Los Angeles. It’s big. Way more land area than Paris, but stopping short of being quite as sprawling as London. Not bad going for a city that only came into meager being in 1781. And since it appeared, it’s been on a wild ride. Oil was found here, to begin with. In fact, by 1923, LA produced a quarter of the world’s oil supply (which goes some way to explaining the number of millionaires and astronomical property prices in the area).
Next, a film director named D. W. Griffith set up a studio in the Hollywood area, after running into patent difficulties with the film studios in New York. Griffith pioneered the ‘feature length movie’ idea – that movies should adhere to certain running times so that the audience knew what to expect and could plan their evening (he is also credited with pioneering the ‘close-up’ angle in movies). 500 films and a studio founded with Charlie Chaplin later, and the Hollywood film industry was born. Now, this father of film is buried in Kentucky, so you can’t visit his grave in LA. But there’s plenty more to see and do in this star-studded little ole town. A word of warning, however, that traffic here is often hectic and accidents do happen (if you are affected, turn to a speeding lawyer based in Los Angeles).
Take a tour – of famous people’s driveways
Hollywood tours of properties owned by celebrities put you in reaching-distance of how the other half lives. Aside from anything else, driving around the streets and boulevards connected to so many celebrities means that the chances of spotting a famous face are through the roof (not seeing anybody famous at all on a two hour tour of famous people’s homes is a bit like standing outside on a clear night, looking up, and focusing on a patch of sky that has no stars – you would have to be unlucky to miss out). Expect to see the current and past homes of Hollywood stars including Britney Spears, Madonna, Keanu Reeves, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Halle Berry, and… the list goes on.
Visit the Hollywood Sign
The Hollywood Sign is off-limits to regular members of the public (there’s a permanent guard stationed at all times). But that doesn’t mean that you can’t take a tour and get as close as possible for those LA selfies with the sign. Originally installed in 1923 with extra lettering that read “Hollywoodland”, the idea was nothing new (these 40 ft high signs were used to advertise housing developments). The sign fell into disrepair and was restored in 1978.
