Wendy's trip log: California/Mexican Vacation: Los Angeles Walk of Fame

October 17-18 2018
Los Angeles- Walk of Fame

I have continued to have problems when I have been making my posts when the entire thing will suddenly clear the screen. It has been extremely frustrating. BUT I am going to try again and break the trip up a little so if I should somehow loose everything I will only loose a part....so her we go.

Mark and I left for the airport on Wednesday morning at 4am for our 6am departure to Detroit for our commute to LAX. We made it through the gates boarded the plane and sat. We were told via the intercom, issues with the electric. The plan was to turn off everything and re-boot. (Sounds like something I do when my computer is giving me a hard time...but scary for a plane.) As a result we must get off the plane. We exit everything in tote and wait for nearly 5 hours, two time changes for our connecting flight in Detroit and ready to loose our minds.

For our patience we were provided FREE alcohol. Mark and I took their last two beers. FREE is FREE....

On our leg from Detroit to LAX. California is a 3 hour difference from NY. We finally arrived in Los Angeles around 7:30pm. (10:30pm NY time.) This made for a very long day.

Excited to be off planes and out of airports we quickly hailed a cab and took the 26 mile ride to our airbnb. The ride took us over an hour and a half and cost $107-. LA traffic is a nightmare. We literately sat in traffic forever.

I should have taken a picture of the stop and go traffic.

We finally made it to our home away from home right on Hollywood Blvd. We had never tried an Airbnb before, so I was a little nervous, but everything went as planned. It was clean and neat, no pool opened as advertised, but it is Oct. and the location was the absolute best.
Shortly after getting settled we decided to venture out into the night. We needed some food. Mark had been told that we absolutely must hit a In and Out Burger while we were here, lucky for us there was one just a short walk away. Three blocks down and a short stroll along Sunset strip and we were there.
In and Out Burger. It must be delicious considering the crowd of people. Just by the amount of french fries should be telling....YUM!!!

After dinner (around midnight in NY) we did a little more exploring along the strip got some toiletries (Mine were confiscated prior to boarding the plane, I totally forgot the sizes approved for carry on items.) and headed back to the apartment for some much needed rest. What an LONG day.

The following morning, Mark and I made our way to The Hollywood walk of Fame.
The area entrance is marked not only by the miles of sidewalk laced stars, but this lovely gazebo arch.

The four Women of Hollywood Gazebo represents four ethnics of women who made it in Hollywood, "They are Brooklyn born multi-ethnic actress Mae West, the African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge, Asian-American actress Anna May Wong and Mexican actress Dolores del Río. The weather vane at the top is Marilyn Monroe in her iconic billowing skirt pose."(taken from the Internet.)

After some pictures, we were soon on our way to the Hollywood walk of fame. On a side note, I was once May West for Halloween. I was not aware of her except what my parents had informed me, but I enjoyed the part. "Why don't you come up and see me sometime."

And we were off.....

The Beatles

Don Johnson

We walked for some time along the approximately 2 miles of sidewalk etched in red sparkled stars with bronze letters. Our excitement increasing with each new recognizable favorite.

Marks favorite. He has worn the Motley Crue shirt on so many of our vacations in the past. How fitting to have one on in this pose.

Stan Lee (RIP)

Johnny Depp

A few facts about the walk of fame;

The idea of the walk of fame was introduced in 1953 to increase tourism and included caricatures instead of stars . It was not until 1958 that the first stars was placed on a temporary basics. The actual dates of completion was in 1960.

David Hasselhauf

There are 2, 600 stars on the walk of fame (2018). 47% are movie stars, 24% television, 17% music, 10% radio and <2% are live performance.

Anyone can nominate a star, but they must agree to the nomination and there is a cost of $40, 000.00, (to place and maintain) the star is also required to attend the un-vailment.

Kiss

Celebrities can have more then one star and many have more then one category. More then 30 celebrities have 3 categories, but Gene Autry is the only 5 category star.

There are 18 fictitious characters along the walk of fame. The very first was Micky Mouse in 1978.

There have been four stars taken all but one was found. Any repairs or damages to the stars are the responsibility of the city of Los Angels. However, there is some additional support through the non for profit "Friends of the Walk of Fame".

Donald Trump- His was a bit dirty,

There is a time capsule buried along the sidewalk to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the walk of fame. Mark and I did not see this marker.

I do have to make one unfortunate comment about the Walk of Fame and most of LA actually. There is a lot of homeless people.

Nearly every corner, door frame or abandoned building housed a man or women draped in newspapers/blankets/shopping carts or even tents. The streets smelled of urine and felt uncomfortable. We were never approached while walking, but there was an feeling of inability to help. It is certainly a sad disappointment to what I thought Hollywood would be like.

The stars were still very exciting to see and the disheartening did not deter from the adventure.

We eventually made our way to Mel's Diner for breakfast. This was super yummy and we got a whole lot of bang for the buck.

We looked for Alice, Flo, Vera and Mel but no such luck. I so wanted to hear someone state "Mel! Kiss my grits."

My omelet, hash-browns and toast. Yum. The meal filled us both up for a long rest of the day. We skipped lunch later, so glad we had such a filling breakfast.

Looking pleased with ourselves at Mel's.

After breakfast we walked over to the Dolby Theater. This is where they host the Oscars. We did not take a tour or enter the theater, but the outside is sure impressive. There are several stairs leading up to the main entrance and columns flank the sides. Each column lists the year and the best movie of that year. This was pretty cool. I think they have dates listed beyond the year 2040.

Directly adjacent to the theater is the story of Hollywood. Statements of people attempting to make it in the home of the stars. These stories lead to the top and there at the end is a lounge with a view of the HOLLYWOOD sign.