Tourist Time in Hollywood

Cliché photographs, huge crowds, famous landmarks, inflated prices; from those who love it, to those who avoid it like the plague, to those like myself, who view it as a guilty indulgence, a chance to take the easy yet cheesy route, playing the role of super tourist divides opinion.

After swerving in and out the masses of crowds along the Walk of Fame, dodging people holding up traffic to get photographs of the Hollywood Sign and driving down Sunset Boulevard pondering if the jet black SUV with jet black tint on its windows was a celebrity in transit, it was clear we had ticked off a lot of the usual Americana to-do list.

California, here we are.

I'd heard LA was quintessential America and from the moment I've stepped off the plane I've felt like I've been dropped onto a movie set. From the cab drivers, to the street artists, to the homeless people that litter Venice Beach, in a way it almost feels like I'm not seeing anything new. Everything is exactly as I pictured it, which is not a bad thing, but it's almost eery.

Our Armenian-come-American cab driver gave us a slight hint of what to expect as we grinded to a halt on one of LA's sprawling freeways. "Welcome to LA", he laughed, before explaining the unusual Sunday afternoon gridlock was for most the part caused by a massive exodus of the Los Angeles populace heading towards Venice Beach, where we were to spend out first few days, to make the most of the picture-perfect weather.