E.T.!

July 29

 

Running out of time in L.A., I was wandering around looking for something cool to do tonight, when I came back to the Arclight Cinemas. Turns out they were playing E.T. as a special presentation tonight, which I managed to catch!

 

 



Hollywood Sign!

July 28

 

Tonight I finally got as close as I (legally) could get to the Hollywood sign.

 

 

 

 



The Last Weekend: Sunday

July 27

 

My very last day off in L.A. I decided to end it with a bang, by going back to one of my favourite places of the summer (/my life). Disneyland.

 

 

I wanted to make sure I did and saw things I hadn't before, like Space Mountain (which was closed before) which was amazing.

 

 

And I made sure to see the Iron Man hall of armour from the movies, which I loved.

 

 

They also had a bunch of props from the Thor movies.

 

 

I also tried to peek around and find smaller corners I hadn't seen before.

 

 

I had a late lunch at the Blue Bayou. The picture can't nearly do the atmosphere justice; it's a swanky New Orleans restaurant where you eat in extreme darkness in a bayou-type area in the middle of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. 

 

 

And I made sure to check out the steamboat and the pirate hideout island.

 

 

And I checked out the parade.

 

 

Unfortunately both my camera and phone ran out of battery at that point, so I have no more pictures, but I once more saw the Fantasmic show and the fireworks, and rerode Pirates and the Small World rides. It's still an amazing place and there's still a ton I have to do there in the future.



The Last Weekend: Saturday

July 26

 

I started off today with another tour: Paramount Studios.

 

 

 

We got to see their screening theatre...

 

 

...a prop house...

 

 

...and a few stages, including a local Community college.

 

 

(Unfortunately during the tour my camera was damaged so from here on out photos can be uncontrollably unfocused. Thankfully it only happened in my last week here!)

 

After the tour, I checked out the Natural History Museum.

 

 

 

Which surprisingly included Walt Disney's animation desk.

 

 

They had a lot of history of L.A., as well as artifacts from other cultures and animal exhibits. Including, of course, dinosaur skeletons. 

 

 

Then I finished the day by checking out the Hollywood Reservoir.

 

 



The Last Weekend: Friday

July 25

 

Today marks the start of the last weekend I have here in L.A. So I decided to do as much as I can, starting with a tour of Sony Pictures.

 

 

There were a lot of props to see.

 

Including some famous vehicles...

 

Then we went around to some ADR studios and scoring rooms, and to some sets, including: Ray Donovan, Queen Latifah's talk show, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy.

 

After the tour, I climbed the Culver City Stairs.

 

Then went for lunch at Johnny Rocket's.

 

Then I checked out the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I wasn't able to take many pictures there, but I did see thousands of amazing painting, sculptures, and other pieces.

 

...and checked out the Tar Pits in the daytime this time.

 

Then I went back to Hollywood and ended the day by going through Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

 



Night Busses

July 23

 

Tonight after work I endured the LA transit system to see a few new places. First I checked out the motel featured on My Name is Earl.

 

 

Then I went to Burbank and saw Bento Box.

 

 

Also, today I tried Twinkies for the first time. They're okay I guess?

 



Fourth Time's the Charm

July 22

 

Tonight I finally I got in to use the telescope at Griffith Observatory.

 

 

I ended up getting a pretty good view of Saturn and its rings.

 



Santa Monica Walk

July 20

 

Today I decided to take the entire afternoon and walk from Hollywood to the Santa Monica Pier (about 25 kilometres, with some detours). The first notable location was Beverly Hills...

 

 

...where I explored Rodeo Drive.

 

 

And managed to see a Picasso in a gallery there.

 

 

After that I went to see Fox Plaza- notable for being Nakatomi Tower from Die Hard (and also Fox Studios).

 

 

For lunch I stopped by Fat Sal's Deli on a reccomendation - it was huge and delicious.

 

 

Eventually, I got to Santa Monica Pier again.

 

 

And explored a bit,

 

 

...while waiting to see the sunset.

 

 

Then I kept exploring the pier and the promenade at night. 

 

 

 

And finished off the night with dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp on the pier.