After a rather long day having set out from our Hawaii hotel at 5am,  and finally arriving at The Celebrity Hotel at around 6pm we were just looking forward to having a shower and having a cup of tea.

Paula had already advised me not to expect too much from the hotel as it was only 2 star. So it was nice to be pleasantly surprised when we arrived.

The check in process was easy and the receptionist was friendly. The foyer has pictures of stars and some comfortable chairs to sit while you wait for transport and it is spotlessley clean and well kept for a two star hotel.

Our room (#106) is on the first floor right next to the breakfast bar and on the first evening a group of very loud people seemed to be having a sort of trivial pursuit contest. We would recommend that if you have a problem with noise that you request a room on one of the other floors. The noise didn’t really bother us as apart from the group of people mentioned previously as otherwise it was reasonably quiet during the night.

A continental breakfast is included free in the price but there is no dining room. People just mill around a small area eating their bagels and croissants with philly cheese or they take it back to there room. This is what we did, and as we were right next to the breakfast bar this was quite convenient for us. The continental breakfast included coffee, tea, orange juice, bagels, cream cheese, butter and croissants.

There are urns with hot water, tea, decaf coffee and coffee available 24 hours a day in the breakfast bar area and up a few stairs there is a soda machine if you want coke etc.

The room is spacious and has 2 very comfortable queen sized beds, with 4 pillows on each.  There is a small table and a couple of chairs which are handy for working on the laptop. We also chose the room with the kitchen which has a microwave, gas oven, large sink and all the utensils for cooking and eating.  The stove unfortunately didn’t have a rack to place food on to cook, so we resorted to only using the microwave. 

Our wall has a mural of Gene Kelly from Singing in the Room in keeping with the Hollywood theme.

There is a walk in robe and the usual bathroom with a shower over the bath, which took some time to figure out how to work but then a lot of hotel showers can be confusing to work out.

It also has an extra wash basin separate from the one in the bathroom and includes the hair dryer.

Unfortunately there is no safe in the room, however you can leave valuables at the reception desk.

The view from our includes includes a pathway between the buildings and because we are on the first floor we have bars on the window so we feel pretty safe.

The hotel is situated in a really convenient position, just around the corner from Hollywood boulevard where you can find the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood and Highland Centre, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, The Wax Museum,  Gruman’s Chinese Theatre and also find tour buses to go out and see the stars homes.

We would definitely stay here again. For a 2 star hotel it is in excellent condition and kept spotlessley clean. It is great value for money.

Our Rating of the Hollywood Celebrity Hotel:

Checking in and out 5/5
Room 4/5
Position 4.5/5
Price 4/5
Cleanliness 5/5

Booking this hotel is easy through: Expedia.com!

Now that the writers strike is over, the Oscars are going ahead and we have arrived here in Los Angeles right in the middle of all the preparation.  Actually the 80th Academy Awards takes place tomorrow night, we of course will be in Las Vegas at the Affiliate Summit so will miss all the live excitement. The annual Oscar presentation which recognises the best in their field for the past year, has been held since 1929.

A large block of Hollywood Boulevard has been cordoned off with steel fencing and the lighting and speakers and the red carpet have all been set in place outside the Kodak theatre.

Larger than life Oscar’s are set at the corner of Hollywood and Highland and everyone is having their photo taken or taking photos of others in front of the Oscar’s.

For a list of the nominees for the 80th Academy Awards head over to the official Oscars site.

Yesterday we made a visit to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre – or to be exact, the outside of the theatre which is famous for the foot and hand prints of some of Hollywood’s most famous celebrities.

The theatre is set within a courtyard and is quite sought after for studio premiers in Hollywood. Of course it was packed with tourists all wanting to take plenty of photos of the hand and foot prints. It was also full of touters trying to sell us things including a young man by the name Jamal aka Young Mystro who pushed his CD into our hands – “Just a donation is all I want” were his words as he proceeded to tell us that he was part of a rap duo called Nothin But Heatt and is trying to make it big. We ended up giving him a few dollars for it and had a listen to it later….not too bad… considering neither of us like rap music. He sounded as good as any professional rapper to us.

So back to the theatre…..we spent about half an hour wandering around looking at the hand prints. It is a mix of old and new stars including Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenager, Rock Hudson, Margaret O’Brien, Shirley Temple, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and the list goes on.

It was fun just seeing the sizes of the hand and foot prints – Natalie Wood seemed to have the smallest.

For the movie buff a visit to the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at 6928 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles is a must.

Sid Grauman’s opened his first Hollywood theatre, The Egyptian Theater, in 1927. Funnily enough Sid built this theatre in competition to himself as he also owned the Million Dollar Theater in downtown Los Angeles which at the time was where the movie going public attended movies shown in palatial theatres.

