The Road To Hollywood

Welcome to Hollywood.. where dreams come true.. everybody has dreams.. what's yours?

for those who had watched Pretty Woman, u should know where that line comes from..

anyway.. i'm in Los Angeles now.. came in from Narita several days ago..

didnt do much in Narita coz i had only a day to spend there.. so i slept thru, especially coz i was sick the night before and couldnt have much rest.. so i was in my bed the entire night, reading my book (currently, Deception Point - Dan Brown), and just resting..

the weather in Narita is getting better too.. abt 8 degrees now.. they had a severe snowstorm a couple of weeks back where flights were delayed, some for 10 to 12 hours..

location info..

for those who doesnt know.. Narita is the closest city with an airport to Tokyo, in a Prefecture, or District, called Shiba.. so when u need to fly to Tokyo, u actually land in Narita instead..

perfect weather for the past few days here in Los Angeles.. really fantastic.. abt 15 to 18 degrees with sunny skies..



there's a lot of beautiful cars here in Hollywood.. Mustangs and Ferraris and Hummers..

this is a 2005 Ford Mustang, 4.5L with a V6 engine.. parked in front of the hotel..

had breakfast with the crew here at the hotel.. anyway, most of the American hotels will give u free breakfast with ur stay.. Bed & Breakfast.. even the smallest of hotels..

after breakfast, we slacked around at the crew lounge before we head down to Hollywood at abt noon..



The Road To Hollywood.. with some shadows in between..

and here's an introduction to locations again.. Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles.. doesnt mean that if u are in Hollywood, u see film crew and stars all around.. ppl live and work and school in Hollywood.. itz just like going to Tampines or Jurong.. the filming of movies are normally done in the studios which is located inside the Hollywood district.. and hundreds of movie stars live around here.. so yeah.. itz like the classy part of town..

I love the United States.. had always loved it.. the freedom, the independence, and the casual ways of the Americans..

just that therez too many homeless, beggars, robbers, killers and rapists.. and somehow.. u get the sense that these ppl lurks at every street corners..

and they do..

and i have something to say abt it at the end of this blog..

ok.. so.. at noon, left the hotel with Jasmine, Jolene and Angeline to head down to Hollywood.. took a train down to Hollywood/Highlands and Angie got freaked out by a guy pestering her for some change.. i didnt notice it though coz i was facing the other way talking to Jasmine thru the journey and Jolene fell asleep..

we walked a lil around Kodak Theatre and sat down for coffee after checking out some of the stores there..



the Kodak Theatre.. itz a nice place to hangout and shop and have a cup of coffee here..



the Hollywood sign...

therez a pub and comedy club at the Kodak Theatre.. called Wayan Brother's comedy club..

no prize for guessing who'll be there performing..

after coffee, met up with my Leading Steward, Hashim, who just got back from his sister's place, abt 2 hours away from Downtown Los Angeles.. so the five of us walked along Hollywood a lil bit to look at the Walk Of Fame, and at the Gruman's Chinese Theatre..

ok.. for those who remember the song Stole by Kelly Rowland.. there's a part that says Mann's Chinese Theatre show.. thatz the place.. itz where some of the stars are invited to put their palm or footprints with their signatures..



Mann's Chinese Theatre from across the street..



Nicolas Cage prints..



Eddie Murphy..



and Star Wars.. R2D2, C3P0 and Darth Vader..

and this was done in 1997.. way before the prequels.. the ORIGINAL Star Wars..


Mickey Mouse star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame..



and the long forgotten Harlem Globetrotters..

had a baby beef ribs lunch at a restaurant along Hollywood Boulevard, and the initial plan was to go down to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive after the meal, but coz we didnt have much time left and we would have to change buses along the way, we decided to skip that and take an easier route to Universal City, which is just one train station away..

and locations again.. Beverly Hills is a place where a lot of stars live in.. and there are some nice boutiques and malls there.. and Rodeo Drive is where u get all the high class shopping done..

other places to do stargazing would be at Bel-Air or Melrose.. there are tours that can bring u to Homes of the Stars if u wish to.. abt 50 stars i think.. including Britney Spears and all..

so, considering itz quite late, we didnt actually plan to enter the Universal Studios.. coz it was abt 5pm then, and so we decided to walk around the Universal Citywalk.. where u can sit down for drinks, or a lot of other cafes and pubs, or shop around at the boutiques there..



entrance to the road leading to Universal City..



Bad boys bad boys.. whacha gonna do when they come for you?

Martin Lawrence Gallery..



Me at the Universal Studios globe..



Hard Rock Cafe.. i took this pic coz of the cute girl thatz was walking pass us.. therez quiet an overpopulation of cute girls in Los Angeles.. but nothing that could compare to our Asian chics.. and most Americans are three times the size of the normal Us. lot's of those ppl too here in Los Angeles.. must be all the hamburgers in the diet..



a 3D hulk at the cinema entrance..



me and Hashim..

ok.. left Universal City at abt 7.30pm, and headed back to the hotel at Downtown Los Angeles..

on the way back.. in the train... the girls were asleep on the seats after a tiring day.. and me and Hashim were seated across the aisle.. there were these two stoned punks who came in and started looking at ppl in the train cabin.. one moved away to the next cabin, and the other sat down across from the girls.. observing them and their stuffs while they were asleep.. it was too obvious that he was planning to do somethings, so i stood up and woke the girls up and started to talk to the girls in Malay, with whatever that they could understand to tell them to start protecting their stuffs from being snatched.. and Hashim talked to them across the aisle, just to make him realise that if he would have attempted anything, we could overpower him and i think the two of us would probably beat the daylight out of him..

we alighted at Pershing Square, which is our stop near to the hotel, and the idiot followed us.. but we had to move to the other exit to avoid an ugly confrontation, which was a mistake.. coz we ended up alighting at the exit facing Toy District..

another location info.. Toy District is a place in Downtown Los Angeles where therez an overpopulation of homeless ppl.. and we would have to pass through a rough Mexican neighbourhood to get back.. and with all that criterias, chances of anyone of us surviving a night there without gunshot wounds are quite slim.. so we headed back to the train station and walked towards the other exit and back to the hotel..

and to think of it.. this guy, in his early 20s, though stoned, looked quite proper.. and i think if he sober up and have a holiday in Singapore, a lot of our girls here would go goo-goo-gaga over him.. ang moh mah..

but back in his own hometown.. heh.. good luck to my SPG friends..

and here i am.. woke up just to blog this up before i forget what happened coz i wont be getting an internet connection tmrw as i'll be leaving for Tokyo in an hour from now..

i still love Los Angeles.. one of my favourite places in the world.. just stay away from ghettos and if u wanna live here.. get a car..

Welcome to Hollywood.. make your dreams come true.. What's YOUR dream?