A day in HOLLYWOOD

After returning from our cruise to the Mexican Riviera, we stayed in L.A. for the final 2 days of our vacation.  While in L.A., we had a rental car.  The girls wanted to go see the Hollywood Sign, so we went there first.  Needless to say, there is a lot of traffic in the L.A. area; and, to add to that, there are on-ramps and off-ramps going everywhere.  Dave likes to drive in large cities, so he was absolutely fine with the craziness.  We had fun trying to figure our where we needed to go. At times, it required some strategic driving, even with the aid of our GPS.  Dave is an awesome driver, and got us right to the Hollywood Sign.

  

After the Hollywood Sign, we drove to the Los Angeles LDS Temple, where we walked around for a while.  The temple, and the grounds, are beautiful.

                     We loved all of the palm trees that line the streets in Los Angeles. 

The next morning we got up early, and drove to the heart of Hollywood; this time, to Hollywood Boulevard.  Our first stop was  Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.  The museum, with its more than 100 wax figures, displays exact replica's (dimensions, eye color, hair color, skin color...everything) of popular Hollywood icons, movie characters, TV stars, movie stars, movie directors, pop stars, and sports stars.  In person, the figures look amazingly real; even, almost, somewhat scary.  Standing next to the figures, I could only imagine them leaning over and grabbing me.  The girls had fun posing next to some of their favorite celebrity figures.

                                                                   Britney Spears

                                                                    Justin Bieber

                                                                         Patrick Swayze

                                                                       Madonna

                                                                        Robin Williams

                                                                 Steven Spielberg

                                                                       Michael Jackson

                                                                     Betty White

                                                     Robert Downey Jr., as Iron Man

       After the wax museum, we ate at one of the popular restaurants on Hollywood Boulevard.

                       We then went on a 2-hour van tour, which took us past celebrity homes, famous restaurants, comedy clubs, and stores.  This is a picture of the van that we rode in.  Our guide is standing by the passengers door, in the blue shirt.  An Australian, our guide was not only extremely  knowledgeable about Hollywood and the celebrities, but also very funny. We had a great time on the tour, seeing 51 different celebrity homes.

                    One of the penthouse apartments in this building belongs to Justin Bieber.

                              This house belonged to Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne. 
                      This is the house where the TV series, "The Osbournes", was filmed.

                     This is the driveway to the Playboy Mansion, owned by Hugh Hefner.

This is the driveway to Michael Jackson's home.  Michael was living here at the time of his death. 

This house is owned by Richard Simmons.

     Our tour guide said that when Richard is home, he will often come out and greet the people on the tour.  We stopped in front of this house for a couple minutes, trying to get him to come out,  but he was not home. 8(                                     
                                 

          Many of the streets in the Beverly Hills area are lined with tall, palm trees.....beautiful !!

         These next 5 pictures are the famous streets shown in the movie, "Pretty Woman".
                       

                                                  Dave liked the Bugatti Veyron.

                                       

The world famous Laugh Factory, located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, has been recognized as "the #1 comedy club in the country", and has been the stage for many high-profile comedians, such as: Tim Allen, Drew Carrey, Jeff Foxworthy, Bob Hope, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Howie Mandel, Eddie Murphy, Jerry Seinfeld, and many others.

At the top of this hill is the home where Robert Downey Jr's character, Tony Stark, from the movie "Iron Man", lived.

The only movie star that we saw while on our tour was Matt Damon.  Matt was driving his BMW.  We were stopped at a stop sign, and I couldn't get my camera ready fast enough, so, unfortunately, there is no pic.

After our tour was over, we walked along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, taking pictures of some of the stars.

                                                        Grauman's Chinese Theater

                                                    Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

Unbeknownst to us, on the day that we were in Hollywood, they were having the Hollywood premiere for the Disney movie, "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".  As we approached the El Capitan Theatre, located on Hollywood Boulevard, it was obvious that something major was about to transpire, especially as we came within view of the spotlights, GREEN carpet (as opposed to a red carpet), blocked-off road, security, and media (with their many cameras and microphones).  Still, however, at that point we had no idea exactly what was going on.  After learning that the stars of this movie were about to converge for the premiere, we decided to hang out for a while, in hopes that we would see some celebrities that we recognized.  As the celebrities started to arrive in their limousines (which was directly in front of where we were standing), the girls recognized many of them from the Disney Channel and other Disney productions.  Our girls thought it was cool to actually see some of those that they have watched on TV and in movies.

