Hollywood Boulevard: Third Time’s a Charm

Jill's Journal: After twice heading to Hollywood Boulevard only to find it shut down for a movie premiere, we finally made it on a “normal” day. (I use that term loosely, as there’s nothing normal about Hollywood Blvd. or Tinseltown!)

By the way, this is what the very famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre looks like with a red carpet laid out for a premiere. The movie set to premiere on that particular day was “This Means War.” If we’d wanted to stake out a spot, we could have waited and seen Reese Witherspoon and her co-stars walk down that red carpet just a little after we were there. Nah. That might be fun for us adults to do once, but we’re not going to put our little kids through that madness.

Here’s Grauman’s on a regular day. Right on Hollywood Blvd., this iconic landmark has been here since 1927. Built by Sid Grauman, the man who is credited with “inventing” movie premieres, this theatre was the home of the Academy Awards a few times in the 1940s. In addition to premieres and other big events, it’s still a regular theatre.

Grauman’s Chinese Theatre is built to look like a giant Chinese pagoda. Looking up, it’s easy to be taken by the unique exterior. But it’s in looking down that one sees the theatre’s enduring legacy: the 200+ celebrities whose handprints and footprints are immortalized in concrete in the forecourt.

It didn’t take long for the girls to find one of the three horse hoofprints also in the concrete. This one was Roy Rogers’ Trigger.

George Burns along with his cigar.

Marilyn Monroe, with Jane Russell immediately to the left. Monroe wanted to add her famous derriere and Russell wanted to add her equally famous bosom, but both were deemed a little too risqué for the time.

His and Hers: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

Star Wars (the premiere was one of the many held at Grauman’s over the years).

Tom Hanks. I’m not sure if he has really small feet or if Erika has really big feet!

Will Smith (with Matt Damon just below). “Parents just don’t understand.” (Does that age me?)

George Clooney. Swoon.

Jack Nicholson. “You can’t handle the truth!”

Robin Williams. Carpe diem.

Harrison Ford. Indy!

The only thing on Hollywood Blvd. more famous than Grauman’s might be the Walk of Fame. There’s over 2,400 stars emblazoned in the sidewalk on both sides of the street. They cover 15 blocks, plus a few side streets. This sculpture, featuring starlets of the past (that’s Mae West in the front), marks the head of the Walk of Fame, which began in 1960.

These may not have been the first stars laid in the sidewalk, but they’re the very first two stars one sees from the westernmost start of the Walk of Fame: Elvis Presley and The Beatles, side by side.

The girls love Elvis. :)

And I love this picture of little Victoria, with her strong personality and little 4-year-old baby tummy, telling her sisters off about something. And they’re taking it! She is going to rule the world someday. Aren’t third children supposed to be easy going? She blows all birth order theories out of the water. Happily, when she’s not mad, she is the sweetest, most loving little thing in the world. But, boy oh boy, does she have a temper (and a stubborn streak).

Mickey Mouse! Oh my, how the girls are looking forward to Disneyland. Soon.

But we have raised these girls right. They were more excited about running across Jerry Moss’ star than Mickey Mouse’s! How many little kids even know who Moss is? (For that matter, how many adults outside of the music or Thoroughbred industry do?) Moss is the “M” in A&M Records, who helped launch the recording careers of acts like Sting and The Police. He also happens to own one of the greatest fillies of all time, the 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta (who was, incidentally, named after a The Police album). The magnificent Zenyatta…that’s why the girls were so excited. :)

Speaking of Sting…!

Also on Hollywood, just steps from Grauman’s, is the Kodak Theatre. This is where the Academy Awards are held these days.

Here’s the view from Hollywood and Highland and our last glimpse of the Hollywood sign. It’s a fitting farewell to our time in Los Angeles.

Cemetery of the Stars

Jill's Journal: It’s been a hoot running all over the greater Los Angeles area seeing former homes of family members. We’ve also visited several cemeteries to sort of document deceased relatives for the girls in case they’re interested someday. And I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but we have visited one cemetery just for “fun.” Yes, we went to see Marilyn Monroe’s gravesite. Happily, we weren’t alone – numerous other tourists were doing the same thing.

Almost completely hidden by tall buildings in the Westwood Village area of L.A. is a tiny, two-acre cemetery called the Pierce Bros. Westwood Village Memorial Park. It’s better known as the “cemetery of the stars.” There’s been famous people buried at all the other cemeteries we’ve visited here in L.A., but the concentration of celebrities at Pierce Bros. is mind-boggling. Other than Marilyn Monroe, who is obviously the biggest attraction here, the other graves I snapped pictures of below were ones we just happened to walk past on our way to or from Monroe’s. Apparently we missed a lot too: later we learned others like Natalie Wood, Truman Capote, Donna Reed, Peter Falk, Burt Lancaster, Frank Zappa, Janet Leigh, Walter Matthau, Roy Orbison, and a host of others are here as well.

Note the lipstick kisses on the crypt.

Look how discolored Monroe’s crypt is, apparently from so many people touching it over the last 50 years. And see that empty spot right next to her? That’s where Hugh Hefner will rest someday.

The inscription on Rodney Dangerfield’s grave cracked us up: “There goes the neighborhood.”

Mel Torme.

Fanny Brice.

Farrah Fawcett.

Jack Lemmon.

Dean Martin.

Merv Griffin must have had a sense of humor: "I will not be right back after this message.”

Don Knotts.

Carroll O’Connor.

We had no idea who Billy Wilder was, but I loved his sentiment: “I’m a writer but then nobody’s perfect.” It turns out he had won Academy Awards as writer, director, and producer. Among the movies he wrote were Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch, and Sabrina. He may not have been perfect, but he was awfully successful.