The WB Water Tower

The bus stop was at
the back of the
Jimmy Kimmel
Studio

Yet again, today started with a crazy bus ride.

I got the number 2 from outside the hotel along Sunset Boulevard and then walked to the next stop for the next change. Along comes the bus, just a moment or two later, but as I walked up to the doors, the lady bus driver locked the doors, picked up her bag, and went and sat at the back of the bus... and there she stayed for around 15 minutes.

I wouldn't have minded quite so much, but LA bus stops rarely have seats next to them, or shade. So you tend to be left standing at the side of the road in baking heat until the next bus decides to turn up - or let you on...

The TV Studio side of Warner Bros Studios

When I finally got on the bus, I asked the driver which bus stop I needed to get off at for the "Warner Bros Studio Tour". She looked at me like I was insane. "Urr, when it says 'Warner Bros...?!".

This may sound obvious, but Warner Bros Studios is not a small place, and I knew the bus went all the way around it. So when the bus said "Get off here for 'Warner Bros Studios'", I asked her again if this was the right stop for the Studio Tour. "Uh huh", She said.

Buggs Bunny and Daffy Duck welcoming you to the Tour

But no. I had got off about 5 stops early by the TV Studios for the live shows (like Ellen. And with another bus not due to appear for at least 30 minutes, I decided to just walk it instead.

About 15 sweaty minutes later and I finally made it to the Warner Bros Studio Tour. I then got mistaken for being part of the LA City College Tour group and given the 'Blue Group Tour' (which I wouldn't have minded but I didn't really want to go around with the rowdy 18 year olds).

Queue Starts Here

Pre-Tour Intro & Film

I'd booked onto the 11am Tour (the first one that was available). First you get given a letter (A, B, C, etc.) and all wait in a line for them to take you through into a cinema room. 

Once in the cinema, a rather energetic gent came to give us a short talk about Warner Bros, and then put on a film showing the best bits of some of the WB creations. I won't lie, I got a bit emosh over Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Don't judge.

Central Perk!

Once that was finished, a door opened out came a few incredibly exuberant American tour guides. They were each also holding a letter (corresponding to ones that we were given earlier) and then everyone filed out one group at a time into the tour bus parking area where we all got introduced to our over-excited guide, called Jenny. We all then introduced ourselves to the other 10-ish people in our group. I think the others were just 5 x couples but I can't remember.

The Fire-Escape for the famous
Spider-man upside-down kiss

Jenny then shouted out tv shows to see which ones we liked as they tailor the tour to you. I think everyone was into "The Big Bang Theory" and "Friends", and there were a few I'd not heard of. I was the only one that watched "Pretty Little Liars".

We then started off the tour. It's a bit like a mini-city. They have
streets worth of house and shop fronts, with roads and pavements etc. The only things missing were door handles and lights - apparently they add them pre-filming as it helps to age the set to the right era. All the walls were made out of moulded plastic and most buildings are just one-storey - no 'upstairs' in there. Apparently if they have a scene where they need someone hanging out of a top floor window, they just set up some scaffolding inside and get the actor to climb up and stand on it.

Me & the WB Water-Tower

We went past the fire escape steps that hosted the famous upside-down Spider-man kiss for the first Spider-man movie (the one with Kirsten Dunst in it). The fake rain they use in movies has a little bit of flour or white paint in it to make it easier to be seen on camera, and they make extra big droplets too. When they turned Tobey Maguire (Spider-man) upside-down for this kiss, he kept choking because the water was going up his nose so they plugged his nostrils with cotton wool! That's why she only pulls his mask up past his mouth - else you'd be able to see his stuffed nose. They also had to use warm water, because Kirsten was wearing basically nothing and kept getting too cold.

Number 4, Privet Drive
Little Whinging, Surrey

We also saw the WB famous water tower. Jenny joked about how a rabbit lived in there but only came out on special occasions... Apparently they've got it where it is because it's visible from Universal Studios, so it's a nice little reminder of the competition for them. Haha!

