City of Angels - Los Angeles (part 1)

This trip to LA was to celebrate my aunt and cousin's birthday at the end of May, so I'm very thankful that they invited me to join them. We were there for a whole week so plenty of time to see and do things.


Day 1
Central Market > Bradbury Building > City centre drive around > Griffith Observatory

We took the first flight out of Vancouver and arrived in LA before noon. LA is such a big city that you definitely need to rent a car in order to get around. After checking in to our airbnb place in Marina del Rey we headed to downtown LA to Central Market for lunch. There's lots of people there and different types of food - specialty counters for eggs, deli meats, seafood, pizza, Mexican etc. etc.

 

 

 

After lunch, we went across the road to the Bradbury Building which has been a quite a few Hollywood movies (but I've only seen 500 Days of Summer). It's really nice though that they've kept all the beautiful interior designs and decor.

 Then we drove around downtown and passed by City Hall - which would have been nice if we had arrived on a weekday because you can go up to the 27th floor and have a nice view from up above, for FREE!

We also passed by the Walt Disney Concert Hall which is a nice place to take in a couple of concerts and they also have a garden area that is open to the public.

Our last stop of the day was to head up to the Observatory and get a photo of the Hollywood sign. The drive up is not long, but OMG, I never expected that there would be traffic to get up to the observatory. Hahahaha... I thought most people wouldn't go there because they might not be interested in museums. But I guess everyone found out that you can see the Hollywood sign from there and possibly get a good shot on your camera.

Driving up to the Observatory

Well it was not just traffic going up the mountain, but there was also not enough parking.... and you would have to park very far and walk up.... and I guess everyone wanted to go up in time for the sunset. Well we finally got up the mountain, and lots of people were leaving so we found a parking spot right outside the observatory (which means we don't have to walk up hill) and had a great time taking photos there.

above: smoggy LA... it was surprising how it was so hazy

above left & right: this is a collection of star-shaped brooches/jewelry that has been placed into a timeline of our galaxy

The observatory is free and there are guided tours at scheduled times, but you can easily just wander around on your own. There are some interesting exhibits in there. I was particularly interested in the "Big Picture". It's a small part of the sky that represents the entire galaxy.... or this is how I understand it.... I actually asked one of the staff and they tried to explain it, but I think it'll take me a bit more time to fully understand it.

We tried to take photos of the Hollywood sign, but it's still too far.... and also very hazy..... I was quite surprised by the amount of smog in LA! Actually almost everyday was warm and partly sunny, but that's because there was so much smog.

Day 2
The Ivy > LACMA

 

We got a later start to the day and the first thing we did was go to have lunch at The Ivy! This restaurant is located in Beverly Hills and recommended by my cousin who wanted to try it. The decor makes it special - very spanish/mexican and colourful! It's hard not to be happy when you have all these bright yellow, orange, pink, red, green colours everywhere. The cuisine, I thought was going to be Spanish/Mexican, but actually it's more like California with a bit of Mexican mixed in.

Afterwards, we drove around Beverly Hills quickly and then made our way to LACMA (Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art) as they had free entry sponsored by Target that day.

 above 3 photos: Metropolis II - Chris Burden

This installation represents Los Angeles or any 21st Century Metropolis

there are 1,100 custom design cars, 18 highways and a variety of

architectural structures made of glass, wood, natural stone tiles and other materials

Outside of LACMA and "sharing" the grounds are the La Brea Tar pits, unfortunately we didn't have time that day to look around in depth but it looks interesting.

Day 3
Universal Studios

We decided to spend a day at one of the theme parks around LA, and in the end went to Universal Studios. At first I wasn't too keen on going to the theme parks because we had been when we were little (although I don't remember much), and the price of tickets is quite costly and it's a whole day in one place. But I'm glad we went, I actually had fun there and there is lots to do, but one day is plenty at Universal Studios.

..... Harry Potter is not open yet.... :(     but you can buy wands in the Harry Potter store! (below)

Sound stage where they film The Voice

This was used in Back to the Future and other movies

We strategically planned our day so we completed all the rides and attractions in the lower/back lot and then went to the upper/front lot. We got there early and there weren't a lot of long lines. Most of the rides are virtual and had those seats that move in place, not many that were actual rides/rollercoaster types. But they were really well done - but a lot of jerky movements so anyone with a bad back probably shouldn't go on them.