Hollywood - Page 16

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Details: Written by: Richard_McKie; Parent Category: Travel; Category: North America; Published: 28 October 2023; Hits: 1193

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Of course we couldn't go to LA and not visit Hollywood. So we took the LA Metro (senior off-peak): Pershing Square to Hollywood (8-9 stops) $0.35.

But it is and always has been a bit trashy.

To see more photos of Hollywood, from the LA 2012 album,
click on the pictures above

We went for a ramble down Hollywood Boulevard, over the 'star's set in the pavement, and there was Alex Trebek, the recently deceased host of one of my favourite TV shows - Jeopardy!.

Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard, and Marilyn Monroe are, of course, immortalised in the Hollywood Museum.

Paulette features in 'Stardust' a novel by Joseph Kanon, set in that era, mostly in Hollywood, that I had just read. Seeing the picture seemed serendipitous!

I can recommend Stardust. It's great mystery/detective/spy story, historically detailed, beautifully written.

***

Further down is the Chinese Theatre, where those who have 'made-it' in 'Tinseltown' can leave their hand and footprints in the cement. Several of the women and one or two men had tiny feet If you can't read them here they are in the attached album at the end.

***

On the last day of our trip the plane didn't leave until late so it was back to the Broad for me and more shops for Wendy. We still had several hours to spare. Wendy having some last-minute shopping to attend to, so I decided to take in a movie. What was showing this arvo? I could catch a bus. Might it be to Barbie or Oppenheimer?

When we were in Canada in July we saw enough US TV not to miss the hype when Oppenheimer got its release (Christopher Nolan's new ‘blockbuster’).

This was another instance of serendipity, as I had just ordered Joseph Kannon’s ‘Los Alamos’, for my Kindle, having recently read his brilliant ‘Stardust’ (see above). And here we were in Hollywood on the last day of our trip. Stardust indeed!

To read my review of the movie click on the image below:

Go and see Oppenheimer, you will think about it for days afterwards.

***

Now, after six weeks, it was time to go home:

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For example, in the decade that followed, 'same sex' marriage became legal. And sadly, several of those friends and relations I've mentioned, including my brother, died.
No doubt, in another decade, there will be yet more change.

Elsewhere on this site, in the article Cars, Radios, TV and other Pastimes, I've talked about aspects of my childhood in semi-rural Thornleigh on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. I've mentioned various aspects of school and things we did as kids.

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Most sane people want to 'do good', in other words to follow that ethical system they were taught at their proverbial 'mother's knee' (all those family and extended influences that form our childhood world view).

That's the reason we now have jihadists raging, seemingly out of control, across areas of Syria and Iraq and threatening the entire Middle East with their version of 'goodness'.

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