The recent archaeological discoveries in Egypt at that time encouraged the movie going public to check out the lavish Egyptian decorations in the Egyptian theatre.

So how was Sid going to top this achievement?

He decided on a Chinese theme and undertook the building of the Graumann’s Chinese Theatre, sparing on expense. In fact the theatre cost $2 million to build back in those days, imagine what it would cost today.

Sid imported Chinese artefacts from China including sculptured stone Temple Dogs. This magnificent theatre celebrated it’s 80th birthday in 2007.

The opening on May 18, 1927 was a premiere showing of the Cecille B DeMille’s spectacular ‘King of Kings’ with its cast of thousands. Thousands of Los Angelos citizens lined the streets hoping to catch a glimpse of their favourite movie stars and celebrities. The theatre opened for business to the general public on May 19, 1927.

Grauman’s theatre still previews movies from most of the major film companies such as Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Dreamworks, Sony, MGM/UA and New Line etc

Some of the movies that have premiered at Hollywood’s Grauman Theater in the past few years include:

• Ocean’s 13
• Music & Lyrics
• Rocky Balboa
• Pursuit of Happyness
• The Dukes of Hazzard
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• War of the Worlds
• Batman Begins
• Miss Congeniality 2
• Ocean’s 12
• The Aviator
• Cheaper by the Dozen
• X2–X-Men United
• 27 Dresses

The forecourt is a fascinating place that is full of excited tourists trying to find their favourite stars signature, hands and feet prints. There are also a lot of people dressed up as various characters such as Darth Vader, Spiderman, Batman etc, all touting for tourists to have their photo taken with them for a small fee.

We got as swept up in the moment as any other tourist when we spotted the prints of our favourite stars. And when you have found and photographed the stars outside the Chinese Theatre, you can follow the star trail up and down either side of Hollywood boulevarde.

Landing in LA this time is so much different from the last time, when we were on our way to New York. The flight from Hawaii is of course a domestic flight within the US so as we had already been through customs we did not have to repeat the process.

LA airport is not very user friendly.  We collected our bags and made our way outside to find a shuttle bus. This proved to be somewhat challenging as the signage is almost non-existant, but we finally found where the shuttle buses leave from and had a short wait for the shuttle to arrive. The charge to Hollywood was $15.00 per person plus the customary $1.00 per bag tip.

The drive from the airport to Hollywood took over 1 1/2 hours.  The driver and one of the other passengers had a heated discussion as to whether or not she was on the right bus and then we went to the wrong address.  Paula told me not to expect too much of the hotel as it is only a 2 star, but when we arrive we were pleasantly surprised. The hotel is the “Hollywood Celebrity Hotel” in Orchid Ave just behind Graumans Chinese Theatre.

Check in was quick and easy and the room has 2 queen sized beds in a large room with a walk in robe and a kitchen. So we have everything we need, on hand, including tea and coffee provided just outside the door. Breakfast is also included in the price of the room.

We do the customary and drop off our bags and then head out to survey the surroundings. 

We head around the corner not knowing where we are actually going as we haven’t picked up a map, and we happen across Hollywood and Highland. There are lots of people taking photographs so we head off up the stairs to see what the big attraction is – and there high on the hill in the distance is the HOLLYWOOD sign. 

So we join all the rest of the tourists and take the opportunity to photograph the sign and surrounding area.

We take a quick look around the Hollywood and Highlands centre, just to get our bearings before heading down to Hollywood Boulevarde.

The first place we come to is Graumann’s Chinese Theatre so we stop to check out the stars signatures, footprints and handprints.  It’s is a lot of fun mingling with everyone else checking out our favourite film stars as well as stars from the past such as Ethel Merman, Shirley Temple, Rock Hudson and Clarke Gable etc.  We then wandered out to the street and found that most of the main street is blocked off as they are setting up for the 80th Oscars on the 24th Feb. We of course will be in Las Vegas on that day but it was interesting seeing everything being set up for the event.

By now the time was getting on and we were feeling a bit peckish.  There are so many places to eat and we settled on “Johnny Rocket’s” hamburger bar.  Excellent atmosphere and the food is reasonably priced and just fantastic. To start with I had a Hersey’s chocolate shake and Paula had a Strawberry shake, this was followed by a Double Cheese and Bacon burger and Route 66 hamburger with a side serve of fries and deep fried onions.  The resulting meal was very tasty and filling.

 Then it was back to the hotel.   We have been up since 5am this morning and after a 5 hour flight and a 1 1/2 hour drive around LA we are ready for an early night.