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Chris Cox
07-29-2003, 12:24 PM
Hi Everyone,

I'd like to quickly introduce myself. I'm Chris Cox, the MD of Nowt2Do.Com.

Two years ago we visited Southern California to review many of the areas attractions, and this September we will be doing it again! Coming from the UK over to the USA to do some serious reviewing.

This year we are making a "Must-Do" Tourist Guide for our UK Readers on their visit to the area and was wondering if anyone at Mouse Talk can help us in making sure we know what the Must-Do things are!

We will be staying and reviewing the HoJo while we are in the Disney Area.

On our visit we will be reviewing:
The Producers on Broadway,
Universal Studios Hollywood
A Hotel in Hollywood...not sure which one yet!
Venice Beach
Santa Monica Beach
Newport or Huntington Beach
Knotts Berry Farm
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Disneyland
DCA
and The Anaheim Angels.

Can anyone recommend anything else we should do, or must dos in those places? Also any great resturant recommendations would be fantastic, along with contact details if possible??

Many thanks in advance!

Chris

CarlieB
07-29-2003, 12:41 PM
Are you going to San Diego at all? If you are, the San Diego Zoo & Sea World would be good to review:)

RideMax Mark
07-29-2003, 12:47 PM
Originally posted by CarlieB
Are you going to San Diego at all? If you are, the San Diego Zoo & Sea World would be good to review:)

Legoland might also be good to review if you're in the San Diego area.

winniepooh
07-29-2003, 11:07 PM
I would strongly recommend the Warner Brothers studio tour.
It is a serious tour where you get to see actual working movie and Tv sets.
When we visited last year we got to see the Friends and Gilmore Girls sound stage and saw Noah Wyle from ER.
:D

Morrigoon
07-29-2003, 11:41 PM
Why on earth do you want to stay in Hollywierd? Take my advice: stay in Santa Monica instead!

Nigel2
07-30-2003, 12:11 AM
Well he is doing it for a tourist book and that would be an attraction for them.

Morrigoon
07-30-2003, 12:47 AM
attraction=disappointment?

Nigel, you've been reading the TDA dictionaries again, haven't you!

Hollywood is a good afternoon's visit, but good advice from locals will steer you clear of staying there. If you want to stay near where films are made, go stay at Universal (which is right between Hollywood and North Hollywood, LOL). Besides, then you can party all night at Miceli's (a don't-miss!)

tod
07-30-2003, 02:45 PM
Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The footprints of the stars going back to Gloria Swanson. Right next door to Hollywood & Highland and the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars® are handed out.

For a Hollywood hotel, the Roosevelt, across the street from Grauman's. The Blossom Room is where the first Academy Awards (not yet called the Oscars®) were given out, and many stars have stayed there.

The Capitol Records Building, on Vine Street, around the corner from the Pantages where The Producers is playing -- on Hollywood Boulevard. It is also playing on Broadway, in Manhattan, about 3000 miles east of there.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where Douglas Fairbanks and John Huston and Norma Talmadge and Peter Lorre and Tyrone Power and Cecil B. de Mille and Harry Cohn (both facing their respective studios, although Cohn's Columbia left its Sunset-and-Gower lot 30+ years ago) many many other names in Hollywood history -- Virgina Rappe -- are interred.

If it's running again, the Warner Bros. studio tour is far superior to Universal, being an actual tour of an operating studio instead of a theme-park simulation. Paramount also had a tour, but in the post-September 11 paranoia cowardice caution both were shut down and they may not be running yet.

A quick peek at the Magic Castle might be in order, seeing as the only OTHER magic club like it in the world is the Magic Circle in London.

Indigenous L.A. restaurants:
Tommy's (check spelling, there are imitators) Chili hamburgers.
In-N-Out Burger -- the best fast-food burger in the world.
Spago -- strated a trend of California cuisine

Tower Records at 8801 Sunset: the record store of the stars. Elton John used to push a shopping cart through the aisles. Across the street, Book Soup, a world-class bookstore, where, coincidentally, I saw Elton John maybe six months ago.

That's a start. More ideas as they come to me.

--T

Chris Cox
07-30-2003, 03:56 PM
Wow! Lots of food for thought there...thank you very much!

Your all so kind!

