If you ever want to experience no traffic in LA 5:00 on a Saturday morning might be as close as it gets. We traveled from Pasadena all the way to Santa Monica Pier. We even went past the original 1930s end of Route 66 at Broadway and 7th.
It was a brisk morning to stroll along the pier, only about 50 degrees. Who would have thought we'd get all the way to LA and it would be warmer in Wisconsin. It was still fun to celebrate the end our first leg of vacation.
After taking in the pier we hopped in our car and drove along Wilshire and Sunset Blvd. until we reached Hollywood. We took short walk taking in the Walk of Fame and historic Chinese Theater.
Then we were off to our 9 o'clock Warner Brothers studio tour. If you are ever in LA we would both highly recommend the tour. The first two hours were spent with a guide seeing the different backlot areas. We visited several costume and prop studios, where we saw all of the batmobiles, Harry Potter costumes, and the desk from the TV show The West Wing to name a few.
A big part of the tour was seeing all of the different backdrops they have and hearing about how they can be dressed to look different. Around every corner there seemed to be a Friends episode, since almost the entire series was shot at the studio. One of the highlights for us was seeing the set used for Gilmore Girls. If you are a fan you might recognize some of the pictures below.
We also got see a live TV studio. Our group saw the set for the Big Bang Theory. It was pretty cool to see the two apartments and the broken elevator. This was one of the few areas we weren't allowed to take pictures.
The tour then ended with a self guided portion. You could get a coffee and a photo op at Central Perk. There was also an exhibit that walked you through the movie magic process. You could also take some really cool pictures. One of the talked about setting up perspective and you could take a picture like you were a hobbit! All in all a very neat experience.
After the tour we caught up with our friend April, who has been living in LA. We had lunch at Mel's Diner. After lunch Jake and I went and took our picture in front of the Hollywood sign, can't leave town without that!
It was about 3 and LA traffic was catching up with us. We decided we had our share of Hollywood and headed out of town. We spent the night at Route 66 Motel in Barstow, CA.
