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| From behind the Hollywood sign in the Hollywood Hills. |
Hard to believe it’s already a week since me and my ankles arrived back from LA. Lesson learned, just because as a Kiwi you can save a bit of money flying via Australia instead of direct to California and back doesn’t mean you should. Am I too young and too male to have cankles? I would’ve thought so, but particularly that return leg of 15 hours and 50 minutes LA – Melbourne + waiting around for 90 minutes + four hours Melbourne – Auckland, wow.
Travel times and side-effects to one side, my nine days in LA were a ridiculous amount of fun, particularly the Barry Gibb concert and subsequent catch up. Keep a look out for upcoming issues of one of New Zealand’s premier travel magazines, Let’s Travel, as I explain my LA best picks as well as the history and luxury of staying at the famed Beverly Wilshire at the foot of Rodeo Drive. In the meantime, here are my top 50 LA photos from the trip:
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| Beach volleyball and the Santa Monica pier. |
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| The Santa Monica pier late afternoon. |
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| The same as above with more sun exposure. |
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| My favourite ride at Disney’s California Adventureland after the Cars racetrack. |
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| I loved the architecture and imagination of Disneyland as much as any of the rides. This is Mickey Mouse’s house. |
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| Like Mickey’s house, you can wander through Goofy’s house. |
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| The view from the fifth row at Lionel Richie’s Anaheim concert. |
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| And who should be in the row in front? None other than the 55 year old Babyface, looking all of 30. |
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| Barry Gibb’s son Stephen, an acclaimed rock guitarist in his own right. |
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| Maurice Gibb’s daughter / Barry Gibb’s niece, the lovely Samantha Gibb. |
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| Barry Gibb at the sound-check ahead of his Hollywood Bowl concert that evening. |
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| One of the top half-dozen showbiz hotels in LA, the famous Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. |
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| My view to the stage during the BG concert at the Hollywood Bowl. |
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| I wish they all could be Californian…Me and Michele at the Hollywood Bowl. |
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| A Bugatti that’s apparently always parked on Rodeo Drive, I had to take a photo. |
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| Another iconic LA hotel, The Beverly Hills Hotel. |
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| Is there a more famous movie star haunt in LA? The Chateau Marmont. |
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| My favourite Sunset Strip hotel, the Sunset Tower. |
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| The view from Sunset Strip. |
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| One of LA’s grandest hotels and my home for two nights, the Beverly Wilshire. |
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| My hero and pop’s greatest gentleman, Barry Gibb. |
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| Me with Barry and his eldest son, Stephen. |
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| The view from the Sunset Tower hotel. |
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| The view from the house I rented in the Hollywood Hills towards Downtown LA. |
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| From the Hollywood Hills to downtown Hollywood. |
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| Lake Hollywood Reservoir |
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| A well known lookout point for both the Hollywood Sign and Lake Hollywood Reservoir. |
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| Tourists grabbing snaps of the lake and the sign. |
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| Classic Californian cacti with the lake behind. |
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| One of my favourites from the Hollywood Hills – posing for a photo with the Hollywood Sign. |
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| Another famous piece of LA architecture, Hollywood’s Capitol Records Tower. |
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| Hollywood backstreets. |
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| The Walt Disney Concert Hall, one of the great modern buildings in LA, opened 2003. |
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| City Hall, until the 1960s the tallest building in LA – built 1928. |
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| Downtown LA at dusk from my Hollywood Hills balcony. |
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| From the Hollywood Sign to Downtown LA. |
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| It was a three hour return hike from my place to the Hollywood Sign, hence the shirts-off photo. |
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| From the Hollywood Sign with the Griffith Observatory on the left, Downtown LA behind. |
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| From the front porch of a home in Glendale, with cacti and a classic American car. Very peaceful. |
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| Universal Studios with my old friend Georgie Love. |
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| The architecture of the Getty Center blew me away as much as the exhibits. |
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| The view from the Getty Center to mansions in Bel Air. |
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| The Getty Center. |
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| One of Monet’s acclaimed Haystacks paintings. |
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| Similarly thrilling to witnessing the above painting in real life, Van Gogh’s Irises. |
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| Hanging out at the beach, Santa Monica. |
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| North facing from the Santa Monica pier. |
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| South facing from the Santa Monica pier. |
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| The Santa Monica pier as the sun begins to set. |
Beautiful photo's Tim, hope you don't mind but saved a couple. Your photo's always have warm color, bright and a happy feel about them.
Surprised to hear about the cankles as I always use the via Australia fares, usually Bisbane and or Sydney. I find the trip via Australia is timed well enough to tire you out and remove excitement levels so next stage to LAX enables sleep and the best thing you arrive in AM local time which brings things back into line. I like your focus on the architecture. That is so easy to miss sometimes. Have you ever been in Santa Monica Beach on a Sunday when all the crosses for Iraq war fatalities are set in the sand. Very moving, even for this Kiwi. Sad thing is after visiting there so many times I have seen the numbers of crosses grow and grow. Cheers. Dave Sherie.
Beautiful! Gorgeous! Thx for the amazing Travel-along! …and of course, the Barry pictures!
Thanks for all the pictures of a places that was home and someday may be again.