The Harry Potter Museum: Nimbus 2000 

Next was the Batman and Harry Potter Museum - which is on-site. We had 15 mins to wander around and see the memorabilia so, naturally, I skipped Batman and went straight up the stairs to the Harry Potter section.

Dobby the House Elf

They had the Privet Drive sign, loads of the costumes (mostly from the later films), the Marauders Map, statues of Dobby, Goblins and a petrified Hermione (from Book 2), all of the sweets, wizard games and much more. I loved it.

The Sorting Hat

They also had the Sorting Hat and stool which you could have a go sitting on and being sorted - and it actually moved and talked like the real one in the films too (it probs was the real one!) I got sorted into Hufflepuff (still not sure how I feel about it but Becky recently showed me "19 Reasons Everyone Should Want To Be A Hufflepuff" which makes me feel better about my house). I wanted a picture of my sorting experience, but sadly there wasn't anyone around to do this for me.

The Letters! #NoPostOnSundays

Jenny told us that we had to look out for the golden snitch. Apparently it was hidden somewhere but I ran out of time so I didn't find it :(

Another street... This one has been used in lots of things,
including 'The Notebook'

We also went past all the work shops - they make loads of props and things on-site. All the moulded plastic walls etc. are made there. Jenny said it's much cheaper and easier for them to just build something to use for filming on site than to hire out somewhere and travel. There is a huge warehouse full of props which people can hire on the WB Studio website. They also have a fully working gas/petrol station on-site, and they use every bit of the whole site for filming - even the car park.

7

Lorries from other studios collecting props
(The two in the middle were from Disney!)

Next was a big studio where Jenny showed us how their tv-sitcoms work. We weren't allowed to take any photos in there - I'm assuming because of 'trade secrets' or something. They have these tiny sets with open fronts and a seating area for audiences who can watch while the episodes are filmed live. This does mean that audiences are often watching the same scenes over and over again, and that a 20 minute episode can take around 4-8 hours to film.

Bat-Mobile

They also play the adverts as they would be shown at the right places and check for any advertising conflicts - for example, if there was a scene where a character just got food poisoning from eating a pizza, it wouldn't look so good if they then put on an advert for Pizza Express...

The Batman Light

The studio audience have microphones over their heads too, which picks up their laughs. If you have an annoying or great laugh, they can turn your microphone down, or up respectively. The whole idea of having a live studio audience came from Lucille Ball (from "I Love Lucy") who was used to having a live audience and found it off-putting to act with no laughter as she couldn't judge what was working or not.

After this, we went to a big warehouse known as "The Bat Cave" where they had all the Bat-Mobiles. I'm not that into Batman so wasn't too bothered but it was interesting to see how some things worked. Apparently most of the cars were real and driveable.

We spotted Raj Koothrappali from the Big Bang Theory!
He's in the car!

Last was the Warner Bros Tour Museum, known as Stage 48 (which is part of the tour and I don't think you can visit separately). There we said goodbye to Jenny. Inside they have all sorts of memorabilia from various WB films and tv shows, and then there's an interactive bit where you can get your photo taken on the sofa in Central Perk, riding a Quidditch broom, or floating in the space suit from Gravity.

Actor's Trailers

I got through that section pretty quickly as most of the interactive bits are probably better to do if you're with people, and moved on to the WB gift shop. I was fascinated by the Harry Potter wands and one of the girls in the shop told me all about the reasons behind the designs of each different wand.

Every 'Friends' script

And that was it! All in all, it took about 1.5 hours. Definitely worth doing. I think it costs $62, but it was included in the LA Go Card!

Harry Potter Wands

"Ride on the Quidditch Broom"
- You can then take home a video of you riding it

The Harry Potter Wands of
Dumbledore's Army members

Touring Hollywood

Hollywood Day (Part 2)

Hollywood Movie Stars Homes Tour - by LA City Tours

Hollywood Bowl
Music Concert Amphitheatre, not Bowling Alley

With still plenty of time left to use the LA Go Card for the day, I headed over to LA City Tours to see if there was any spaces left on the 'Hollywood Movie Stars Homes Tour'. I wanted to make sure I would be back in time for a different guided tour at 5:10pm, which I was more into than seeing the outside of Celeb homes, but the tour operator said we should be back between 4:40 and 4:55, so I decided to risk it. It was worth $47, so I assumed that it wouldn't be too awful...

