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A HOLLYWOOD EXPERIENCE

All good things must come to an end and our business trip to California was no exception. Saturday, was our last day and we were free to do what we wanted. We started the morning out with breakfast at the pool and discussed going into Hollywood. Some of our members have never been to the Los Angeles area so they wanted to do some sight seeing. I’ve been out there so many times my first thoughts were to stay back and relax at the pool, but instead I decided to go with. My husband, Jim decided to stay back at the hotel and get his annual sunburn. A few other members went over to the L.A. Zoo.

Going into Hollywood is always an adventure; they have as many weird people walking around as Venice Beach. You don’t feel like you’re in any real danger though because of all the other tourist that are walking around taking pictures and sight seeing.

We started our tour by Mann Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which is kind of like what Times Square is to New York City. No visit to Los Angeles is complete without stopping by the most famous movie palace in the world. In the forecourt of the theatre are the footprints and handprints of famous legends in entertainment. It’s always fun to compare your prints with that of the stars; my favorites are Bob Hope and Elizabeth Taylor.

This particular day they had superheroes and comic book characters roaming the streets. I had my picture taken with Bart Simpson and Spiderman to take back home for my grandkids. I knew they’d be more impressed with that than the other stars I posed with.

My favorite thing to do when in Hollywood is to see the Walk of Fame. It runs for blocks and would take a couple of hours to see all the dedicated stars. Of course we just viewed the ones that we were walking over, but it’s still fun looking for your favorite stars. We wanted to visit John Ritters star but were unable to find it. When entertainers honored on the Walk of Fame have passed away devoted fans often leave flowers, candles and mementos. I thought it would be interesting to see since I met John a number of times.

The Kodak Theatre is another must see in Hollywood, that’s where the Academy Awards take place; at least until 2021. It’s always fun to imagine the red carpet being there where all these famous stars walk down which runs from the Walk of Fame through the Kodak’s vestibule and up the grand staircase.

Close to the Kodak Theatre there was a stage set up and we learned that Clay Aikins from “American Idol” was about to perform there. We didn’t stick around to hear him since none of us were fans of the show. He did have quite an audience waiting to hear him sing.

As we walked around we stopped at a small pizza place where they have to have the largest piece of pizza in the country. Our group of four all ate on that one piece and had enough to satisfy our hunger pains. We also did a little souvenir shopping; one thing the Walk of Fame has, like Venice Beach, is some great bargains. While shopping we could hear Aikins singing and that made the walk a little more impressive.

After a couple of hours of sightseeing and shopping we headed back to the hotel. The rest of our group was either swimming or just relaxing in the sun. My grandson, Doug and son-in-law, Gary were swimming in the pool, so I decided to join them. The water felt great and it was so nice to enjoy the October sun in California.