"That Must Be a Pretty Good Neighborhood"

"Oh, I don't know, how about where Jack Lord or Don Ho live, that must be a pretty good neighborhood," was the line that kept replaying in my head all day, as we decided to explore the finest neighborhoods in Los Angeles by seeking out the homes of a handful of our favorite celebrities.  Rather than spend near $160.00+ to take a tour of the stars home, we opted instead to purchase a $5.00 map from a vending machine and take our chances.  What a fun day it turned out to be.  Over the course of 12 or so hours, we tooled around LA, Santa Monica and Malibu, with the top down, of course, with breaks for a tour of Paramount Studios, window shopping and supper in Santa Monica (at 4:30ish, we opted to have "a meal for the day" and thought of Mom.)

 I don't even know the names of all of the neighborhoods we "visited," but they included Bel Air and Westwood, and a few of them afforded us some spectacular views of the city and the Pacific Ocean.  My two favorite discoveries:  Cee Lo lives in this gracious "little" (by Cee Lo standards) bungalow, just up the hill from a funky area of Sunset Blvd., with a tattoo parlor at the bottom of the hill.  While I threatened to visit the parlor to get stories of Adam Levine and Cee Lo sitting side by side for their most recent tattoos, the kids suggested we move on.  The second cool discovery.  Robert Downey, Jr. lives just down a winding street from Malibu High School.  I know these kids are rich and likely children of the famous, but, hey, wouldn't they be tempted to run down the street to check things out?  I mean - he's IRON MAN!  Among the other homeowners' estates we visited: Adam Sandler, Bruce Willis, Adam Duritz and Meg Ryan.  Of course, in most instances we were visiting their very substantial gates and hedges. :)

CeeLo's modest house, in one of my favorite neighborhoods.

Adam Duritz has to drive down a giant hill (from which he has an AWESOME view) to get one of those great tacos.

At noon, we took our second and final studio tour - this time of Paramount - and it was wonderful.  The only studio still located in the heart of Hollywood, right off Melrose, it is served as the shooting location of every Godfather film, multiple (if not all) Alfred Hitchcock films and every incarnation - television or film - of Star Trek.  Because LA traffic is what it is, causing us to be 30 minutes late for our tour, we wound up getting 3 distinct guides, each more charming than the next, as we were filled in on what we missed and reunited with our little tour group.  We learned about the famous "Bronson Gate," the classic, much filmed entrance of the Paramount lot, and how Charles Buchinsky was named after it (rather than the other way around, as many incorrectly assume) when he needed a more generic, American sounding name in the midst of the McCarthy hearings.  

 We saw the studio apartment where Mae West had a fire escape installed because she was homesick for New York and the office where Hitchcock was relocated, so the producers could keep a closer eye on him once he became notorious (pun intended ;) for going over budget.  We heard great stories, such as the one when Tom Hanks, on the lot to film Larry Crowne, got a box of chocolates and assumed "his" position on the famous bench, greeting a group of visitors with the requisite "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get," then hijacking the tram (of 10) and driving them over to meet Julia Roberts on the set.  How would like to have been on that tram?!

Mae's fire escape.  Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were among others who lived in these brownstones on the lot.

 This tour provided a wonderful glimpse into film history, as Kevin, our final and "official" guide, showed us film clip after clip on his iPad,  as we stood in the spots where Audrey Hepburn filmed the cat mask robbery in Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charlton Heston parted the sea in The Ten Commandments, and Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf rode off on a motorcycle in an installment of Indiana Jones.  The "tank" (which doubles as a parking lot when not in use, as does nearly every inch of space on the lot) was particularly nifty.  

Not nearly as impressive without all the water, but I love how the iconic water tower looks over it. Now all empty, those studio water towers were originally built to douse the flames quickly in case the very flammable film should catch fire.

  Also great fun, especially for the kids, was the opportunity to tour the working set of Big Time Rush.  

 While many sets, such as the three entire buildings that serve as home for Glee, are considered "hot" even when the cast is on hiatus, which means that nobody, including, said Kevin, the guides, are allowed to go anywhere near them, we were given open access to walk around and photograph the sets of Big Time Rush, which provided a stark contrast to our experience at Warner Brothers, where they literally locked up our cameras whenever we entered a set - such as The Big Bang Theory and The Mentalist - despite the fact that the sets of the former were covered with sheets.  While I was initially skeptical about taking two distinct studio tours, in the end, I was very pleased we had done both.  



Finally, walking down the 3rd street pedestrian "promenade" in Santa Monica was great fun.  Maddie about flipped out when we came upon a giant Converse store, where you can make custom sneakers.  One of only a handful in the country, the place was beyond cool.

Okay, now a game for you:  To what film does the quote that I was reciting all day belong?  Clay, I will suggest that you give others a chance before you inevitably swoop in to claim the small prize :)