Below are some really interesting and fun places to go in Los Angeles. We have been to all of them and can give you some insight as to how to make your visit easy and more exciting.
The Grove
A fairly new outdoor mall built next door to the Farmers Market, is a
great
place to shop and see wonderful dancing fountains, green lawns and unique
street venders. A double deck trolley runs from one end to the other
giving
the rider a view of all the stores, restaurants and outstanding décor
that
the Grove offers. Parking is a breeze as a tall eight level parking garage
with elevators and escalators is on the property at a really small fee.
Your
parking ticket can be validated at most of the stores. At the 
bottom
level
there is some of the finest restrooms in town with an attendant to help
you
with your visit if needed. The stores range from high end department
stores
to toys, beach wear, home furnishing, luggage, jewelry and much more,
too
many to list. Pacific theaters are also there with 14 screens.
Check out their web site at www.TheGroveLA.com 323-900-8080 or
1-888-315-8883. Off of the 10 Freeway go north (toward Hollywood) on
Fairfax
Ave, turn right on third St. and go about half a block to Grove Drive,
turn
left.
Farmers Market
The Farmers Market (next door to the Grove) was started in 1934 and has
been
going strong ever since. You can find any kind of food or gift of a different
nature in the Farmers Market you like. We love to go and get different
kinds
of lunch items and sit in one of tables in the aisles and watch the people
mill around the shops and booths. You can choose from lots of different
types
of food to eat there or take home such as Cajun or Chinese, American
Diner or
authentic Middle-eastern, French crepes, sandwiches, salsa and sushi.
Farmers
Market restaurants and cafes supply super menus for breakfast, lunch
and
dinner. The farmers Market has around 19 grocery & specialty foods,
15
service areas (Pharmacy, Bank, news stand, key shop, etc.), a couple
of
clothing & accessories stores, 19 gifts & specialty shops and
around 33
restaurants & beverage areas. Check out their web site at
www.farmersmarketla.com. You could see celebrities walking around we
have
seen many during the week and sometimes on the weekend. Off of the 10
Freeway, go north (toward Hollywood) on Fairfax Ave, turn right on Third
St.
and go about half a block to Grove Drive, turn left. Phone 323-933-9211
Hollywood & Highland Streets
Grauman's Chinese theater, Kodak Theater, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel
and the
Mann Chinese 6 theaters are located here. The main theaters in the Mann
Chinese are the biggest and most comfortable you will ever sit in. They
even
have VIP seats in the back where you can have food delivered to you.
Walking
up the stairs to the Kodak mall you notice huge elephants high atop the
building point their trunks to the sky, it's quite a sight. The mall
has many
great restaurants and shops that allow you to shop for that special item.
As
of this writing the Academy Awards are held in the Kodak Theater. We
enjoy
visiting the area the day before the event (Saturday) and watch all the
activity while the workers set up everything. Sometimes you can walk
on the
red carpet and pretend you are a big star. OK, it sound dumb but it's
fun.
You can check out all the many stores up and down the street that sell
things
related to Hollywood. You can buy everything from an imitation Oscar
statue
to a life size picture of your favorite star.
If you walk over to the Grauman's Chinese theater you can see all the
foot
and hand prints pressed in cement by most of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
Most days there are people on the sidewalk dressed as action figures
and
weird characters. You can get your picture taken with them as long as
you
have a camera and generally they will expect a tip. It's a fun day.
Hollywood Tours
We finally took one of those tours of the stars homes in Hollywood. We
have passed the booths that sell the tickets many times and thought
that we could just by a map and do it ourselves. Well, my wife said "lets
take the tour this time." To keep peace in the family I agreed.
Wow, what a trip we had. We signed up for a tour with Star Line Tours,
they were just in front of Grauman's 
Chinese theater plus they have
other places up and down the street selling tickets also.
We got a driver by the name of Brian Donnelly. It was just luck that
we got the best they had or maybe they all are great but we sure had
fun on Brian's bus. The bus is small (around twelve seats) and has large
windows so everybody gets to see all. It was around two hours and we
saw so many stars homes plus homes of many other producers, directors,
and game show hosts. We saw lots of great things that you would not expect
to see and our driver had information about all of it.
Our driver kept us entertained with trivia about many places and people
as we drove around the hills. They have many other tours and we are going
to try all of them soon. If you get Brian tell him you saw this, he will
know what you mean as he has been our site before. www.starlinetours.com
