LA: Hollywood, Venice & Santa Monica

I'm with stupid!
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Hmm, where to start with LA, Hollywood is the obvious choice. I took the Greyhound bus from San Diego and arrived into downtown LA mid morning. This was the scariest place I've been yet in my whole trip. I was standing in the middle of some street waiting for a bus to central downtown, where I could transfer to my hostel. Mexican dudes were walking up and down the street behind me, and I was pretty sure I might get mugged. Then I spotted someone touristy looking coming towards my stop, turns out it was an English girl who was actually staying at the same hostel, and was able to show me the whole way there, luck eh!!

Tree man
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Anyway, having got the worst over with, I explored Hollywood Blvd. Funnily enough, there is no Planet Hollywood in Hollywood, ironic? I did the Celebrity Stars tour of Beverly Hills and Hollywood Hills. It was okay, but all you see are closed gates and trees! The walk of fame is basically a load of stars along a big long footpath, its decent although I havnt heard of most of them! The Chinese theatre is good, where you see all the celebrity hand and foot prints. The next day, I took a trip up to see the Hollywood sign, walking up some hill in the searing heat, watching out for rattle snakes. Its actually quite nice up in the hills, Hollywood seems a million miles away from downtown. Got a decent photo of the sign, you can't actually go all the way up to it. Also walked down Sunset Boulevard, the area with most of the shops and stuff. I found the Viper Room, its the bar formerly owned by Johnny Depp, where River Phoenix died. Its closed during the day, so I didnt get to have a drink there, good to see though.

street along the beach, the boardwalk is full with all sorts of 'performers', stalls, artists and religious nuts

Santa Monica Baywatch!
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The next day I switched hostels and moved out to Venice beach. Venice is simply the weirdest, most hippy place I have ever come across, ever!! The street along the beach, the boardwalk is full with all sorts of 'performers', stalls, artists and religious nuts. Everything from muscle men, tree men, medical marijuana clinics, and some quite brilliant artists! Sunday even had a Hare Krishna parade, which attraced those nice peaceful Hare Krisna folk, but also some hardcore nuts, banging on about how we're all going to hell cos we don't respect the bible. Someone (local I think) actually made a sign that say '< Im with Stupid' and stood beside the Jesus freak,which was funny!

me at the hollywood sign
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Saturday night also deserves a mention. I met up with an Aussie bloke who I shared with. He introduced me to this drink 'Four Loco', which is like a pint of Red Bull type stuff, but with 12.5% alcohol mixed in. We drank that on the way to the pub, it doesn't kick in for a while, but then it just hits you, and you're hammered! I think I had 3 drinks in the pub, but was pretty drunk. I think I'll stay away from that one in future!

Sunday was spent on the beach taking in the whole beach life. The Pacific Ocean is pretty strong, it has massive waves and a pretty strong current. As you can imagine this place is full of skateboarders, surfers and smoke shops. Jim Morrison is from LA, so in the evening, I went to see a Doors tribute band, that were really good.

Michael Jackson Star on Walk of Fame
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Today, I went up to Santa Monica. There is a world of difference between there and Venice. Santa Monica is only up the road, but its nice and civilized but good looking california people! Went up to the pier, there was some cool breakdancers putting on a show. There were a few good buskers playing in the main shopping street aswell, decent place Santa Monica.

Im heading up the coast tomorrow. The plan is to stop in Santa Barabara for one night, and Santa Cruz for 2 nights. After that its San Franciso time! Ive put plenty of pics up on Picasa awell, so you can get a feel for the place :)