View of the Hollywood Sign

We got given little gold stickers and then all got piled into a tour bus (with air con, hooray!), and as the only single passenger, got to sit at the front of the bus. This meant not only a side window view, but a front and door window view too!

Hollywood Overlook Selfie

First thing's first though, a little bit of no-shame-America. Mr Tour Driver/Guide introduced himself in a cheesy way. I believe he was from Boston, but told us all about how he'd been living in LA for several years, bla bla. Get on with the tour. But no. Next it was time for all 20 odd passengers to introduce themselves, where they're from and a bit about their trip. Seriously. Get on with it.

Some celebrity house. Maybe.

Finaaally, the driver/guide sat down and did some driving. We went on a lovely tour along Hollywood Boulevard, heading East, and then headed into the mountains. Within 20-30 minutes we stopped at a great little place on the side of the mountain where we could all see the Hollywood sign and take a selfie. However, all the other tours stop there too so it was basically as crowded as Hollywood Boulevard itself...

It didn't really get much better than that. Especially as another couple apparently felt carsick and so I had to swap seats with them - they were sat at the back. Goodbye fab view, hello left-side window view with very limited right-side window view...

Michael Jackson's 'Death House' *
(*The Gate of...)

We drove around in the mountains, went along Mulholland Drive (apparently one of the most dangerous streets in LA due to the crazy rich kids driving along the very windy mountain-side roads at 160mph. At night. While drunk.)

Beverley Hills Trolley

As I expected, the tour was largely "Look at that white house over there in the distance by that tree. Barbara Streisand lives there" and "Who's this person running with a dog near these houses? Is it a celebrity?" and "We're not allowed to stop by these gates coming up because I'll be chased by the security guards and sued by Britney Spears, but Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, and Mariah Carey all have homes on the other side of the gate".

Beverley Hills

Broccoli Trees
(Yes. These were part
of the official tour)

To be honest, it just seems a bit strange and stalker-like. If I was a celeb I'd definitely live in a gated community, and probably buy a random different house that I never went to and write "Cate lives here" on the garage door...

Once we'd driven past se
veral famous (and not so famous) people's houses, we headed back to Hollywood via Beverley Hills and Sunset. It was quite a good tour really as I doubt I would have seen Beverley Hills otherwise.

At least the Filipinos enjoyed it...

We got back at 5pm and of course, they expect tips. All dollar bills look the same though, so if you don't fancy giving a whole $5, just roll up some $1 and throw them in. They'll never know.

I had to run off pretty quickly to catch my next tour at 5:10 (especially as I needed a toilet break first!) I arrived, pretty exhausted after a full day, so was looking forward to another sit down on a tour bus, but twas not to be, for this was...

The Behind-the-Scenes Hollywood Movie (walking) Tour - by Redline

This one sounded great so I'd booked it the night before. However, as one so often does, I didn't read the whole text on the webpage, and consequently missed the part in the very last paragraph about this even being a walking tour. I can't say I was that pleased to find that out at the last second.

The guide for this was lovely. I can't remember any of the guides names at all but he was great. There was about 8-10 of us for this tour and the guide had a folder with pics in it to look at. We all got given a little headset which (thankfully) we could turn up and down depending on the noisiness of the traffic and crowds we were standing in.

Lovely Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Apparently these were copied from someone's tomb.
I don't remember whose, but probs King Tut

Mr Guide started by telling us all about Sid Grauman, an American showman who apparently created cinema and 'movie stars' as we know them. He told us some interesting facts about how back in the early 1900's, theatre was for rich people, and 'cinema' was for the poor - basically what Grauman did was to make the world of film both profitable and accessible to all.

Beautiful ornate ceiling in Grauman's Egyptian Theatre

So then off we went over to the Grauman's Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. This is a great theatre as it has a fab courtyard with Egyptian hieroglyphics on the wall and statues etc. Mr Guide had keys and so we were allowed to go in and have a wander. They are famous for having 'film events' where they'll show a film and have a film-related person come and talk to the audience about it - it's supposed to be rather good.