In contrast, Dave and I didn't recognize hardly anyone.  With crowds of anxious on-lookers everywhere, I would just wait until I heard a bunch of screaming, and then I would start taking pictures.  It wasn't until we arrived back home from our vacation, and could really look at the pictures, that, thankfully, the girls assured me that I had taken a lot of good ones.

Here is the trailer for the movie, "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".....


                     This is Karan Brar...from the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" movies & "Jessie".

                 Bella Thorne..... "Wizards of Waverly Place", as well as quite a few other movies.

                   Jennessa Rose....."Enchanted", "Happy Feet", "Crazy Stupid Love", and more.

                                                                 India de Beaufort.

                           CJ Adams....who actually plays Timothy Green in the movie.

                                                    Davis Cleveland, from "Shake it Up".

                                                 Skai Jackson, from Disney's "Jessie".

                                                   Spencer Boldman, from "Lab Rats".

                  Joel Edgerton....who plays the dad, Jim Green, in "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".

              Jennifer Garner...who plays the mom, Cindy Green, in "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".

Jennifer Garner was even more beautiful in person!  We were fortunate to secure a spot, right up against the rail, next to where she would be walking by.  Since we had no idea that we would be attending anything like this, we were not prepared with paper, or a pen, for autographs. BUMMER!!! When Jennifer got close to where we were standing, a man from behind us began to aggressively push his way past others, trying to get to the front.  Dave, on purpose, stood just behind our girls, preventing such overzealous on-lookers from pushing into them.  Unable to push his way past Dave, the man then held his autograph book over our shoulders, even in front of our faces, in a continued effort to force his way to Jennifer.  Dave wasn't being rude at all, and certainly wasn't trying to prevent him, or others, from gaining controlled access to Jennifer, but he was undoubtedly protecting our girls, and me, from this ardent person!  Jennifer, seeing how aggressive this man was, said to him, "quit pushing"!  To which he responded, "I'm not pushing, Jennifer".  In clear view of what was going on, Jennifer then replied, "Yes, you are.  You are pushing these little girls; stop pushing"!  Needless to say, I was very impressed with Jennifer.  

I then asked Jennifer if we could get a photo with her.  She told us that her bodyguards wouldn't allow her to stop for photos, but that she would make an exception for us, and stand there just long enough for me to take a quick picture.  Jennifer was so beautiful, and so nice!  She never did, however, sign the pushy mans autograph book.  I must admit, I was actually kind of happy that she didn't sign it.  

                        Instead of the picture that I asked her for, I took video. 

After the celebrities were finished walking the green carpet, the crowds of on-lookers started to disperse.  Before long, Braxtyn started saying, "Mom, take a picture of that girl in the white dress....that's the only person I want a picture of".  I looked around, frantically trying to figure out who she was talking about.  There were so many people there, and I couldn't see anyone in a white dress.  I kept asking Braxtyn where she was, but before we knew it, the girl in the white dress was gone.  Braxtyn was so bummed.  We started walking back to the intersection where the cross walk was.  While we were waiting for the walk signal to turn green, Braxtyn looked over, and there she was.....the girl in the white dress!  Excited, Braxtyn said to me, "Mom!!!  there she is...take a picture of her"!!  The girl in the white dress overheard Braxtyn telling me this, and turned to look at me.  I asked her if we could please take a picture with her.  I told her what Braxtyn had said about only wanting a picture of her, and that I had lost sight of her in the crowd of people.  As soon as I snapped the photo, the walk light turned green, and we all proceeded to cross the street.  When we got to the other side of the street, the girl in the white dress (whom I still had no idea who she was) called Braxtyn over to where she was standing....which was in a location somewhat hidden from the main crowds of people.  She talked to Braxtyn, and us, for about 5 minutes.  We learned that she was Ainsley Bailey, from the Disney Channel TV series, "Shake It Up".  While we were talking with Ainsley, we were able to get a few more pictures with her.  Since we didn't come prepared with a pen and paper, this cute girl signed her autograph on the back of Brack's shirt, with a Sharpie pen that her friend had in her purse.  Braxtyn was so excited, and on cloud nine the rest of the day!

This first picture was the first pic we took with Ainsley, while still in the crowd of people.

The next few pictures were taken during the one-on-one time that we had with Ainsley.


                                               Ainsley Bailey.....from "Shake It Up".

Before we left Hollywood Boulevard, we stopped for a quick photo with Shrek.

     These are some random photos I took as we were leaving the Hollywood & L.A. area.