#1 - Hooray For Hollywood!

Anyone who has known me for any length of time will not be surprised to learn that I have chosen our Los Angeles vacation in the summer of 1999 as my veryfavoritetripinthewholeworldever! I can talk for hours on end about it and all the fun we had. This was the vacation I was born to take my friends. Every movie I'd seen, every TV show I watched, every celebrity I had obsessed over had prepared me for such a time as this. I had as much fun planning it as anything. I scoured over the pages of travel guides and set my sights on having the time of my life.

The first order of business was securing a hotel. I had seen enough episodes of COPS to know that there are certain areas of Los Angeles that are, shall we say, questionable. Since I had no real sense of safe vs. gang bang territory I opted to find a hotel in the one part of town guaranteed to provide security. Beverly Hills Baby! Handiman and I stayed in a small, clean, nicely furnished hotel in the heart of 90210. It fit our budget and it had a complimentary breakfast buffet. And we could tell everyone we knew we were staying in Beverly Hills, which was ultimately the most important thing.

Once we touched down I was on a mission. I had a strenuous itinerary planned and there wasn't a second to lose. We immediately headed to Hollywood Blvd. We saw the Walk of Fame and Mann's Chinese Theater. We visited Griffith Observatory (made famous by "Rebel without a Cause") which has the most beautiful views of the city. We hiked up to the Hollywood Sign and then got lost driving through the Hollywood Hills. Handiman also made the first celebrity sighting of the trip. I was waiting in the car while he went into a store to buy water. He came out absolutely beside himself. "You'll never guess who I just saw!!!" I was exasperated that I had missed it. Who was it? Brad Pitt? George Clooney? Nope "Gage from Emergency!!!!!" he said with great enthusiasm. Okie Dokie then.

The next day was spent at all the tourist traps. We saw the La Brea Tar Pits which happens to be located right beside the E! Entertainment Bldg. (No surprise I was more excited about that than the tar). We shopped in Century City, ate at The Farmer's Market and then headed to the Petersen Auto Museum. This, as you might have guessed, was Handiman's idea and I relented in order to appease him for putting up with all my squealing and geek-like fangirl outbursts. I ended up enjoying it because The General Lee and a cab from Seinfeld were on display. That night we dined at The Ivy and spotted Courtney Cox & Lionel Richie. Score!!!

Our third day was spent seeing how the other half lives. The half that's way richer, prettier and more famous than I could ever dream of dreaming of. We toured Rodeo Drive and I got followed around in the Gucci store by employees not unlike those found in Pretty Woman. Speaking of Pretty Woman, I let out one of those fangirl squeals when we passed the Regent Beverly Wilshire. I totally did. We then drove up Mullholand Drive and into Brentwood & Bel Air. On our way out we saw Bundy Drive and since this was right after the whole OJ debacle we decided to try and find Nicole Simpson's house. It was morbid and slightly inappropriate I know but we were tourists from Tennessee. What do you expect? We ended the night by having dinner at Spago. It was towards the end of our meal that Handiman whispered "you'll never guess who's sitting right behind you. Isaac from The Love Boat." No Way! This was a child from the 80's dream come true. I was so excited I had to take a look. Ummm...nice try Handiman but not so much. It was this guy. I still 9 years later have no idea who he is. But I know he ain't Isaac from The Love Boat.

This was also the day that my obsessive need to get inside The Beverly Hills Hotel caused Handiman great distress and humiliation that involved our rental car (the very classy Mercury Mystique) and about 10 valets. I won't go into what happened but it was not our finest hour. He got me however and we had lunch there. We didn't exactly blend with the clientele but I didn't care.

Day four was one for the record books. We took a studio tour of Warner Bros. If you ever go to LA this is the one thing I highly recommend doing. Especially if you're a TV and movie nut like me. They drove us around the studio lots in a giant golf cart. We saw the permanent "Western Town" set where most movie westerns are shot. Will Smith had shot a music video there the day before. I was excited to have my picture taken standing on the steps of the church from Little House on the Prairie. We saw the "Big City" set used in the Batman movies and many TV shows. I even got to stand in the ambulance bay entrance from "ER" (insert fangirl squeal). The best moment for me was the "Town Square". It was used in many TV shows (including Dukes of Hazzard) but I immediately recognized it from "The Music Man". I stood on Marion the Librarians front porch!!! It was almost too much to handle. At the end of the tour our guide asked if we'd be interested in going inside the "Friends" studio even though they weren't filming. Ummmm...yes?!?! It was still set up from the finale that year that was set in Las Vegas (for you aficionados of the show). I must say that Monica's apartment is itsybitsytiny.

On day five we toured the beach towns like Malibu, Venice & Marina Del Ray. We explored the Santa Monica Pier and and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway. Really magnificent, by the way.

Our final day we spent touring NBC and attending a taping of The Tonight Show. On our way out we passed the outdoor set of Days Of Our Lives (insert HUGE fangirl squeal) and I had Handiman snap my photo right in front of it where a sign said "No Photos Please". Excuse me but I may never be here again and Marlena & Roman sat right here at this table so I 'll be snapping a photo thankyouverymuch. It was all kinds of awesome.

You can see from how much I've rambled on that we loved this trip. It's a good thing because the very next year our sweet daughter was born and we ceased taking cool trips like this. One day we'll go back but until then I can annoy all my friends by shouting "I've Been There!!!" every time we watch something on TV. Because I totally have.

At Mann's Chinese Theater:

Here we are on the Warner Bros. lot at Marion the Librarian's house. It was also used as Monica's and Ross' parents house on "Friends":