We spent Sunday afternoon walking the entire Hollywood Walk of Fame. The stars are given for five categories: Radio, Motion Pictures, Recording, Television and Live Performance.Not much explanation for most of the stars here.Our 40th President Ronald Reagan was a movie star in the 1940s and 1950s before he turned to politics and won election as Governor of California, and later, President of the United States.Our 45th president Donald Trump has been in the public eye since the 1980s. He also had one of the most successful reality shows in TV history with The Apprentice. He was elected president in 2016 and had one of the most productive terms in history.Gene Autry is the only person who has been honored with a star in all five categories.Bob Hope was named Hollywood’s Citizen of the Century.MJ’s favoriteMy favoritePerry MasonTCL Chinese Theater, formerly Grauman’s Chinese Theater, site of many movie premieres through the years. It is also known for it sidewalk of footprints and signatures. This was a much bigger deal back in the 1940s-1950s and 1960s than now.Jack Benny 1941Red Skelton 1942Jimmy Stewart 1948John Wayne 1950. This was the subject of one of the more famous episodes of “I Love Lucy.”Marilyn Monroe 1953Photo of Marilyn Monroe signing the slab in the previous picture above.Jack Nicholson 1974John Travolta 1980The Star Trek cast 1991The famous Capitol Records buildingLooking up at the front of Capitol RecordsThe famous intersection Hollywood & VineHollywood Hard Rock CafeLooking down Hollywood BoulevardThe Roosevelt Hotel hosted the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.El Capitan Theater has also hosted many movie premieres.People are lined up outside The Pantages Theater to see the re-launch of The Lion King Broadway production.We had dinner at Musso & Frank Grill, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood.The Original Fettucine Alfredo: Silent film stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were frequent guests at Musso’s. While on their honeymoon in Rome, they dined at Alfredo’s restaurant and after tasting the Fettucine Alfredo, they begged Alfredo for the recipe. He declined them. The next night the newlyweds again dined at Alfredo’s and presented a golden fork and spoon to Alfredo. This time they got the recipe and brought it back to Hollywood. They asked Musso’s chef, Jean Rue, to make the dish. He often prepared it specially for the famous couple, but the dish was never added to the menu. We now proudly serve the ORIGINAL Fettucine Alfredo as prepared for Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.Cheesecake
Reality LA Church.Reality LA Church meets at Bernstein High School in West LA. The auditorium was packed with students from USC and UCLA! We were heartened to see so many young people worshiping and praising God!
This school was also the site where the show Glee was filmed.Glee was filmed here.We had Sunday lunch at Miceli’s, Hollywood’s oldest Italian Restaurant, from 1949.Miceli’s was frequented by all of the old stars back in the day.Spinach Lasagna, Chicken Marsala and Spaghetti & Meatballs.Genuine old timey look.Chianti bottles hanging in the ceiling.
A lifelong dream, fulfilled! I am at a UCLA game at Pauley Pavilion! Thank you Mallory!!John Wooden statue.Basketball pyramidNational championship bannersUCLA wins!
Griffith Observatory is a must see when in Los Angeles!Some photo ops outside the observatory.Hollywood sign in the background.James Dean starred in the 1955 movie “Rebel Without a Cause”. Several significant scenes from that movie were filmed here at Griffith Observatory. These scenes reflected positively on the site, and contributed to Griffith’s international reputation. Dean was killed in a car accident in 1955 at the height of his popularity.Inside the entrance foyer rotunda.Foucault Pendulum. This is a recreation of the 1851 demonstration by French physicist Jean Bernard Leon Foucault that gave the first direct proof that Earth rotates on its axis.
This pendulum is a 240 pound partially hollow gun-metal sphere suspended from a 40 foot steel wire that is attached to the rotunda ceiling in a way that allows it to swing freely. A ring magnet above the ceiling keeps the pendulum in motion without influencing the direction of its swing.
The pendulum knocks over one peg every seven minutes. From our perspective the direction of the pendulum’s swing appears to change, but in reality we are seeing the motion of the earth rotating the peg into the path of the swinging pendulum.
At the north and south poles it takes one day for the direction of the swing to rotate 360 degrees As you move from the poles to the equator this apparent rotation takes longer because of the change in latitude. Here in Los Angeles, this full rotation takes just over 42 hours. At the equator there is no apparent shift and no pegs would ever be knocked down.An example of Galileo’s telescope.The first astronomical telescope in Los Angeles.Tesla Coil demonstration – this sign is powered by electricity without wires. You can hear the electricity sizzle!Telescope Dome.Zeiss 12 inch Refracting Telescope. This telescope is available for the public to view through, but not at the time we were there.Inside the planetarium before the show.GalileoDisplay of all the elements from the periodic table.Views of the sun using different filters.A coelostat tracks the Sun throughout the day. It brings sunlight directly in so we can observe it.Downtown LA from Griffith Observatory.San Gabriel Mountains. The top peak is Mt. San Antonio, at 10,064 feet.Astronomers MonumentSundialInteresting tree. On our way up to Griffith Observatory we ran into heavy traffic due to a memorial service for P-22, a mountain lion that had died recently. P-22 had lived in Griffith Park for at least 10 years. It had been “captured” on numerous video cameras and had developed quite a following, so when he died back in December, a memorial service was planned, which happened to be on the morning we passed by!After leaving Griffith Observatory, just a short drive to this house that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This is the Ennis House. It is private, not open for tours.
