round.
Before making our way into Hollywood itself, it made sense to first visit the famous Hollywood Sign and look down on the city before exploring it. Unfortunately for us, the pathway to the Sign was closed down for maintenance meaning we could only see the Sign from a distance. We adjusted our day’s plans and drove up an adjacent mountain to Griffith Park. From here, there’s a decent view of the Hollywood Sign as well as Hollywood itself and Los Angeles.
More impressively though, is the Griffith Observatory which is a space observatory with an extensive collection of space and science-related displays.
The inner geek in me was simply in awe by all of the exhibits. We spent about 3 hours here, but I easily could have spent all day; I find astronomy extremely fascinating.
There are awesome, short movies about our universe that play on the ceiling of the dome pictured below. With a 360° projection, the movie immersion was incredible!
If you stay around until nightfall, various telescope professionals will set up their equipment with views focused on various planets and stars. All you have to do is line up and at no cost you can view these planets and stars through their viewfinder. I was personally able to see Saturn and its rings, as well as two stars that orbit each other’s mass. Other telescopes focused on the moon, Mars, and Mercury. Needless to say, I thought this was really cool.
The other benefit to staying at Griffith Park during nightfall is witnessing Los Angeles light up in spectacular fashion.
It was finally time to see Hollywood in all its glory. Where else to start than the star-studded Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard? This was the real deal; the street millions flock to every year!
There are over 2,500 stars on the Walk of Fame, 47 percent of which are in the Motion Pictures category. Following this is the category of Television (24 percent), Music Recording (17 percent), Radio (10 percent), and Live Performance (2 percent).
The famous strip reminds me of Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls, just stretched over a longer distance and with, well, palm trees.
The Chinese Theatre is one of the most famous theatres in the world; home to many premieres and hosts one of the largest movie screens in North America! I was only able to visit it from the outside but even from here the theatre is mighty impressive!
The Hollywood & Highland Center is a massive entertainment complex located on Hollywood Boulevard, featuring numerous shops, restaurants, nightclubs and a movie theatre. The layout of this complex is very strange; it comes across as a mashup of various ideas melded into one final design. Don’t let the weirdness draw you away; this complex is certainly worth scouting!
All of this exploring in Los Angeles and its surrounding neighbourhoods lasted over a week. Before we knew it, we would have to start preparing for our return flight. My sister was clever though; rather than flying back from LAX, she booked the return tickets from San Diego’s airport meaning we had one more city to drive to and explore before leaving California. All of that translated into one final adventure!
Please hold down the 👏 button if you enjoyed reading this! Doing so helps support me and encourages me to write more!
This blog entry is part of the publication Robert Cekan Travels & was originally written on October 27, 2014
Robert Cekan is a young entrepreneur and proud Hamiltonian. He is the founder of the Hamilton discovery website True Resident, as well as Cekan Group, a property management group. He is also a Hamilton REALTOR® with Ambitious Realty Advisors Inc., Brokerage and an active blogger.
For all of Robert’s projects, please visit robertcekan.com