I think these elephants
were originally by
Grauman's Egyptian...

Stairs inside the Dolby Mall
Apparently the shape represents
an Oscar ballgown, with the rest of
the walkway (behind) representing
the train.

We then headed out onto the street, and up towards Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Mr Guide told us loads of fun facts about the Walk of Fame and the different stars we were walking past, occasionally stopping to show us a picture in his folder. The tour is supposed to go inside the Chinese Theatre, like with the Egyptian theatre, and usually Mr Guide tells the tourers all about the different cement hand prints and signatures, but alas, Zac Efron made this not so. So we skipped it. #Not Happy.

Plaques. 

We went over to the Dolby Theatre next (which I toured that morning) and Mr Guide told us all about the shopping mall that it's in. They have columns on either side with plaques showing the film that won an Oscar in each year. Very interesting. And that was the end. My feet were pleased.

So at $25, this one was pretty good. All in all, I'd already got $132 worth out of my $190 Go Card and I still had 2 days left to use... Bargain!


Hard Rock Cafe

Dying from exhaustion was starting to get to me so I popped into the Hard Rock Cafe, Hollywood. It was only about 6pm so the place was pretty empty, but I think this was probably the strangest restaurant experience I've ever had as after being seated, my waitress came along, sat down and told me her life story...

Guiness World
Record Museum
- Floating stone ball...

"A Hurricane"
If only I'd been able to drink it all

I ordered the small version of the Classic burger, and a Hurricane cocktail (No idea. It was fruity). It started filling up just as I got my food. Waitress girl, I think her name was Miranda. Let's call her that. Miranda came along, sat down with me (WHILE I WAS EATING) and told me that if I was feeling a bit full that I could put a napkin over my plate and have a wander around - "when there's a napkin laid over the plate", she said, "the guys know not to clear the plate".

It wasn't a wander I wanted so much as the loo, so I popped the napkin over my plate, as advised, and dashed off to the ladies. 5 minutes later, after a scenic route back to my table, I discovered that they had not only taken away my plate (complete with half eaten food), but also my drink, hat and guide books/maps. I was not impressed.

The Disney Shop
(And Fake Minnie)

Miranda was talking to someone looking upset/anxious? Perhaps they thought I'd left without paying, but as soon as she saw me she came running over to apologise profusely, blaming it all on the other wait staff, naturally. She didn't ask me if I wanted anything else to eat, you know, because I hadn't actually finished my meal, or if she could replace my drink which I'd barely sipped, but instead ran off to get the manager to approve a 50% reduction on my food. Just the food. No apology for my $15 drink (it came with a 'free' hard rock cafe glass) that I'd not had a chance to drink...

Mickey Mouse outside Disney
Far too crowded to get a selfie.
Sad face.

I couldn't be bothered to argue as I was very tired by this point so just paid and left (after collecting my hat and guidebook at the main desk and my free mason jar glass from the gift shop)...

"We Are Your Friends"

So I'm sure I've mentioned that I hate Zac Efron for causing the closure of the Chinese Cinema for the one day I'll probably ever be in Hollywood. He did this because it was the film premiere of "We Are Your Friends". I have no idea what it's about as I've not seen it, but I know it's got Zac Efron in it. And some girl. That's basically all I know.

"We Are Your Friends" Premiere at the Chinese Theatre

I also knew all about how film premieres worked due to my wealth of information from tour guides. So when I stepped out of the Hard Rock Cafe into a hoard of manic, screaming teenage girls, I knew why.

Zac Efron.

Zac Efron is in there somewhere...

I crossed over the road so I could get a better look at what was going on (a lot of flashing lights, that's what). I asked one of the screaming teenagers if he'd arrived yet. "We've been here since 5:30pm", she said. "He's not arrived yet but he has to be here in the next 40 minutes as the premiere starts at 8pm".

