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Bargain Travel West guide to unique destinations, sight-seeing, budget travel
vacation ideas for the independent traveler in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean.
Los
Angeles Tour and Attraction Discount Tickets
Travel Bargain destination
in Los Angeles
HOLLYWOOD & HIGHLAND
Visitor Central of Hollywood Boulevard
In the 1950’s and 60’s the center of glamorous Hollywood
was said to be Hollywood and Vine, but the Brown Derby is long gone and
as the glamour only shows up once a year at awards time, now it can be
argued that the heart, at least the tourism heart of the movie glamour
capital is
Hollywood & Highland. When it was first built it was a white elephant,
literally, in both senses of the word. The massive shopping mall and
entertainment complex built at the corner of Hollywood and Highland Boulevards
which replaced a bank office building and a pair of movieplex screens
which had replaced the best bratwurst coffee shop in Hollywood, was a
monstrosity no-one paid attention to. The parking was too expensive,
not enough shops and Hollywood was still in need of revitalization. And
of course the real white elephants. But then came the Oscars to the Kodak
Theater and the subway, then Jimmy Kimmel and Disney across the street
at the El Capitan Theater, and the Renaissance Hotel. Today, the Hollywood & Highland
Center is undoubtedly the hub of Hollywood.
Silent
movie director D.W. Griffith made one of the first filmic extravaganza
epics to be filmed in Hollywood in 1916. "Intolerance" featured
four stories across the ages, one set in the ancient city of Babylon.
Griffith
built
massive sets of the Gates of Babylon, flanked by rearing elephants and
filled them with a cast of thousands of costumed extras. The real gates
of Babylon can actually be seen in Berlin (see Pergamon
Museum Babylon),
with more lions than elephants, but the sets of Babylon from the epic
film (actually built further east on Hollywood Blvd where it crosses
Sunset) were chosen as the
design motif for the Hollywood/Highland real estate development. The
giant white elephants perch above the upper levels and the Gate of Babylon
replicated
from
the famous
movie (see Hollywood
Heritage Museum) frames the
distant Hollywood Sign from the right angle.
Hollywood & Highland
is now the official center of tourist Hollywood. The Tourism Office
is on the ground floor, with discount coupons to attractions
(see Madame
Tussauds Hollywood), maps and brochures. The famed Hollywood
Walk of Fame with the stars in the sidewalk passes in front, often
with someone stooping for a photograph. The station of
Los
Angeles’ only subway line – the Metro Red Line is
underneath, for a short one stop trip to Universal Studios for the theme
park tour (see Universal
Studios Hollywood Tour),
or to the other end of “The
Boulevard” where the new “W” Hollywood Hotel has
sprouted near Vine Street, or continuing on to downtown LA Civic
Center and ending
at Union Station.
The
Hollywood & Highland
Center has a wide and varied collection of stores and restaurants, upscale
clothing to Hollywood memorabilia souvenirs
- from Guess to Build-a-Bear Workshop. Restaurants from Johnny
Rockets Hamburgers to recently opened Hard Rock Café, Starbucks,
California Pizza Kitchen and the Highlands Nightclub upstairs with views
of the
lights of Hollywood Boulevard and LA's hottest DJ's, though
frequently closed for special events and Hollywood glamour parties. With
its entrance at street level on Highland Avenue, the Lucky Strike Lanes
is Hollywood’s version of a bowling alley, more flashy nightclub
and bar with bowling lanes. There’s now another one downtown
near the Nokia Theater (see LA
Live Los Angeles).
The
Highwood & Highland center is most recognized from its starring
role once a year when the Academy Awards® are
presented at the Dolby Theater (formerly the Kodak) (see Motion
Picture Academy).
For about a week every year the boulevard is closed off, with
tents and stands erected, and the red carpet laid out for the movie
stars and celebrities to pass through the Awards Walk concourse.
The art deco
style walkway and stairs past the upscale stores can be walked by
the merely mortal the rest of the year, with the faux marble columns
mounted
with golden framed crystal plaques commemorating the Best Picture
Oscar winning films since the first awards were held at the Roosevelt
Hotel
just a short distance away across the boulevard.
Not
technically at the Hollywood & Highland mall property, but nearby
are several of Hollywood Boulevard’s most popular attractions.
Next door is the most famous of Tinsel Town landmarks, Grauman’s
Chinese Theater with the footprints of movie stars embedded in concrete
in the forecourt. The Chinese is still a massive theater of the golden
age of Hollywood, seen as the site of glamorous premieres in many
movies (see TCM
Starline Movie Location Tour).
There are more Mann movie theater screens upstairs in the Hollywood
and Highland complex, with ticket offices at street level and at
the theaters. Across the street another grand old theater ediface
the El
Capitan – now
owned by Disney, where that family oriented studio presents its
big films (with a stage show during the holidays), and next to
it the
former Masonic
Hall where the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show
is taped. The Hollywood Bowl with its summer concerts is a ten
minute walk up busy Highland Avenue. Various Hollywood tours depart
from
in front of the mall, double-decker busses and vans to the stars
homes.
Hotels
nearby include the
Renaissance Hollywood, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, a
Best Western,
and
Holiday Inn Express on Highland, a
Quality Inn on La Brea, and just behind on Franklin,
the
Magic Castle Hotel (see Hollywood
Magic Castle & Hotel).
Parking
at Hollywood & Highland is now one of the better deals in
Hollywood. You can park for four hours for $2 with a validation,
from the stores or restaurants. The maximum is $10 for the day
and its open
24 hours, 7 days a week. The parking lot entrances are on Highland
Avenue and Orange Ave. off Franklin. You can Valet Park for an
additional $5.
There are several other parking lots nearby and metered parking
on Hollywood Blvd to the east of Highland. © Bargain
Travel West
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Hollywood
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LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
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