Day 20 - Los Angeles - Celebrity houses, oh how the other half live!

When I was on the bus home yesterday I realised that they had only validated my ticket for 24 hours. Grrrh, so it meant I was deliberating as to what I could do today. Do I chance wandering around making a stab at finding the bus again, only to find that I might not be able to get the bus because of the bus company's incompetence or do I not bother, book onto some other tour, complain try and get my money back etc.?

I had done some research into the celebrity homes tours which all looked pretty good, but unfortunately most started in Hollywood, so I actually had to get there i.e. my bus pass would be pretty useful. At breakfast I had the sudden brainwave that apparently there was a bus from outside my hostel which ran till 9.30am (I forgot to mention that on the way back home, the bus stopped right outside the street across from my hostel).
With that in mind, I rushed through what I was having, neglected my cup of tea and rushed off, with the thought, if the driver rejects my ticket at least I haven't wasted half the morning walking over to a stop in Santa Monica where I still don't know where the stop is, only to find my ticket is rejected. I also put my tea in my room thinking, if things don't work out, at least I have a cup of tea to come back to, to reheat, when I can come back to the hostel and replan my day.

9.30am came and went and then I glanced down at the map (which I had from being on the bus yesterday) and realised I was probably, (I can't be certain) in the wrong place. I decided to stay put for a bit, and then the bus rocked up. I decided, old school style, to flag it down, so have absolutely no idea if it stopped intentionally or whether the driver was being polite. She clearly wasn't in a hurry and realised the mistake with the ticket so all was well. I had to re-listen to the commentary again from yesterday as I was pretty much doing the exact same route, but never mind. I hadn't actually booked my celebrity homes tour yet, but as they ran hourly I thought I'd chance it as I got to Hollywood, as I had no idea how long it would take to get there, with it being Sunday. As I got nearer, I thought I wouldn't risk the 12pm one, so booked the 1pm slot, but decided to wander over to the meeting point so at least I knew where it was. When I got there, luck would have it that they actually had spaces on the 12pm, and would I like to go any earlier? Awesome!

First stop on the trip was the Hollywood Sign. I'd snapped a pic of it yesterday from a distance, but it didn't look particularly good in the rain, whereas today the sun had come out and plus we were much closer.

Leonard DiCaprio's Hollywood Hills House!

We then drove around the Hollywood Hills and Mulholland Drive, where there are a bunch of very nice houses with pretty awesome views, many of which are owned by celebrities. The downside is that this is a high risk fire area. The other area of town very populated by celebs is of course Beverly Hills, which we would visit later, but the bonus to living in Hollywood Hills (other than the views) is that the houses are a lot more spread out. There was a beautiful place which had an infinity pool (I'm still not convinced I could deal with that), and then a small property worth $13.5m belonging to non other than Leonardo DiCaprio! The biggest shock was that it was only $13.5m. There are places round here that are between the $3m and $5m mark. London is such a rip off!
We also got to see the former home of Whitney Houston.

We passed by various film locations too - unsurprisingly a lot of scenes from films are shot here in Hollywood - most of these passed me by, but there was one which I was aware of from E.T. I'll have to rewatch that, and look out for it!

Off to Beverly Hills next which is probably even better known for being the place to live if you are someone and have money. Elvis Presley lived here at one point (his home is now rather aptly owned by the owner of the Hard Rock Cafe), we also got a sneak peak at the residence of the King of Pop when he died, and got to see the house exterior of the pop star creator (albeit for a few months...), Simon Cowell.
There were loads of other beautiful houses which just belonged to random people with lots of money. It's a very pretty neighbourhood. One random fact about Beverly Hills is that all the trees on each street match, so if one street has palm trees then the whole street will have palm trees on both sides all the way up. Another street might have oak trees and so on.
People can also offer up their houses for filming if they wish.
I've taken a photo of the famous Beverly Hills shield. This is copyrighted and is in high demand to be used in films. It can only be used for personal photography - in professional cases a fee needs to be paid! I'm not making money off this blog so I'm okay haha.

After we had finished gazing into the homes of the rich and famous it was time to have a look at how else they spend their wealth. Shopping! Rodeo Drive is a street full of designer shops. You can tell my knowledge of fashion by the fact I hadn't heard of half of the places! Apparently, if the blinds are drawn in the shop, it's because there's someone famous in there who doesn't want to be papped.

I really enjoyed the tour, although I think it's pretty crazy to think that people are that interested in where celebs eat and shop. I was just interested in the nice looking houses and slightly curious about who lived in them! Apparently there are some equally nice houses in Malibu, just along the coast, where there are tours to as well, but I think I'll run out of time what with my plans for gymnastics tomorrow.

When I got back, I started off on a walk to watch the sunset, which then turned into a walk to find food too. I ended up in Santa Monica so decided to explore the Pier a bit. I ate a weird veggie hot dog. The jalapeño sauce was a definite let down.
The Pier is also the end of Route 66.


When I got home, I still had the cup of tea, which I reheated, so a win all round!

Last day tomorrow, and my plans are basically to go to gymnastics if I can figure out the Uber / Lyft apps and then chill.