Definatly going to see the big sites in Hollywood. I'm also a magician..well mentalist/mind reader to be honest so hope to pop into The Magic Cafe if I have time. I'm also going to try and catch REM if their press people are nice to me!

I can't wait to see all the sites. Also on a more somber note does anyone know if anything has a planned closure on 9/11? I have tickets for the Matinee of the Producers and will be doing some two ways for BBC Radio in the UK, any thoughts would be much welcome.

Thanks again.

Morrigoon
07-30-2003, 09:00 PM
Chris: check with sources here on the board... you're going to have to get an "in" to the magic castle - it's a members and guests of members only kind of place most of the time.

The Tommy's you want is the one with the picture of the shack on their sign (as they say, "If you don't see the shack, take it back!")

Also, Pink's hot dogs. Never been there myself, but it's a Hollywood landmark to be sure!

The Derby. Another place I haven't been but I believe it's the one that used to be the Brown Derby (can anyone clarify this) that used to be so famous. It's now owned by Brian Setzer (Brian Setzer Orchestra is the one that did that popular remake of Count Basie's "Jump, Jive, and Wail")

With the construction going on at the Griffith Observatory, I'm not sure if you can get there or not, but they have Walt's old garage as a railroad museum somewhere in Griffith park. Look for information on the Carrollwood-Pacific Railway and you'll probably find info on it.

Fun fact: There's a park hidden in the hills (on the way to Camp Hollywoodland) that gets you right up under the Hollywood sign. I don't think you can actually hike to the sign any more, however, the other cool thing is that the Batcave is near by. The old Batman tv show from the (60's? 70's?), the one starring Adam West, shows the Batcar coming out of a cave. That very cave is just one long, straight cave blasted into the side of one of those hills around there.

Nigel2
07-30-2003, 10:38 PM
Originally posted by Morrigoon
attraction=disappointment?

Nigel, you've been reading the TDA dictionaries again, haven't you!

These are tourists we are talking about here, not locals so they might want to spend the night there.

Hmmm... well I think the Derby might be built on the same spot or near the spot of the original but I think the original is gone.

He said the Magic Cafe, but I think he meant castle so we will have to wait for clarification from him.

Well it's not a must do since I doubt people will want to take their whole family but Mr. Stox is a good place and it's been arround for a very long time. But it's not a tourist place and formal dress is require (I think it is) so you might want to go there for yourself. It's on Katella and it's right by Edison Field.

tod
07-31-2003, 09:05 AM
Originally posted by Morrigoon
Chris: check with sources here on the board... you're going to have to get an "in" to the magic castle - it's a members and guests of members only kind of place most of the time.

True, but it ain't that tough to get in. Guest-pass guests are charged a $15 per-person fee to get in and also have to buy dinner: Members love to give those passes out because they are fundraisers for the club. Also, the Castle has a motel next door that -- I believe -- includes Magic Castle access as a perk.


Originally posted by Morrigoon
The Derby. Another place I haven't been but I believe it's the one that used to be the Brown Derby (can anyone clarify this) that used to be so famous. It's now owned by Brian Setzer (Brian Setzer Orchestra is the one that did that popular remake of Count Basie's "Jump, Jive, and Wail")

It used to be one of the Brown Derby restaurants. The others were on Vine Street across from the old CBS studios, now the Doolittle Theater; on Wilshire Boulevard near the Ambassador Hotel; and in Beverly Hills at Wilshire and Rodeo. All have been torn down and replaced. By strange coincidence, I used to know Bob Cobb, the founder of the Brown Derby restaurants. He was a friend of my family.

And it was Louis Prima -- with Keely Smith and Sam Butera and The Witnesses -- who did "Jump, Jive an' Wail," not Count Basie.

--T
:fez:

Not Afraid
07-31-2003, 09:11 AM
Originally posted by tod
By strange coincidence, I used to know Bob Cobb, the founder of the Brown Derby restaurants. He was a friend of my family.



Ummmmm. Cobb Salad!

Morrigoon
07-31-2003, 09:37 AM
And it was Louis Prima

You're absolutely right, how silly of me!

tod
07-31-2003, 10:06 AM
Originally posted by Not Afraid
Ummmmm. Cobb Salad!

Improvised late one night when Bob was doing the books. He went down to the kitchen to fix himself a snack, and found a chicken breast, fried up some bacon, got a hard-boiled egg -- and added it to the menu a day or so later.

