Yay for the Hollywood sign

Note: I had this blog entry mostly written on Thursday, but was so tired I just went to bed without posting it. I know I'm behind on here.

I find the sunrises in SoCal slightly disturbing. Well, maybe it's not the sunrises so much as the time before the sun comes up with it's foggy/smoggy because everything has a slightly greenish tinge to it. Apparently that's what life is like when you live just below the emissions limits, eh?

I started this morning with a quick run and it's refreshing to be so close to a sea breeze. Got to love being out of the Midwestern humidity for a few days. I knew I had a Hollywood walking tour booked for later in the afternoon, so I planned out a day where I would see Beverly Hills in the morning and Hollywood in the afternoon.

I have to say that I'm loving the GPS unit in my car and I'm pretty sure I would have been completely lost without it. I don't have the mad map skills to read and negotiate busy seven lane freeways. If someone does have that ability I'd love to see it in action.

Anyway, when I got on the road at 10 a.m. I did not expect to hit full-on traffic, but it turns out I have a lot to learn about LA driving. A 10-mile journey took the better part of 45 minutes, but every mile stuck in traffic makes me exponentially happier that I ponied up the extra cash for a hybrid. It's definitely worth it, especially when I'm just sitting among cars and it can actually switch over to just running on electric. I feel like this town was built for hybrid cars, or at least it should be. Sadly, I also noticed today that there are a number of signs on the side of the freeway talking about electric car recharging stations. No, that's not the sad part. The sad part is that these signs are mention in the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car" when the steps California had taken to incorporate this technology were discussed and now these stations sit mostly unused. All right, I'm off my soapbox.

So when I finally made it up to Beverly Hills I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to find reasonably priced (read: free!) parking. I hit up Rodeo Drive first and found girls with small dogs and large purses. Really, I wouldn't lie about this. I also saw some terribly inappropriate Ugg boots (it was in the 90s today), but at least I think she was a tourist. Again, I was pretty much the only American tourist around, but it makes me feel special :)

I walked around Beverly Hills a bit, took some pictures, drove up to Graystone Mansion, which is owned by the city of Beverly Hills and has been the site of filming for The Bodyguard and Indecent Proposal. I also saw the Beverly Hills Hotel before heading off to my tour.

I did overhear a woman on the street in the residential area of Beverly Hills telling someone that "That's my mom. She always wants me to show more boob." Believe me, this woman was showing plenty.

GPS took me right down Sunset, so I got to see all the billboards and sites the the Chateau Marmont, which I won't have time to get back to on this trip. I was one of the more exciting drives I've done for a while.

I don't know why, but I was surprised when I parked at Hollywood and Highland and came out into a massive, massive crowd of tourists. I was able to locate my tour HQ and get my headphones to hear the guide. I enjoyed the tour and found that by using my own two legs (that is, booking a walking tour instead of a bus tour) I was able to save over half. Bus tours are expensive! We hit up the major points around Hollywood and Highland and I was satisfied.

After the tour I walked down to Hollywood and Vine to take a picture of Capitol Records. They're right when they say that Hollywood Blvd gets sketchy fast after you leave the major two tourist blocks. Although there were other tourists wandering around looking at the stars on the ground I found that each block I walked was starting to look a little more grimy and a little less like I wanted to be wandering around there. I did get all the way down to Vine and back without any problems and I saw no less than three separate Scientology stops along the way. Apparently the Scientologists are going to save the neighborhood. Odd.

After I left Hollywood it took we almost two hours to get back to El Segundo (15 miles or so) in LA rush hour traffic. Yeah, got to love it. I've found that no matter what time I get on the freeway, even if it's 11 in the morning, there's always stop and go traffic. Not sure how the people who live here deal with it.

Tomorrow I make the 6-7 hour drive to San Francisco and I'm excited to go see NoCal (do they call it that? Well, I do now.) I'll also be in a hostel which I'm sure won't be as nice as having my own room, but the summer hotel prices in San Fran are beyond ridiculous.

Also, I finally figured out that the reason I couldn't get a place to stay in San Diego this past weekend is because it's Comic-Con. Probably better I'm not in that city, anyway :)