#76 - Find the celebrity with the same size feet/hands at the Chinese Theater in LA

I was able to do a quick weekend trip to California, so of course, I decided I needed to cross off a few things on the bucket list.  :)

Not only was I able to cross off a few items, I was able to do a few additional things I didn't even think about....but more about that after #76.

So, when I was a kid, my dad would always have a work convention in the summer; one year, it was in Anaheim.  To keep us kids occupied during the day, the convention had activities for parents to leave their kids during the day.  Basically, it was doing touristy things around whatever city it was the convention was located in.  One of the days we were in Anaheim, they put us on a bus and took us all around the Los Angeles area, including Hollywood and Beverly Hills.  I remember we were able to get off of the bus and walk around the Chinese Theater, where they have the stars' of past and present hand and foot prints.  At that time, I know I walked through the entire courtyard, figuring out which star had the same size hands and feet; however, I don't remember who it was!  So I knew I wanted to go find that out again.

So I headed over to the Chinese Theater to check out the star studded walkway.  I walked around, looking at all of the cement slabs, trying to find out who hand the same size hands as me.


Julie Andrews' hands





Judy Garland's hands and feet

And you can imagine my happiness when I found out that my hands were the same size as, yes, Judy Garland and Julie Andrews.  Both of them. 

So figuring out the identical hand twin was pretty easy.....finding the foot twin was a bit more difficult.  Now, I've decided that women from the 20s to 40s have the smallest feet EVER.  I mean, just look at Judy Garland's compared to my hand.  I could literally fit Judy Garland in the palm of my hand.  So needless to say, I could not find my foot twin with any of the women there.  Also, I was wearing my Uggs, which are just a bit bulkier than the heels women seem to be wearing. 

So, I had to go with looking at the guy's feet prints.  Now, I'm not sure what that says about me, or them.  My feet fit Frank Sinatra's kicks.  Do I have man feet?  Or do the guys have very feminine shoes? 

Well, I figured it out.  If they have their hand and feet prints in the cement, I think I can get mine in there as well. :)  I even saw a few empty stars along Hollywood Blvd.  I bet my name can fit perfectly on one of those stars....I was meant for Hollywood. ;)  ha!

Well, I was able to do a bit more while I was along Hollywood Blvd.  The first night I was there, I hit up the Egyptian Theater.  They were showing The Godfather.  I had never seen it; and now, I have no idea how I've gone so long without seeing it!  That was such a great movie.  I have to say that Sonny was my favorite, and I was pretty bummed when (spoiler alert) he was straight-up gunned down on his way to lay the smackdown.  It was really cool to see a movie in such a historic theater.  The ceiling looks the same as from the original. 

There's also another theater along Hollywood Blvd - El Capitan.  This is where they show a lot of the Disney premiers.  I went to see Tron.  I hadn't seen a preview for it - the only thing I had heard about the movie was from a friend, where she said it didn't look good.  Well, proved her wrong - I actually liked the movie.  I think potentially because it was about video games.  It was kind of cool - at the very beginning of the movie, they had this cool light show for about 3-5 minutes.







Front of El Capitan



 

But all in all, the movie was pretty good.  Parts were predictable (the end - incredibly predictable...), but it had Alex from The O.C. in it!  That in itself makes it a great movie.

   

So speaking of The O.C.....back in the summer of 2005, I went on a trip to California with my parents.  It was at the peak time that I loved the show The O.C., so when my dad said I could pick anywhere I wanted to go visit for a week, for some reason, I chose to go to California.  Obviously, I didn't do enough research before we left to know that the majority of the show isn't filmed in Newport Beach, but it's filmed in Redendo Beach.  Well, my parents and I flew into San Diego, and then we drove up to LA along the coast.  I tried to see if we could find where they filmed the show....too bad, we weren't anywhere near where they do the filming, so I saw absolutely nothing.  Well, this time (you know, years after the show is done), I found the website that tells you where all of the locations were filmed.  This is The O.C. Filming Locations.  This even had all of the addresses of the places, so I could easily throw them into my GPS and start heading to the locations.

So, one day for lunch, I headed off to Redondo Beach to see the diner where the core four would eat.  It was at the Redondo Beach Coffee Shop.  I just had to sit in one of the booths they sat in. 

I had one of the best omelets ever there.  It was really cool to be in there, because basically it was like I was on the set of The O.C.  (Did I mention that I have a bit of an obsession of that T.V. show?)  But seriously, if you're ever in the area, I would highly recommend stopping here for a meal.   

Then I walked along the Redondo pier, which is where Ryan and Seth used to bike/skateboard.  At the end of it is the building that they considered to be the Bait Shop.  The place is closed/shut down.  Apparently, they only used the outside to be considered the Bait Shop - they never went inside the building.  You can see the orange mesh "gate" to keep the place closed off from people.



The Bait Shop





Redondo Pier

It was pretty cool seeing these different places that I've seen so many times from watching my DVDs.

Then, I had to drive from LA to San Diego.  On my way out of town, I had to make one more stop.  My friends and I always joke around about the Mermaid Inn from The O.C.  It's suppose to be this sleezy/sketchy motel.  Well, that website had the address to the hotel, so of course, I had to make a quick stop by to get a picture before I hit the highway down to San Diego.  Now it's not truly called the "Mermaid Inn," but it's the same location/building (as per that website.)



Front of the "Mermaid Inn"





The hotel room where Julie Cooper and Luke met

So, while I got to do a little Hollywood Blvd. tour, I also added a bit of The O.C. sightseeing that I hadn't really thought about doing until I got there. :)  There was a few other things I did, such as tour the Kodak theater and shop along Rodeo Drive, but for being out here for only a few days, I've done quite a bit!  Slowly, falling in love with California.