Day 9: LA Delights: All in One

Made the most of LA in a very short time. Started off in the neighbourhood we were staying. Visited the Greek Observatory and the Hollywood sign. Although you can see the Hollywood sign during the day, note it doesn't light up at night therefore if you are trying to drive towards it at night, you will struggle to find it (we only realised this after 2 hours of driving back and forth on the freeway)...oops! Next stop was downtown LA. Here we saw the LA Live complexes which Entertainment giant AEG has built. The complexes that form part of the LA live include the famous Staples Centre, Nokia Centre and LA Convention Centre which alone can fit 17 football fields. So you can imagine the shear size of these buildings. After that we visited the LA Memorial Coliseum. This is where most of University of South California's (USC) games are played. It is also known as University for Spoiled Children as the fees for this private University starts at $60,000 per semester. College sports is obviously big business in America and the Coliseum has a capacity for 90,000 spectators! Next to the Coliseum, we also checked out the California Science Centre which is home to the retired Endeavour spacecraft. After that, we drove to Venice beach. A lot of eccentric people hang out in this neighbourhood. We saw the secret canals that are leftover which symbolises the developers dream. We also played/jumped around the basketball courts which was used for the movie "white men can't jump" with Woody Haroldson. Muscle beach was close by and because it was grey and overcast, no buff bods were seen using the outdoor equipments (perhaps too cold for them?) Then we drove to the world famous Santa Monica (which is a city in its own right separate to Los Angeles). We walked along the pier and had lunch at a restaurant inspired by the movie "Forest Gump" which was also shot around the pier. The restaurant was called "Bubba Gump". After lunch it was off to all the major network studios from Century City (20th Century Fox) to Universal City (Universal Studios). We then took the exit to Rodeo Drive and checked out the whose who of world fashion. We saw the most expensive men's shop in the world called House of "Bi Jan". Clothing here starts at $35,000USD and shopping is by appointment only. Likes of Mr Trump and Prince Charles shop here. Parked outside was the $3m Maserati to escort any guest around not that they need it. Along the way to our next stop we drove around the Beverly Hilton where the presidents stay and is the home of the "Golden Globe". Then came the trip to the exclusive mansions of Hollywood. We drove along the three most exclusive suburbs (Beverley Hills, Holmbie Hills (which was my favourite) and Bel Air). Here we saw the most exclusive homes that money can buy and the whose who of entertainment industry are nestled here from Jennifer Lopez (she has the most ridiculous gate), Britney Spears, George Clooney, Hugh Hefner and the name goes on. We also saw the house that King of Pop Michael Jackson died in (which was opposite the King of Rock "Elvis's" home now still held by family). The most expensive home in US also sits in this neighbourhood which was recently sold for USD$167m and consists of 127 bedrooms. It was purchased by the daughter of Formula1 owner Bernie Eccelstone. Saw the infamous house used in the series "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" which surprisingly didn't have a large entrance as I anticipated. This neighbourhood was just out of this world...other people who live in these neighbourhood includes plastic surgeons, casting agents, lawyers for the celebrities, producers, directors, cinematographers, singers etc. After having no luck star spotting, we were dropped at the Newley developed (2001) Farmers Market on the Grove. Celebrities also like to hang around here. This place is quite relaxing as it has separate quarters for entertainment, food and shopping. It has outdoor areas which is really nice (kinda has the harbour town feel at Gold Coast) except much larger. Our last stop was Hollywood Boulevard. Here we checked out everything from TCL Chinese Theatre (which was the largest IMAX screen in the world) to Dolby Theatre (home for the Oscars). Also spotted the walk of fame and tried finding our names. There was also an event on "Billboard - Mexican Awards" so few South American celebs were out and about. Finally we got home. After an hours rest we went down to this shoe warehouse (5 minute walk from our hotel) and I ended up buying 4 pair of shoes as there were definite bargains to be had. After dinner we went and saw Gravity in 3D at the IMAX at 10.30pm before calling it a night. Obviously quite a tiring day but made the most of LA in a extremely short time.