I left Anaheim this morning at 9 AM and headed to downtown LA. Los Angeles is not known as a walking town, and there were no Volksmarches set up for downtown - there were a couple around LA, but none downtown. Have I explained yet what the Volksmarches are? My aunts do them. They are these set distance walks set up all over the place. There are 2 types of events: traditional and year-round/seasonal. Traditional events are set up similarly to traditional running races: the organizing club sets a course and there is a registration table, check points along the way, and a finish point. Year round events are self-guided tours. You go to a designated location (a hotel, coffee shop, store, etc), register by signing the book, and pick up the map/directions and follow the route. Check points are generally questions you answer about places along the way. When planning this trip, I thought about ways to really get the flavor of the cities that I was visiting, and Volksmarches seemed like an obvious choice. One of my aunts provided me with a New Member Packet that she had and also provided me with some great information regarding walks that I was considering doing. They've generally been going well and I see them as a great way to really explore these cities by foot.
However, like I said, there weren't any downtown LA walks, so instead, I found a self-guided walking tour of downtown historic buildings, which I did. It was just over 3 miles and I got to see some great historic buildings. My favorite was the Bradbury building, where many movies are filmed inside. I bet you'll recognize it. I know it mostly from one of my favorite movies, 500 Days of Summer.
One of the main things I noticed is that basically every building downtown had a sign on it saying "Call this person for Filming." It seems that many buildings support their renovations and expenses by being rented out as filming locations.
After finishing the walk, I went over to a restaurant I had previously scouted called the Lazy Ox Canteen. Had some great Sangria, Rosemary Fried Potatoes, and House-cured Salmon. A great meal. From there I went over to the David B Gamble house in Pasadena. I got there at 1:07, slightly behind schedule, as I had planned to get there for the 1:00 tour. Luckily there was a 1:15 tour and it was advertised as being an hour long. That meant I'd still have plenty of time to get over to the 3:00 tour I had reserved at the Warner Bros Studio. David B Gamble was one of the founders of Proctor & Gamble. He commissioned this house to be built for his family around 1906. It was designed and built in the Arts and Crafts style.
I couldn't take any pictures inside, but it was absolutely beautiful - amazing woodwork and detail. I'm not a fan of the Victorian style, with all its ornate details, and the Arts and Crafts movement appears to be a reaction against the Victorian style - it has clean, simple lines, and beautifully integrated structural details. Unfortunately, our tour guide was really slow (he really liked talking about the different types of wood used, which was interesting, but I was more interested in seeing everything), and there were more stops than fit into an hour. So,at 2:25, I ended up having to leave before we hit the last 2 stops on the tour (at least - I'm not totally sure how many stops I had to skip). I wish I could have stayed, but I did have to leave. At this point, I was also having to deal with scheduling arrangements for my lodging for the evening.
Up to this point, I haven't had much difficulty with the airbnb system. One of the difficulties of staying with people is that you're dependent on them for checking in - it's not like there is a desk open 24/7. Getting into Anaheim, my host for the 2 nights wasn't there when I got there, but she left her son with the key, which totally worked. When I booked this (North Hollywood) stay about 3 weeks ago (later than all of the rest because my friend that I was supposed to stay with was not going to be in town), I did tell him that I expected to arrive around 6PM. He didn't tell me that this would be a problem and instead said, "check in with me 24 hours prior to set up arrival time." As I expected, I totally forgot to do that yesterday while I was at Disneyland. So I contacted him earlier today and said "still expecting to show up at 6PM". At which point, he asked me to arrive earlier as he wouldn't be here at 6PM. I told him that was impossible because I had a Warner Bros Studio tour scheduled. His solution was for me to just come by before the tour. But because the Gamble House tour ran long, I didn't have the time (especially at the last minute) to alter my plans. He then tried to tell me that check in time was supposed to be at 3 PM (the reservation details only said that check in after 6 PM would be by special arrangement only). At this point, I was willing to just give up on it and find a hotel elsewhere, but I knew that I would lose the money I spent. I was frustrated and mad. Finally, just before I started my Warner Bros tour, he told me his friend would meet me at the house with the keys. Thank goodness. Still, so infuriating.
So after those couple of debacles, it took me a bit to get into a good frame of mind for the Warner Bros studio tour, which I was really looking forward to. But once we got onto the tram and drove onto the back lot, I couldn't help but love it. We started out with all sorts of exteriors, our tour guide Beau pointing out what buildings had been used for what movies and tv shows - the stoop that Carrie sat on smoking when they were in LA, exterior to the orphanage for the 1982 Annie, an alley way used in The Big Bang Theory, "Central Park" from where Phoebe and Rachel run in Friends, the town square in Gilmore Girls, Sookie's house in Gilmore Girls, Jack & Judy Geller's house in Friends, Miss Patty's dance studio in Gilmore Girls, the exterior of every embassy ever in The West Wing, ER bays from ER, the list goes on and on. We also got to go on the preserved set of the Friends Central Perk set. Because it is a retired set, even though it's copyrighted, we could take pictures in there and I even got my picture taken on the couch!!
If you know how much of a Friends fan I am, you'll understand how big of a thrill this was for me. Yes, I can still recite most episodes and it is totally my comfort show.
We also went onto the current set of the Ellen show and The Big Bang Theory. Because they're both current shows, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but they were quite cool. Someday, I'd like to come back to LA and go to at least one taping of a show. We also saw a bunch of cars from movies - my favorite was probably the Gran Torino from Gran Torino, but there were also Batmobiles there as well as the car from Harry Potter, the space capsule from The Big Bang Theory, and that car from The Dukes of Hazzard.
We ended the tour with a stop at the Warner Bros museum. The first floor was costumes and props from the entire history of Warner Bros studio. The second floor was all Harry Potter. I never made it to the second floor - I was too fascinated by everything on the first floor. The letter that Rachel wrote to Ross was there! 18 pages - front and back! Costumes worn by John Goodman, Ben Affleck, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Carey Mulligan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Elizabeth Taylor. I was in heaven!!
The tour cost $52 and was totally worth every penny. I would do it again tomorrow if I could. And I'd do other studio tours. More stuff on my to-do list for when I come back to LA.
After the tour concluded, I drove to my place to stay for the night (I'm in a guest house in North Hollywood - nice to have a space completely to myself for the night). I made my dinner from fruit, cheese, wine, and chocolate that I've collected over the past week or so. It's been a nice relaxing evening in catching up on the pictures and blog posts.
More wineries, farms, and history activities tomorrow. Looking forward to it!!
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