Day 4: Hollywood

“On Wednesday’s we wear pink.”

I’m just kidding. On Wednesday we checked out Hollywood! And boy let me tell you-… the place is a hot mess!

Forget the glitz and glam you see on TV, because this town is nothing like that. When you see celebrities on the red carpets, remember they are likely at a premier at a very nice theater (like the Dolby Theater right on Hollywood Blvd). These theaters are a very small part of Hollywood though.

Hollywood also has a lot of poverty and unfortunately this means there are people who will do anything to make a quick buck off of you, especially if you look like a tourist. The best advice my parents gave me before heading to Hollywood was basically, “Don’t look at anyone, don’t talk to anyone, just keep moving.” And don’t EVER take something that someone is trying to hand you. I don’t care if it’s just a CD and the guy said it was his free mixtape, because one of two things is about to happen. He’s either just handed you a disc with a virus on it that will hack your computer, or he’s going to follow you down the street demanding a “tip” for the “free” CD. Both scenarios should just be avoided if possible.

Also be very aware of people who “accidentally” bump into you. This a tactic used by pickpocketers in crowds. If you take a purse with you, I highly recommend making sure the purse hangs across your body, not just on you shoulder, and that you keep it in front of you at all times.

This day trip wasn’t all bad though. We saw some really cool things while we were out there.

We went to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum(not to be confused with The Wax Museum just down the street from it). The museum was a lot of fun to walk through and we got some great pictures!

If you want to see more I put a few pictures up on my Instagram, @welivefortheadventure.

The ticket price to get in at the door is $30.95 a person, but was $19.99 on Groupon(one of my favorite apps for day trip discounts). If you go after 5pm however, it’s $17.99 on their website. The museum is open Monday-Saturday, 10am-8pm, and the museum takes less than an hour to walk through so it’s very realistic to wait till 5pm to go.

A little side note, there are multiple other locations for Madame Tussaud, including Vegas and New York, but they are largely the same museum at each location. If you are completely blown away by this museum, feel free to check out the other locations because they will have some different celebrities. But once you’ve seen one you pretty much know what the other ones will be.

We also checked out the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum, because I enjoy curiosities and unique things, but I was not impressed by this museum. Groupon has a deal advertised for $29.99 for two admissions, which sounded like a great deal, until I read the fine print that said after 5pm. You can imagine my annoyance when we had to fork over $50 for the two of us. And to top it off, the museum took a whopping 30 minutes to get through. We both left feeling pretty ripped off.

The free attractions were obviously the best part. There’s a lot to walk around and look at. The Hollywood Walk of Fame was very cool to walk down, and will definitely help you get your steps in! We also walked around Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and checked out all of the footprints. There are a lot of really old ones from the 50’s but there are a few current stars mixed in there!

If you’re looking to check out the Hollywood Sign it’s gonna be a bit of a challenge getting somewhere you can even see it, let alone get close to it. It’s way up on a hill, thats completely gated off, and all the buildings make it difficult to see from street level. I was lucky enough to find an observatory at 2840 E Observatory Ave, Hollywood California. You will still be fairly far away and will be forced to pay $8 parking but, if you really want to snag that picture of the iconic sign, I think it’s worth it. Plus the scenery is amazing!

Hollywood was a little rough around the edges, but it is definitely something you should experience at least once in my opinion. There’s so much to see and do in this history filled town that it should definitely be on your itinerary if you ever find yourself in Southern California.

Have you ever been to Hollywood? Was it what you were expecting or were you surprised like us? Drop a comment letting me know how your adventure went!

Your money will return, your time won’t.