Beverly Hills and Hollywood - Summer Vacation 2016

Darcy informed us that today was the day for her to visit the Buzz Feed offices. She and Madison have watched these videos so often that some nights we just have a Buzz Feed night, watching videos of these employees trying out different products. Darcy has become obsessed and so she needed to feed her obsession. Her plan was to stalk the offices during lunch time in the hopes they would come and go so that she could see them.

It didn't go as planned. Our GPS took us to the new offices instead of the current offices. According to Darcy, this is the building that will eventually house the group. She has seen the tour, but unfortunately, it wasn't the place she wanted. We got back into the car and headed to Beverly Hills and the current office.

Alas, lunch time had come and gone and so she saw no one and refused to allow Tom to peer into the windows or knock on the door in hopes that someone would let us in. Instead we headed to Rodeo Drive to do some shopping and act like tourists. The girls shopped at Prada, Louis Vitton, and Sephora. No purchases were made, although they did look at a $40,000 purse.

Tom: "$4,000 for a purse?"

Me: "It was $40,000."

Tom: "No. No. Let me clarify that with Madison."

Madison: "$40,000 purse."

Tom: "For a bag? What would you put inside that?"

Me: "Uh?"

Tom: "Never mind. I know. Your empty wallet."

We left Beverly Hills and drove into Hollywood. Madison and Tom left us at the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Highland to get something to drink at a McDonald's so Darcy and I went into a tacky tourist trap and bought some tacky souvenirs. Happy with our gifts we started down the Hollywood Walk of Fame toward the Chinese Theater.

The main road was closed and we didn't pay much attention to why until we got halfway down the sidewalk. In front of the El Capitan Theatre the premiere for Disney's new movie BFG, due in theaters July 1st, was getting ready to start. The red carpet was laid out for the stars who were to arrive in limos up the closed road. People were lined up in droves on either side of the cordon area waiting patiently for said stars. We had no idea who was even in the movie so we looked it up online, and except for Steven Spielberg, we weren't sure of most of the actors. We hung around a bit, but no one appeared and so we decided to head into the Chinese theater where we went upstairs to the deck and had a decent view of the action below.

We spent a lot of time wandering around. There were shops and restaurants and a decent view of the famous Hollywood sign which I Googled to read about, and discovered that a caretaker once lived in a cottage behind one of the "L's". It is now owned by the city and is part of Griffith Park.

We kept going back to check the premiere for arrivals, but no one seemed too eager to arrive. We saw people, but had no idea who was important and who wasn't. Eventually hunger got the best of us and we had dinner on the upper deck at a Johnny Rockets. When we came out we had missed the arrival of most of the important people, but I did get to see one of the actresses, Rebecca Hall, who was quite chatty with reporters despite the closing of the doors to the theatre. Of course, I had no idea who Rebecca Hall was, and still don't even after reading about her.

We moved on as the movie began and the sidewalk opened back up. We went into the forecourt of the Chinese Theater where 200 movie stars left their imprints; feet, hands, and signatures. I wondered how the stars were chosen to be immortalized in the cement as the variety went from the stars of the 1930's to those of today.

The streets were lined with people dressed in various costumes charging to have a photo taken with them. There was a Minion, Minnie Mouse, Tinkerbell, and movie characters. I wasn't paying much attention as I was reading the names of the stars as I walked. I went right past what I thought was a statue, and he scared the hell out of me when he moved and made noise.

I stood and watched him awhile waiting for Tom (in the background there) to walk past him. He finally did and the statue didn't move. Tom wandered on and the statue turned to me and showed me his cup was empty. I felt bad at not putting something in it since my nephew played a statue for cash once, but instead I bought some water from his handler.

Outside of the Theater was Madame Tussauds, but the prices were crazy. I was taking a photo of Johnny Depp who seemed to be staring right at me at the entrance, and while I was doing that Tom was wheeling and dealing with the girl at the gate. She fell for his charm and let us all in for half price.

What a fascinating place. Figures made of wax that take hours, days, weeks, and months to complete. We were allowed to interact with the figures, but we weren't allowed to touch their faces. Some where eerily real while others needed more work to convince me. What was really crazy was that after awhile you thought real people were statues and statues real people. 

We left the wax museum and continued walking. It was getting dark and so we decided we would cross the street and walk down the opposite side to see what we had missed. We got as far as the El Capitan Theatre and were stopped. The premiere was letting out and the blocks were once again back up making it impossible for us to continue. We joined the crowd and then the fun began.