Nev Schulman Selfie
#WhoAreYou

Naturally the rule is that if you wait for someone for nearly 2 hours, they won't arrive until you leave. So when the girl turned to her mother a couple of minutes later and said she didn't care anymore, let's go get food, Zac Efron got in his car from a hotel somewhere nearby and started the drive over.

Zac arrived in a shiny looking black jeep about 10 minutes after the girl left. I don't know why I hadn't left to be honest. Probably because I couldn't, being stuck in the crowds of crazy adolescents. I can't say I got a good view. He walked across the road 100ft along from where I was, signed some autographs, took a few selfies and then walked back over.

I did get one celeb selfie though. Some guy I don't even know called Nev Schulman. Then I went back to the hotel.

"Take my picture, Hollywood! I wanna be a star!"

(Quote from Lady Gaga)

Today was Hollywoodland day!

I was up at 4am (jetlag) so was down for breakfast the second it opened at 7am.

I'm pretty sure I was the first one down so made the most of the freedom and helped myself to the (artificial) array of eggs, bacon, bread, a yoghurt, some fruit, oh, and then a cook-your-own waffle. American food is known for its processed, over-sugared nature and the rumours aren't wrong. I have no idea what they do to their bacon, but whatever it is, it's not quite right. Also, why is the bread sweet!?

American Breakfast

View from the hotel onto
Sunset Boulevard.
I know. What a dump.

By 9am, I'd made it to somewhere near Hollywood. I jumped on the bus from right outside the hotel, needing to go West for a couple of miles, and then North. After the previous day's debacle with the buses, I checked with the driver before deciding to hop on...

[Rather English Moi] "Do you go towards Hollywood Boulevard?"
[Black LA-Native Driver] "To wheeeeere?"
[Me] "Hollywood Boulevard?"
[Native] ... "What'd ya say maaam?"
[Me] ... Oh I give up... [American mimic] "Haaallywud Bulvaaard"
[Native] "Ohhhhh, nuh-uh. But I'm close"
[Me] *Rolling Eyes*

I hopped off "close" and spotted the first few celebrity stars in the Walk of Fame - which apparently isn't just a straight line along the 'sidewalk' on both sides of Hollywood Boulevard, but instead darts off along several linking roads. Maybe we have too many celebrities.

Aspiring Celeb slash American superhero icon...

There are hundreds of 'aspiring celebrities' just hanging out in the street around Hollywood. Some of them are dressed as characters or other crazy things and try to lure you in to have a photograph with them - however when you do, they then won't let you leave until you pay them money for their 'service'. There are also loads of young people who kindly hand you a seemingly free CD of their (apparently) fantastic hip new vibes, compliment you, and then make you pay for the CD. I got stopped by one of these creative minds, who forced a disc into my hand, and then preceded to snatch it back again when I told him I had no cash... strange place.

Our tour guide.
He was quite pleasant to listen to
so probs not an LA native...

Tom Hanks
on the Wall

I got myself something called the "LA Go Card" for my time in LA - which I highly recommend. I bought the 3 day pass for $190 and on day one of using it alone, I saved a huge amount of money.

The Dolby Theatre

After a wander up and down the boulevard, the first thing I did was the Dolby Theatre tour at 10:30am. I didn't really know what the Dolby Theatre was, other than that logo you sometimes see in film credits, so wasn't really sure what to expect... Turns out it's 'The Home of the Oscars'. The tour guide was full of fun facts which he must spout around 10 times a day. I feel a bit sorry for him - especially as I'm not sure I actually remember any of the fun facts...

Here I am in the Dolby Theatre.
No one else is here so
that means I've won right?
"I'd like to thank..."

There's not a huge amount to see in all honesty - it's basically just a large theatre, with pictures of previous Oscars Awards on display. It was interesting to hear about the logistics of the Oscars though - for example, there is a connecting corridor to the hotel next door where the celebs get whisked off to do a post-award interview before their allowed to go back to their seat. Also, there are so many people nominated and related to the films nominated, that there are no extra seats for celebs - so basically, heaven forbid there will ever be a year where Meryl Streep isn't nominated, but if she wasn't, she couldn't go (unless she managed to blag one as Tom Cruise's Plus one).

