"Just one celebrity"

This was the "guarantee" Daniel wanted me to make as we started the first day of our California adventure.  "Mom, can't you promise me I'll see at least one?" he asked, somewhat incredulous when I said that, well, no, it doesn't work that way.

By the time we were turning in to bed last night, he was as content as could be, and I was left wishing I had said, "Sure, we'll probably see two!"

Now, while seeing celebrities certainly isn't what anyone's California vacation should hinge upon, once you've somehow managed to "drag race" (as Dana so humorously puts it) Steven Tyler, then have your wonderful birthday dinner at Spago start and end with visions of George Clooney, all within the course of just a couple of hours, you realize that, at the very least,  you've got your lede.

So while our celebrity sightings were only a little tiny part of a very full day, there is no doubt they were the most memorable.  

Flashback 24 hours:  When we arrived the previous night to The Parisian, our apartment suite in Los Angeles, Daniel reported, "this is the best vacation ever!"  The fact that it had thus consisted of a 6 hour plane ride, a long wait at Fox, the rental car company nobody has ever heard of that did, in the end, supply us with our fine Ford Mustang convertible, and then a somewhat fun, but also somewhat daunting drive through the streets of LA as we attempted to find this little hidden, tiny gem just off Sunset, was beside the point.  When we entered the apartment, it was everything the website promised plus.  With a guest book filled with messages of gratitude from Australia, London, and Hong Kong, we wondered how we were among just a few Americans who had managed to discover this palatial oasis.  If you ever come to LA, you must stay here.  It's as simple as that.  Now it was already past midnight "California time," so we all collapsed into our very soft beds and called it a day.

On the agenda for our first full day in LA - a trip to Valencia to tour CalArts, the institute of art that Walt Disney built (or dreamed... his brother Roy took the baton when Walt died) and where Pixar and film legends such as John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton and Tim Burton have graduated, followed by a "VIP" tour of the Warner Brothers studio in Burbank.  We'd throw some meals and some sightseeing in there and be satisfied.

For Dana's birthday breakfast, we decided on The Waffle, a hip breakfast (24 hours a day) joint just off of Sunset, not far from our home base.  The choice was perfect and the restaurant just opposite the Nickelodeon studios, where shows like iCarly, Big Time Rush, and Victorious are filmed.  As the kids pondered which waffle (red velvet, chocolate chip, or sticky bun) Miranda Cosgrove most likely eats, we did double-takes as each new patron arrived, certain that this or that one had been on some television show we'd seen, but, of course, not being able to come up with the show, let alone the name.  This, of course, is a sort of parlor game in LA, at least for my family.   Needless to say, while the breakfast was delicious, we didn't dine with any stars.  Unfortunately, while Victorious was being filmed, and we could even take photos of the outside courtyard where the students eat lunch (and break into song) on the set, the indoor set,where the cast was filming, was closed. 

The one blemish on an otherwise perfect day - as we returned to our car from a quick look at the studio and a walk down just a small part of the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at Sunset and Vine, you can find all of the great oldtimers), we discovered a meter maid just returning to her car after having deposited a parking ticket on ours.  We may have been five minutes over our time limit, but, as she so eloquently put it, "red is red (as in the flashing light that comes on when the meter is empty); there is no grey!"  Welcome to LA! ;P 

Since we weren't about to let a $50.00 parking ticket ($50?!) ruin our day (and Dana's birthday), we put the top back down, cranked our California playlist back up, and hit the highway for Valencia.  The drive was beautiful, with mountains all around, and Cal Arts quite impressive.  Maddie isn't sure if it would be her first choice, but with the contacts a graduating student has it is easy to see why the competition for acceptance is fierce.

The Warner Brothers studio tour was delightful.  While fans of Gilmore Girls, The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory or Pretty Little Liars were particularly pleased (as we toured many of the actual sets of those shows), our family enjoyed standing in the Gellar doorway, looking up the staircase where Ross, dressed in a tux, tries to save Rachel's prom, then later sitting on the couch in Central Perk where the Friends gang settled for all those years.  Having just seen a Friends marathon on our Jet Blue flight, the timing couldn't have been better.

