Posts Tagged ‘Los Angeles’

Well when we think of travelling to LA you usually plan a trip to Disneyland, Universal Studios and a look around Hollywood and Rodeo Drive, but high on the list of many visitors it to check out Venice Beach. Especially on the weekends Venice Beach’s beautiful boardwalk is a colourful collection of sites from the weird to the sometimes unimaginable. There’s art and craft, music, people of all types- and I mean all types and a non stop well lets face it freak show. There’s the muscle beach enclosure as one example, where the ”beautifully fit’ exercise for not only for fitness but to be seen. There’s the freaky post modern hippies with their Rasta clothing, and of course the perfectly toned, manicured and (nipped and tucked) on show for all to see. Venice Beach is fantastic for a walk or even a bike ride along the wide paths. There’s plenty of places to stop for a eat or drink and soak up the unique atmosphere and step away into a weird world of sun and fun.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Big Donut

Randy’s Donut is a large donut atop a donut bakery located not far from LAX at 805 West Manchester Avenue in Inglewood California. The building and its huge donut must be one of the most photographed and filmed fast food restaurants in the US and has featured in dozens of movies and music videos and was even parodied in the Simpson’s episode “Marge vs the Monorail”. The building was built in 1952 as part of the big donut drive in chain but was later sold off to the family of the current owners. Being originally part of the big donut chain there are a few other similar big donuts around LA operating under different names but Randys has become the most popular with filmmakers. By the way, we tried a few of Randys donuts when we took this photo last week, and we must say they are very, very tasty indeed. Read the rest of this entry »

You can get just about anything in LA, and when it comes to weird and macabe, LA specilises. Necromance on Melrose Avenue is one of the strangest shops you will ever come across, if you are game enough to go inside. Their store inventory looks like a shopping list on the Adams Family. They sells heaps of creepy and somtimes horrible things, catering for people who are a little different. If you are looking for a racoons penis bone or a bat in a jar or even a goat foot letter opener Necromance is the place. For only $120 you can get a freeze dried chipmunk, and hows this for $100 you could buy a few North American Porcupine Quills, A sheeps heart in a jar, a few x-rays of human broken bones, a collection of badgers toes and even a vial of vintage cat gut. Amazing value, might be a good place to do your Christmas shopping.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of the world’s most spectacular buildings, designed by Frank Gehry who also has designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain and the Dancing House in the Czech capital Prague to name a few of his exciting projects. The Walt Disney Concert Hall is wrapped in stainless steel sheeting which give of spectacular reflections of light. Inside the building is just as amazing with theatres being home to the Los Angeles Philharamonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The centre opened in 2003 after over ten years of construction and delays, the project was launched with a 50 million dollar cheque from Walt Disney’s widow Lillian and ended up costing $247 million to complete.

The Hall was spoofed in a Simpsons episode where the town of Springfield had Frank Gehry design a new Concert Hall for the town. The Concert Hall was then transformed into a jail by Mr. Burns. Read the rest of this entry »

There plenty of tacky kitsch things to do in Hollywood and one of the most popular and free is stroll down Hollywood Blvd and check out the Walk of Fame, you will never know who’s name you will come across. The walk dates back to 1960 and is home to the who’s who of the entertainment industry. There’s over 2000 names on the stars many famous ones and quiet a few well not quiet as famous as they would like. The personality actually pays $15,000+ to have their name immortalized on the pavement but not just anyone can put their name on a star, there is a nomination and selection process plus a heap of other conditions. The Walk was originally thought up by an artist Oliver Weismuller who was hired by the City to help give the sleazy and run down Hollywood a bit of a facelift.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well we thought being Christmas Week we should feature stories on the happiest place (or places) on earth- Yes Disneyland’s around the world. Our first story celebrates new monorails at the Anaheim Disneyland. We were reading on one of our favorite blogs that the monorails at Disneyland are getting a huge overhaul. As the photograph shows they are going to look pretty flash, word is they will have fancy blue glass and red strips which change colours in sunlight- a bit like one of those hypercolour t-shirts I suppose. The cabins take on a real futuristic retro look which should look great zooming around the Disneyland park. It looks like the first passengers will be able to ride on these sleek machines around February, so there’s not much time to wait. There should be plenty of new fun at the park during 2008 with a huge multi million dollar upgrade underway at both Disneyland and the Californian Adventure which will both see new attractions and fun for all over the next few years.

Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone’s favorite little clownfish has a new home Disneyland Anaheim visitors can take a submarine journey through an Australian reef to search for Nemo, the famous clownfish, on a new underwater ride, Well not entirely new the 20,000 Leagues Under the sea attraction which was originally built in 1959 has had a $205 million dollar and 3 year makeover to make way for Nemo. The huge pool has been converted into an artificial Great Barrier Reef, just like the one in Queensland Australia only plastic and resin, there’s even a lost civilization under the water. The ride takes 12 minutes and uses the eight 40 seat submarines from the earlier ride, this time they are yellow refitted and the motors have been changed from diesel to electric. The ride uses some amazing cutting edge technologies including projected Nemo animations. There are plans a foot for a quiet a few more new things at the Disney parks over the next few years, attendances are not a huge as they were a few years ago as competition in the theme park market is getting hot up with Universal Studios and others cutting into the audience numbers.

Read the rest of this entry »

You might have seen this giant donut in a few of the Simpson’s episodes but I’m here to tell you it is real. The donut can be found in Inglewood California a suburb of Los Angeles on Manchester Blvd. Unfortunately it isn’t made of dough but the donuts Randy’s sell are huge. Randy’s isn’t the only giant donut in the US there are quite a few others including Kiddles. It can be found at Normandie Ave Los Angeles. Kiddles sell a Texas sized glazed donut which is over 12 inches wide and full of artery hardening stuff. LA is also home to the Donut hole, this one is like a tunnel you drive in it can be found on East Amar Rd, La Puente. So if you are feeling hungry while driving around Los Angeles- you now know where to go.

Read the rest of this entry »