Visiting Los Angeles
I’ve been to Los Angeles twice now, but wish I had done a better job photographing the city! As one of America’s most famous cities, and the largest in the country after New York I feel like I should have better represented it. Los Angeles is famous for like its tropical weather, great beaches, Hollywood, and an endless list of other things. The photo above shows a not so impressive view of the city skyline from a downtown perspective.
Los Angeles’s most famous neighborhood is Hollywood. Ever since films began began production here in the early 1900’s it’s been symbolic of films, celebrities, and wealth. The neighborhood is a large tourist destination drawing in visitors from all around the world. Aside from the visitors, many come here with dreams of becoming famous actors themselves someday. Above is the world famous Hollywood sign built on Mt. Lee.
There are lots of obvious attractions in Hollywood, but I was also surprised to know you can even go hiking or horseback riding here. Mt. Lee is located up in the Santa Monica mountains, and trails lead the way all the way up to the sign. The photo above shows a horse ranch where you can book reservations for a ride. I do enjoy riding horses, but chose to go hiking.
The Celebrity Walk of Fame is something you can’t miss in Hollywood. Just about any famous celebrity you can think of will be listed here. As a matter of fact, I didn’t recognize the vast majority of names here since this list began decades before I was born. Above and below are two famous actors from my generation, Harrison Ford and Johnny Depp.
You’ll also find lots of people dressed up as celebrities or wearing strange costumes for your entertainment. Most of these people are of course doing it for donations, but lots are also promotional figures paid by Hollywood. Catwoman seemed to be doing promotional work, while the Michael Jackson look alike was dancing on his own.
I did do some shopping in California, but not in Hollywood. I imagine it to be incredibly expensive even though I didn’t give it a chance and check out prices. If you’re interested though, there are plenty of places to go to and some famous designer stores. This photo shows the famous Hollywood highland center which is a large entertainment complex. Hollywood highland center is home to several famous theaters, restaurants, over 75 shops and includes two night clubs. The photo below shows a shopping mall that was nearby.
More millionaires live in California than any other place in the United States. Honestly unless I was a millionaire, I couldn’t imagine moving to the state because it’s so expensive! Otherwise if you got the cash, you can find yourself lots of great real estate. This photo of a mansion is in Hollywood, but you can find more of this all over the California.
Hollywood is just one neighborhood in Los Angeles. If you’re into museums an area you might be interested in is Wilkshire Boulevard. There are several world class museums here, but when I visited I only had one in mind. I did at least photograph the Los Angeles Museum of Art so you can see how large some of them are. Below is some famous work of the city. After several old lampposts were being removed or replaced, the city made a decision to collect them here instead of sending them to the landfill.
A museum that I actually looked forward to visiting was the Tar Pits of Los Angeles. Back in the prehistoric days, large tar pits occupied this area. The tar pits are extremely dangerous, and ended up swallowing all types of wildlife who attempted to trek through it. This probably gave the animals a horrible death, but their remains stayed preserved until they were discovered in the early 1900’s. Above shows a model of a trapped woolly mammoth in the tar pits.
If you’re wondering if the tar pits still exist the answer is yes. I took this photo of some tar that was still seeping out of the ground. The whole area had a strong smell similar to a parking lot that had just retreated its cracks with fresh asphalt. I suppose its the same exact material.
My understanding is that the majority of the remains have been removed from the tar pits, but occasionally new ones are being discovered and research is on going. Inside the museum you can view one of the active research stations from a large window.
The tar pits existed during the ice age. Woolly mammoths, saber tooth tigers, giant sloths, and other famous ice age animals all lived here. In the museum they had a recreation of a saber tooth tiger attacked a giant sloth. Looks like they included bison, dire wolves, and even camels which used to live here in the background.
The most interesting section is the skeletal reconstruction that they have done with recovered specimens. Most of us who have visited any natural history museum have likely seen a Woolly Mammoth by now, but this might have been my first time ever seeing a saber-tooth tiger!
Finding yourself in a tar pit will probably mean your end, but since this isn’t really a threat anymore people in Los Angeles have found other doomsday scenarios to entertain travelers with. This was a long time ago, but somehow some crazies were able to convince a reasonable number of people that the world was going to end on May 21st 2011. I don’t recall where I was, but I remember driving through another city and passing by a large billboard with the Judgement Day warning. I was a bit excited to see one of these people in person. I didn’t bother getting into a discussion with the lady about the reality of doomsday coming, but I asked her if I could take a photo. She allowed me to take a photo of the sign but not her, which I found kind of strange. If she believed the world was going to end in just 61 days I’m not sure why her photo would have mattered.
Also a long time ago but on the same trip, I visited Los Angeles about 10 days after the devastating 2011 earthquake in Japan. The tsunami that followed destroyed several nuclear reactors and released radiation into the air. Winds travel eastward, and scientists found the slightest traces of radiation from Japan in California. These guys seem to believe it will lead to a Walking Dead scenario. I’m not sure how much education they had in radioactivity or what they believed those masks would do in a real radiation situation.
Maybe a place with real danger that I had to visit was Compton. As a kid I used to listen to Dr. Dre and watched Boyz N the Hood more times than I can remember. Lots of rap songs and some movies glorify Compton, so here I was! The photo above shows one of the houses I came across while driving by. They didn’t look too shabby to me!
I wasn’t really too sure what to do here. I expected some really horrible houses and buildings in terrible conditions along with strange looks. While Compton isn’t Hollywood, all the houses and gardens seemed to be well taken care of. Had I not heard about Compton before, I would have thought it as just any other neighborhood from this experience.
I noticed that the exit sign for people leaving says, “Birthing a new Compton”. I suppose the area has seen a major makeover and some serious improvements from its days in the 90’s! Years later I read about how Compton is still a very dangerous place. I found out that there is a northern and southern part of Compton. The south, which I assume is the one that I visited, is the safer of the two. Apparently northern Compton is where the gangs are still strong and violence is a normal way of life. On the next trip to Los Angeles I don’t think I’ll feel a need to visit there!