Okay, okay.... you want to hear about the drag racing!  On our way back from Warner Brothers (around 6:00 PM), we decided to take a drive through Beverly Hills before heading back to the hotel and getting ready for a late dinner.  While we had seen Russell Brand's golf cart on the studio lot, and pretended to see Simon Baker and the cast of Pretty Little Liars (who I wouldn't know if I were to have tripped over them in the Warner Bros. gift shop), our actual celebrity sightings had been wanting.

As we drove - top down - through the opulent streets of Beverly Hills, the infamous Hilton on one side, the entrance to Bel Air on the other, Daniel suddenly shrieked, eyes WIDE, "I just saw Steven Tyler!!"  Afraid we wouldn't believe him (given the parlor game we'd been playing all day), he felt the need to repeat this phrase several times.  When I turned to see his face, I knew immediately, this was no parlor game.  When I saw the amazing car behind us, I told Dana, yeah, he just saw Steven Tyler. 

As that car, a million dollar custom made Hennessey GT Venom, it turns out, passed us, Dana wasn't about to let his robust Ford Mustang be left in the dust like that.  Especially when he hadn't yet had a glimpse of Mr. "I love that idea" himself.  So... as much as LA traffic allows, Dana and Steven raced (not each other, but just the same) down the streets of LA, while I tried, wholly unsuccessfully, to take a photo.  While I got quite a few of the car (since, let's face it, Steven was going to win this race in a car that goes from 0 to 60 in just 2.5 seconds) and a couple of his companion (who was young and cute and who Maddie and I were convinced must also be worth knowing), my best shot was at Maddie's suggestion, when I took a photo of the side view mirror, which I've cropped to try to give you a better look.  Photo or not, he smiled at us, and we had a whole lot of fun making spectacles of ourselves until we realized we had no idea where we were driving and Mr. Tyler was about to get on a freeway. 

Back to the hotel we went, Daniel beside himself with joy at having witnessed not only the lead singer of Aerosmith, but the host of one of our favorite rock and rollercoasters and, of course, resident judge of American Idol.  We settled on Spago for Dana's birthday dinner, which was getting later by the moment.  Entertained the notion for just a minute of cancelling the reservation and eating someplace closer to the hotel, but ultimately decided to get ready quickly and head over to this legendary LA restaurant.

As we entered the restaurant, Maddie's face went white - "That's George Clooney," she whispered as she looked out from the hostess station to the courtyard just ten feet away.   Since no self-respecting 16 year old girl is going to mistake George Clooney, I restarted my heart and took a look.  Yup, that's George Clooney all right!  He and his date (unknown to us) were dining with another equally unknown couple (though we later determined, with 90% certaintly that Ashton Kutcher was dining at the table behind them), but the silver fox himself was seated with his back to the room, thus his face directly towards us.  And what a face it is!

Naturally dinner initially was somewhat focused on whether and how to take a photo of Mr. Clooney (and Mr. Kutcher??), but our booth next to the kitchen stage, our charming waiter and the wonderful food assured that we would have a complete evening regardless.   Kismet once again kicked in, when we settled our check and headed to the valet at just the same moment the Clooney crew did the same.  As they left the restaurant just moments before we did, Maddie, no dummy, put a little spring in her step and got to the door just in time to have George hold it open for her and flash her one of those world class smiles when she thanked him.  Her life is now complete.

As Dana handed the ticket to the valet and George likely handed the same valet a hefty tip for already having delievered his car, we watched, astounded, as the paparazzi (about four of them) swarmed, snapping countless photos of George as he graciously took leave of the couple with whom they had been dining, opened the door for his date, then got in his car to drive away.  He handled the whole thing with such grace and poise that it is clear he is very used to it.  The fact that not a single person at Spago, including my own nutty family, would dare dream of bothering him while he dined, made me pleased and proud.  This American celebrity fascination we have is a very odd thing.  We buy the magazines that feature the photos captured by these aggressive photographers, yet we have the good sense to give the man his privacy when he is sitting in the next room, at the next table.  We are odd creatures, we Americans.

So... that wraps up day one.  I hope day two is less eventful, so I can write a shorter blog entry.  I will now attempt to upload a few of the photos featuring our Grace Kelly inspired "apartment," the reflection of Steven's face and some highlights from CalArts and Warner Brothers.  For a photo of Clooney, you'll have to wait for the paparazzi!