I holidayed in Los Angeles for xmas and new year 2007, I stayed in a holiday inn on hollywood bulivard. The Holiday inn was about 10 minutes walk from where the walk of fame is. I must admit it wasnt what i expected, the main tourist areas around the Chinese Theatre and the walk of fame is very dirty and there are rows of adult shops around this area.
This was always a place i have wished to visit, and although i went only for a week i do wish i had stopped longer. I believe i didnt get to see everything i wanted to see. I really enjoyed doing the trips which showed you celebritys houses and takes you to beverley hills.
Taking a look at the shops on rodeo drive is a must, especially to see where pretty woman was filmed.
When we went in December the weather wasnt great, although through the day it was pretty warm sometimes but not so that we coould sit on the beach. The local beach to us was santa monica, and i have to admit this is a beautiful place.
Alot of people hire bikes and bike along the sea front, we also did this but the bikes were so uncomfortable i couldnt stand it for long. Santa Monica is excellent for shopping, especially for sports wear like nike or adidas. The trainers and tracksuit tops were very very cheap. probably about £15 for adidas trainers.Also a very good place to shop was the beverley centre, loads of designer shops, i was in heaven. Although the bus's from the beverlet centre to hollywood were not regular and we ended up walking about 3 miles to get a bus back.
If u choose not the hire a car be prepared to walk, ALOT. we must have walked at least 7 miles per day, but this probably made uip for all the food we ate.
We also visited Universal studios hollywood, this was very disappointing compared to the one at florida. If you have been to universal studios in florida i wouldnt recommend going to the one in hollywood.
We didnt venture out on a night because there wasnt much near the hotels, and we did not have a car so we were quite limited, through the day we relied on bus's and to be fair they were very regular from hollywood to santa monica bulivard. Although there were some very strange people who got on the bus's and we had to be wary of the drug uses who use the buses.
Around hollywood there are a lot of homeless people on the streets and its almost impossible to visit without seeing them walking up and down pushing trolleys with there belongings in and begging on the streets. its not the glamourous place i thought it would be before i went.
Its best to try and do organised trips before heading out on your own, there are mainy places you could stumble across there are not advised to visit especially on a night.
In our hotel there was always the sound of police driving up and down the road.
On a whole i enjoyed the holiday and hope to go back and see all the things i believed i missed, although this time i will be stopping in santa monica, rather than in hollywood, its more designed for tourists.
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