Los Angeles - Day 2 (11/16/2006)
Today we walked from our hotel, the Vagabond Inn on Figueroa, to the campus of
the University of Southern California, where Laura did research all of Monday
(two days before I arrived). We then drove through the Hollywood Hills to the
Warner Brothers studio for our VIP tour (a much-more scholarly tour than the
game-park tour of Universal Studios). We actually passed right by Matthew Perry
(of "Friends" fame) taking a break from filming his new TV show. We then drove
to the northwest part of Griffith Park to a location never visited by tourists,
Bronson Cave. It's the site of an amazing number of 1930s and 1940s cliffhangers
(serials), and afforded a terrific look at the famous Hollywood sign. Finally,
still not tired of driving, we found the site (just off Sunset Boulevard) of one
of the greatest of all screen comedies, the Oscar-winning short film of Laurel
and Hardy's entitled "The Music Box".
In the evening, we attended a showing of a documentary of silent film star Theda
Bara at the historic "barn" (the first Hollywood studio, used by Cecil B. DeMille
for "The Squaw Man"). The building is now the Hollywood Heritage Museum. Among the
sixty or so present was Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy!
It was a busy day!
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Shrine Auditorium |
Statue nearby |
Doheny Library of USC |
Bovard Administration |
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Doheny Library |
Two gigantic banyan trees |
Bicycles abound |
George Tirebiter |
Tommy Trojan |
Bovard Administration |
Giant cactus |
Jefferson Blvd. entrance |
Shrine Auditorium |
Warner Bros. studio Gate 5 |
Warner Bros. historic water tower |
Entrance to VIP tour |
Costumes (Matrix, Terminator, Harry Potter) |
Harry Potter car |
"Friends" set |
Warners backlots |
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Town square |
"Little House on the Prairie" |
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Gangster streets |
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Fire road to Bronson Cave |
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Hollywood hills chateaus |
First glimpse of the cave |
Laura at the west entrance |
Inside |
Looking east |
Laura in "The Searchers" |
Eastern entrance |
We met two actors |
Smaller side hole |
High nearby slopes |
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Good view of Hollywood sign |
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"The Music Box" steps |
Filmed on these very steps |
Memorial plaque |
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Looking down |
Sign at the top |
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