California/Mexican Vacation: Los Angeles (Graumen's) TCL Chinese Theater

October 18th 2018
TCL's Chinese Theater

Graumen's Chinese theater, is no longer Graumen's. It is no longer Mann's Chinese theater either. The iconic theater is now called TCL. Yes, I was confused too.

Graumen's Chinese theater was built in 1927 at a cost of $2.1 million dollars. (Pretty costly).  Sid Graumen was the purchaser. Ownership of the property went from Graumen through 1972 when it was purchased by the Mann theater company. The Graumen name returned in 2001 when it was purchased by Warner Brothers and Paramount. In 2013 the property was again purchased and soon after named the TCL theater.

The theater has been the premier location for some of the most well known and well loved films including Star Wars. It has also hosted the Academy Awards.

As far as the iconic hand prints that litter the front of the red Chinese Pagoda it is unclear. Stories note an accidental step to the builder of the hard concrete forecourt who placed hand print's in the cement.

 John Wayne is one of Mark's favorites of all times.

I always think of my Grandma when I think of Shirley Temple.

There are some 300+ hand prints dating from 1927 through today. Not all slabs of concrete are on site as there are to many to fit the area. These change often. Some of the fun slabs of concrete include the tire tracks of Herbie the Love bug, guns, earrings, eye glasses, Horse prints (The lone Rangers Horse Trigger), a ventriloquist dummy's feet to Darth Vadar and CP-3O.

Mark and I had arrived early enough to actually beat the crowd at the theater. It did make for some shadowing in the pictures and most of the stone was wet as it had been washed down, but we didn't have to fight with a crowd to see everything. As the day progressed it was difficult to even get into the forecourt.

 Mark put his large hands into Dwayne Johnson's prints. He's standing on Vin Disel's.

We enjoyed the many fun sediments written to Sid, as well as attempting to fit our own feet or hands into several of our idols imprints.

After enjoying the concrete prints, we headed down the street to the double decker bus's packed along the road. I had secured a two day pass for the on and off again bus tour. This was my solution to the concern I had with transportation in LA.

This was a great solution and well worth the price. We went through StarLine tours.  The two day pass also included a free ticket to Madame Tussaud's wax museum.   Our cost for the two days was $64- per person.

 Considering if we took a cab or a uber to get to an from all of the places we went and how much it would cost, it was well worth it. Plus we got all in information about the areas we were visiting along the way. There are several lines that the bus takes and you can choose to get on and off at any point along the way.



The red line was primarily Hollywood. Mark and I did not have a plan, so we simply jumped on the first bus to arrive. It happened to be the red line.

We were provided earphone as we entered the bus. There are multiple languages offered from the narrator.

The red line leaves outside of  the Dolby theater passing the four women Gazebo and turning left towards Sunset Blvd.

A right turn and we were driving on Sunset Blvd. passing the same store fronts we had walked along the evening prior.  We passed some great sites along the way. Even a Wookie...













Below is the Rock and Roll mural. The narrator reported that there is a similar concrete feet and hands of rock and roll stars. We had walked past this the night before, but we never saw this. (Thinking it may be closed up at night,)

 The Laugh factory. Home to first starts for many of the famous comedians including Robyn Williams.

 I thought the Naughty Pig was a fun name for a bar.

 This hotel was (Is) I cannot remember owned by some famous people. Notice the sign is upside down. The Standard hotel.

 This is NOT the Beverly Hills police station however it was named and acted as such in the movie Beverly Hills cop with Eddie Murphy.

 There seemed to be several buildings that the narrator pointed out that were used in movie sets. I couldn't remember all of them.

 The Viper Room once owned by Johnny Depp and the place where River Phoenix overdosed in 1993. Below was taken from Wiki-

"Despite the death of River Phoenix the year the venue opened, the club became and remained a hangout for Hollywood’s most popular young actors and musicians. Regulars included Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Marie Presley, Jared Leto, Christina Applegate, Angelina Jolie, Rosario Dawson, Tobey Maguire, and Leonardo DiCaprio.^{[citation needed]} Adam Duritz, the lead singer of Counting Crows, worked as a Viper Room bartender in late 1994 – early 1995 to escape his newfound fame.^[4] Johnny Cash performed at the venue, debuting material that would later appear on his 1994 album American Recordings.^[5] In 1997, the Viper Room was also a place of a few early solo live performances by John Frusciante at the time of his bad physical condition caused by drug abuse. The Pussycat Dolls performed there from 1995 to 2001.

At Depp's request, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed on the club's opening night.^[6] The Viper Room continues to frequently host metal and punk rock bands. "

 The Whisky a Go Go was one of Mark's wants to visit. This was where many of the 80's Hair Bands made their debuted. Including Motley Crue. Earlier bands to come out of Whisky included the Doors and Van Morrison. The name sake is actually a chain one being in Washington DC, and Chicago. Coined originally from Paris as the Discotheque.

 Past mother lode, although that is a catchy name is one of two PUMP house restaurants as seen on the reality tv show Pump House rules.

 The second one.

 The Troubadour is another club that started many of the well known musicians. These include Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Jackson Brown, and many more of the 80's hair bands Guns and Roses, Poison, Warrant and also Motley Crue.

 Sunset Strip was all about the music seen. (We visit the area later and hop off the bus.) For now we are making our way to Beverly Hills....

Next stop...home of the rich and famous and the kids of that 90's show with the title of the same name and zip code... TTFN