Day-cay in LA

It is Spring Break and I’m a Cali girl for the next few days! I am spending most of my break in San Diego, but over the weekend me and my boyfriend made an overnight excursion to Los Angeles, California. LA is about two hours away from San Diego, but expect that trip to be a bit longer because that area of California is notorious for traffic and congestion. Stop and go traffic was pretty similar to Tampa traffic, except for it was 8 lanes of traffic instead of 4. Something I thought was interesting was the number of Tesla cars we found on the road. I don’t see a lot of Tesla cars on the road in Florida. It’s refreshing seeing more luxury electric cars (impressive) than regular (loser) luxury cars like Porsche.

We arrived in the evening time and our one and only stop for the night was Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood Blvd is famous for the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the TCL Chinese Theater (where Happy gets blown up in Iron Man 3). Seeing major landmarks in person makes a gal reevaluate the meaning of extravagance and what is seen on screen. The street is more narrow than what I imagined, and Hollywood Blvd was actually really raunchy at night. It kind of reminded me of knockoffish downgrade from Times Square in New York. There were people walking around in goofy costumes like Olaf the Snowman, Spiderman, and Wolverine to attract tourists for a picture. Taking a pic with phony Batman can be tickling I guess if that’s what you are into, but afterwards you have to expect to tip the guy/gal! Street performers littered the streets as well, and not even the good kind. Oh and parking is expensiveee. We paid $20 to park for the evening to explore Hollywood Blvd. Even at our hotel we had to pay for parking. So expect to waste money on parking anytime your in LA.

What the Walk of Fame looks like. (Not my picture. I grabbed this one off of google images because my phone died.)

Even at 10PM, the streets were crowded. No big events either, just a regular Friday night. The Walk of Fame is interesting and fun to look at, but impossible to appreciate because your bound to bump into strangers if your strung focused on the stars on the ground. On TV, the Walk of Fame looks so big and glamorous, but really it is just a street. It holds a lot of meaning, walking upon a history of stars who indefinitely influenced the entertainment industry, if not society in some way. Their names are immortalized within the street forever. But in the end, that is just what it is, a street.

The Chinese Theater is the second major landmark I got to see. The facade looks so massive on TV, but in person it was pretty average sized. In front of the theater, there is cement where celebrities can also make their mark by signing their name and pressing their hands and feet into the concrete. I liked this more than the Walk of Fame because it seemed to be a lot more personal. Visitors can place their feet right on top of where their favorite stars also stood. My favorite one was Will Smith’s. One of my favorite actors, and he inscribed the words “Change the World” on his block of cement. It’s ambitious, yet so vague, but the fact that I question it is deep nonetheless.

Will Smith’s footprints in front of the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd. Not my picture! I found this on google images. My phone died so I didn’t get to take any pictures that night.

I also got to the the Hollywood sign over the weekend with my own two eyes! I didn’t get to do the hike though due to time restraints, and because I only had one pair of clothes. Spoiler: the sign is actually really really really small. I can spot it from way afar, but it really isn’t all that grand to me.

It was a spontaneous and last minute decision to make our way to LA, which was fun! But I wouldn’t recommend it for two reasons. First, LA is soooo huge. It is impossible to even scratch the surface in 24 hours. And second, booking a hotel last minute is expensive.