--T
:fez:
Millionaire this weekend!!

tod
07-31-2003, 10:21 AM
If you go to the Magic Castle Hotel Website (http://www.magiccastlehotel.com/) it strongly implies (http://www.magiccastlehotel.com/castle.html) that you can access the Castle if you are a hotel guest.

Just for the record.

And if our UK friends are planning to spend any time in Hollywood and thereabouts, the Magic Castle Hotel is in Hollywood, about a block from Grauman's Chinese and the Hollywood & Highland complex, and very close to Sunset Boulevard for the Strip/Beverly Hills/Beach thing that they were thinking of doing. Much more convenient than schlepping up from Anaheim and then going back.

Just for your information, tourists: Distances in L.A. are immense. We go 50 miles without thinking twice, and walking someplace is unheard of, because things are just too far apart to walk to them.

--T
:fez:

tod
07-31-2003, 10:36 AM
Originally posted by Chris Cox
[W]e are... wondering if anyone at Mouse Talk can help us in making sure we know what the Must-Do things are!
...
On our visit we will be reviewing:
... The Anaheim Angels.


If you are going to take in a baseball game, you MUST visit Dodger Stadium. Opened in 1962, it is now among the oldest Major League ballparks, and has a modern, hopeful, '60s look about it even today. There isn't a bad seat in the house, and when the Dodgers are out of town, you can still visit the gift shop and if you wander over to peek at the field the security guard won't stop you. The stadium Website is here. (http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/la/ballpark/la_ballpark_history.jsp) Cheap seats start at $6. Don't get the Pavilions.

Also, don't forget the Hollywood Bowl (http://hollywoodbowl.com/), where people have been enjoying music under the stars since the '20s. Pick the right night, you can get in for $1. Come early, bring a picnic, eat too much and enjoy the show.

--T
who really has to get back to work now.
:fez:

Chris Cox
07-31-2003, 12:42 PM
[QUOTE]
Fun fact: There's a park hidden in the hills (on the way to Camp Hollywoodland) that gets you right up under the Hollywood sign. I don't think you can actually hike to the sign any more, however, the other cool thing is that the Batcave is near by. The old Batman tv show from the (60's? 70's?), the one starring Adam West, shows the Batcar coming out of a cave. That very cave is just one long, straight cave blasted into the side of one of those hills around there. /QUOTE]

Do you have driving directions or an address for how to get to Hollywoodland in the cat, and under the sign...and how to find the batcave?! Sounds like a Must Do!!

Morrigoon
07-31-2003, 11:46 PM
Unfortunately no. I was 12 when I went to Camp Hollywoodland. Perhaps you could call the camp and find someone who knows there?

The Magic Castle (and adjacent hotel) are in a nicer spot in Hollywood than Hollywood Blvd is (but it's close enough to visit). Sounds like your spot.

Morrigoon
08-06-2003, 01:51 AM
Griffith Park has a phone number you can call to get hiking information. That's your best shot at getting info on the batcave.

QueenTriton
08-06-2003, 08:07 AM
The Warner Brothers tour is still going. Mom and her friend went recently and loved it. You have to make reservations ahead of time. They enjoyed seeing all the inner workings of the studio and were able to have lunch at the commissary. No TV was filming at the time, but a few movies. I believe the TV shows are filming now, though. Whoever suggested Mr. Stox, it is one of my favorite restaurants. The food is great. Even if you can't eat there, go by and pick up some bread. They have many wonderful varieties. We love the Getty museum. Admission is free (a small fee for parking) and it is beautiful even beyond the exhibits themselves. You may also want to swing by UCLA. Whenever we have friends visit, we do this along with the promenade in Santa Monica and Venice Beach. Alot of opportunity for people watching and shopping.

timl33
08-06-2003, 09:06 AM
If you do go to Dodger Stadium, make sure you eat at least one Dodger Dog.


Originally posted by tod
If you are going to take in a baseball game, you MUST visit Dodger Stadium. Opened in 1962, it is now among the oldest Major League ballparks, and has a modern, hopeful, '60s look about it even today. There isn't a bad seat in the house, and when the Dodgers are out of town, you can still visit the gift shop and if you wander over to peek at the field the security guard won't stop you. The stadium Website is [who really has to get back to work now.