Hollywood, Los Angeles - Wednesday 18th, Thursday 19th & Saturday 21st April 2007

We spent 3 nights in Hollywood LA. We stayed at a hotel just 5 minutes walk off Hollywood Blvd (it was amazing value) so we spent all our time in and around Hollywood. It's surprisingly tatty but that made it more interesting. We were there partly to see Kathy, an old friend of mums who is now an Assistant Executive Director of the Directors Guild of America! The Directors Guild had it's Annual ColCoa French Film Festival while we were there and Kathy was kind enough to get us tickets for some of the films; La Vie En Rose (see the photo below) and Mauvaise Foi (Bad Faith). They were really good and it was fun to spend a bit of time mixing with real Hollywood industry people at work! Plus it was lovely to hear people speaking French!


Here's me and Superman at the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard!

Here's the Hollywood sign, as seen from the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. It's actually pretty far away so I had to zoom in a lot.

Hollywood Blvd has the Walk of Fame Stars in the pavement. While we were there we happened to see a ceremony for a new star! We were quite lucky because they don't happen very often and many people have never seen one. The star we saw was for Erik Estrada (I'd never heard of him) who played Ponch in the 70s TV show CHiPs. Here's Erik getting his star - it was pretty cool.

Here's mum and dad walking along Sunset Blvd at sunset!

Here's dad inside a 'New York Pizza' place, looking out along Sunset Strip. Just along from here is the Whisky A Go Go and the Viper Room. Dad went into Whisky A Go Go and heard a band rehearsing. They gave CD which we listened to on the way home (it was OK).


And here's mum with Charlie Chaplin!

Here's me and mum at the Kodak Theatre with the Hollywood sign between us in the distance(it's so far away you can hardly see it!). The Kodak Theatre is where the Oscars are held now.

Here's Erik Estrada's new star, after the ceremony had ended.

Here are the seats reserved for me, mum and dad for the US Premiere of La Vie En Rose at the French Film! It was actually the second showing, because it was the biggest film of the festival. Still, seeing my name on a seat, right in the middle of a theatre at at the Directors Guild was one of the coolest moments of my life! All the other reserved seats were for important industry people. I couldn't stop myself being very geeky and taking a photo. Thanks Kathy! Also, the film was so moving I cried - I fully recommend it.

Here's a typical street in Beverly Hills. We wondered round for a bit, looking at the massive houses. I kept humming the theme to Beverly Hills Cop - "doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo..."

This is the Campus of UCLA in Westward, LA. My second cousin goes here - it's a lovely campus.