Everybody Goes to Hollywood

On Friday I went to Hollywood with a couple of friends. We had plans to hike up to the Hollywood sign but that didn't exactly happen. After the tiny hike we did walk around Hollywood. Let me tell you, I have a love hate relationship with this part of Los Angeles. But we can get to that later.

I woke up on Friday at 6:50am (sometimes it doesn't make sense the way I set my alarm) and left my house at 7:20 to pick up my friends in LA. By the time we left LA for Hollywood the sun was out and shining heavily on us. I've hiked the Hollyridge Trail up to the Hollywood sign twice before and had no trouble finding parking because we got there early enough. Friday we got there too late because there were tons of people hiking up Beachwood Dr. where they parked their cars. So I parked my car on Beachwood Dr. and then we walked up to the start of the trail. I had never really noticed a lot of the houses leading up to the trail but they are sooo beautiful! Some of them have an old world medieval feel, some of them look like little cottages and some of them are very modern. That might seem weird to have so many different styles of houses next to each other but it works for some reason. It must be that eccentric Hollywood air.The houses at the bottom of the hill have the most beautiful unobstructed view of the Hollywood sign. It's amazing. Nevertheless, I would not want to live on that particular street because it is crowded with cars and hikers. Anyway...once we finally walked up to the entrance of the trail we just went a little bit into it to see views of the city. I absolutely love views form hills and mountains! I don't know what it is but it makes me very emotional! When I lived in Germany I missed this very much because I was in a part of Germany that's very flat. Once we started travelling and we got to eastern Deutschland I saw hills and it was so amazing! It made me miss CA. So we just took some pictures and then went back down to my car to hang around Hollywood for awhile. Being us...the first thing we did was eat on Sunset. Haha. After that we walked around Hollywood Blvd. This is where my hate relationship comes in to place. Hollywood Blvd is such a tourist trap and on a Saturday--ughhhh--you have no place to walk. In the morning it's pretty much just shopping, eating and wax museum central. At night it's the same deal, the difference would be that more bars and clubs are open. I don't mind it at night but Hollywood just isn't my favorite place to be. The first time I went to Hollywood I was about 10 years old and I was so disappointed. I thought Hollywood was a place where you see celebrities and everything is beautiful and you get discovered but I was wrong. Well not totally...we saw a D lister on Friday. Basically, when I know people are coming to LA for the first time I would not take them to Hollywood first. That would be the last resort. Maybe it's because I'm not a native of the area so I clearly don't know that much about it. Maybe it's because I don't like being in such crowded walking areas where people are walking directly behind you and if you stop for a second they'll bump into you. But this won't be the last time I go to Hollywood. One day I'll figure the city out and maybe learn to sort of like it...and not only because I've been drinking :p