Me with my Oscar.
You saw it coming.

Dolby Theatre Tour Tickets are sold for $20, and the tour is only 30 mins long, so it's definitely not something I would suggest is worth doing without the Go Card.

Shopping in Hollywood
(through those two bridges is supposed to be the best view
of the Hollywood sign because it's 'frame' makes it look so big)

The Hollywood Museum
(The Old Max Factor Building)

The Hollywood Museum

Marilyn Statue

Next, the plan was to go to Madame Tussauds, but I found the Hollywood Museum first. It's in the old Max Factor building and there are a huge amount of make-up related exibits - I think the whole of the ground floor was in tribute to Mr Max Factor. He had a make-up room for each type of leading hollywood actress; e.g. The Pink Room for Brunettes, the Green Room for Blondes, each labelled "For Brunettes Only". I'm not really that interested in fashion and make up, so I didn't find it that interesting.

They had a whole floor dedicated to "Monsters, Mummies & Mayhem" in the basement, which I wasn't planning on going down into, but then I was told Harry Potter was down there.
So off I went. Plenty of creepy 80's horror film memorabilia, but there in the middle of it, Harry Potter. And also the Walking Dead, Phantom of the Opera, Shawshank Redemption and Sweeney Todd - also all excellent.

Max Factor Make Up Room
"For Blondes Only"

#PotterObsessed

Another whole floor was dedicated to Marilyn Monroe. Her clothes, films, dolls, photographs, map showing every house she'd ever lived in, every quote on plaques on the walls and more! Surely no one normal is that obsessed with her...?!

Up to the top (and final) floor, and this one was dedicated to all things LGBT(Q?). I found it a little strange that they felt the need to separate any film/tv show with anything related to homosexuality isolated up there. Surely the aim of the LGBTQ community is for integration and non-discrimination, but I felt like by having their own special floor, it just added to the perceived separation...

Marilyn Barbies. Anyone?

Tickets for this are $15 and while it had a couple of interesting things in it, I'm not sure this is worth it without the Go Card either. There are much better places in LA to spend your money.

Madame Tussauds

Next was Madame Tussauds. I got this confused with the Hollywood Wax Museum - which is basically the same thing, but not as good (or so I've heard), which is why I couldn't find it earlier. The Hollywood Museum seemed to be at the completely opposite end to Madame Tussauds so off I headed.

The Chinese Theatre.
It's probs great,
but who gets to know
other than Zac Efron?
I'm not bitter.

"John Travolta was here"

I walked past the Chinese Theatre (something else on my list) and discovered that they'd just blocked the whole of the courtyard area around the theatre (all of the bits with the concrete hand prints) thanks to Zac Efron's new film premiere. I was not happy - although I did get a shot of John Travolta's stone (not as good as Harry, Ron & Hermione's though. Grr).

I waited in line for around 15 mins to get into Madame Tussauds. It was pretty good, but I found the layout a bit strange. It was on several levels, and so from the entrance, you had to get on the lift which gave you no option but floor 5. Then on Floor 4, you get directed round to a staircase, and on floor 3, to a lift which takes you to floor 1, and then up some stairs to the exit (or something like that).

#MarilynEverywhere

Some statues were better/more life-like than others. I'm not sure how I felt about it though. It was quite clever, but also a bit creepy. There were several times that I thought someone was stood behind me, only to turn round and realise it was a wax statue... Weird. It was also pretty tricky to take selfies with the statues as it's hard to fit you both in, and most of them aren't looking at the camera (surprised?) so they look a bit odd.

I quite liked the section about how they're all made. It takes around 800 hours (approx 66 x 12 hour days) to complete a figure. Mental! Still, a bit weird. Who even came up with that as a viable idea?

Me and my BFFs, Brangelina

Madame Tussauds Hollywood is $30 usually. That is probably something I would recommend, if that's your thing. But it's much more cost effective with the Go Card.

So by 2pm, I'd done $60 worth of stuff, and still had until 5:30pm to do more!