Hooray for Hollywood

Today was a true adventure day! Jase and I explored all over the city because we both had the day off! Here is everything we did:

The Santa Monica Pier

• We went to the Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. The Pier was like the one on RocketPower, it has a theme park on it! The beach was filled with all sort of people; hippies, body builders, old people, fat people, people working out, everyone. There is a section where there that is similar to a craft sale, you could buy paintings, jewelry, get your palm read, and stuff like that. I felt like Olivia Newton-John was going to come out singing "I'm Alive" from Xanadu. You could also buy weed from random people standing on the beach if you had a "medical ID" for it. Just seems fishy.

• Next we headed to Griffith Park. To get there we had to pass through the tunnel that was used in Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Marissa's death scene from The O.C. 

The tunnel as seen in Back to the Future

• We walked over to Griffith Observatory. It over looks all of LA including downtown and the Hollywood hills. It was a great view of everything. FUN FACT: Griffith Observatory was seen in the following movies: The Terminator, The Rocketeer, The End of Violence, Midnight Madness, Bowfinger, Charlie's Angels, Flesh Gordon, House on Haunted Hill, Transformers, Yes Man, and many more.

The Griffith Observatory

The Hollywood sign from the Observatory

• From there we headed over to Hollywood Boulevard. Here I saw things like the Graiman's Chinese Theatre. Some of the footprints in the cement are as old as 1927! It makes me think of that episode of I Love Lucy when she stole John Wayne's hands and feet print.

John Wayne on I Love Lucy

Graiman's Chinese Theatre

• Here is the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards. FUN FACT: The folks that designed the Kodak Theatre also designed RiverCenter for the Performing Arts in Columbus, Ga.

Home of the Academy Awards

• I also got excited to find Mickey Mouse's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mickey Mouse's star

• One thing I was not happy to see in Hollywood was a store that only sold Shape-ups. As I have always said, Shape-ups should not be worn in public. Please don't ever let me catch you wearing them.

Shape-ups store. Barf.

Tomorrow we meet the rest of our roommates. So look forward to that.

Touching the Pacific

The housing party was almost as lame as I expected it to be. It was very similar to the Orientation luaus we had at main campus such as this:

It was mostly lost of people standing around with loud music and free pizza. I left early and went up to my room. About that time my roommate, Jace, got back from work. He has a car and he said we should go explore the city! It was amazing! We went through downtown LA, Hollywood Blvd., Rodeo Drive,  the Hollywood sign, Malibu (home of Elle Woods), and Zuma beach. While it was dark, we made out way to the water so we could touch the Pacific Ocean. The waves were huge! While we were out we saw two movies being filmed: one in Downtown and one in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. I think I'm going to like it here.

FUN FACT: The Hollywood sign isn't always lit at night. The city wants to cut down energy costs and the residents of the neighborhood right below it don't want traffic looking at it all night. That being said, this is what it looked like last night:

Today I went to Team Disney Anaheim (TDA) to take my picture for my ID as well as fill out my scheduling card and pick my classes. I had a pre-warning to make sure to smile because they don't tell you when they are taking the picture, so I cheesed it up. I think I have a good one. We got done earlier than expected, so I don't have much else to do today. Here is what TDA looks like:

Tomorrow is my first official paid day of work. We start with a class called Traditions, which covers history and information about The Walt Disney Company and Disneyland Resort. I'm super excited about this. I'm also going to get my Disney ID so I will be able to go to the parks whenever I want for FREE! Guess what I'm doing tomorrow! Check back tomorrow night for my update of my California Adventure!