Exploring the City of the Red Carpet
If you watched the Oscars tonight, you might have been dreaming of what it would be like to be there. Unless you plan on becoming a famous actor/actress, or a lucky fan who wins a chance to go, the odds are you probably wont be flaunting a Prada outfit on the red carpet any time soon.
A visit to Hollywood/Los Angeles isn’t out of the question though. In fact, I recently celebrated my twenty second birthday checking out places like the Kodak Theater where the Oscars are held.
For us non-celebrities a.k.a. short on cash, GoNOMAD provides two articles for cheap and even free attractions to check out in L.A.
Ben Hill offers authentic spots to check out while avoiding the crowds in “My Last Fifty Bucks in L.A.: Tips on What To Do for Cheap”
“I try to use travel guides for inspiration, but they’re all aimed at tourists: Universal Studios, Rodeo Drive, Disneyland, and a laundry list that reads like random points on a map. Places I can’t afford, and places I’d rather avoid even if I could afford them. Instead, I’d go to the places where I lived, worked, and partied. The places that I will remember, even if I forget the names. If I had fifty bucks left, I’d stretch it to the last penny at the places I know and love”
While Bill Karz gives a list of fun attractions for any kind of traveler from the backpacker, to the typical tourist–and they’re free!
“Having hit the open road as a backpacker two years ago in South America and the Middle East, I know what it’s like to try to see a place on a shoestring. There is nothing quite like the experience of always being a dime away from homeless and a buck short of ordinary.
There are several types of tourists here, from a family of four on their way to Disneyland to a high-power female executive roaming Rodeo. My aim with the following list is to provide information that everyone can use.”
If you’re strictly interested in learning about the movie industry and actors that have been to the Oscars, I suggest taking a tour of the Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The 20 minute tour gives you a history of Grauman himself, the theater and the changes it has gone through, as well as a tour of the popular hand prints in the cement outside the theater. The tour guides were bubbly and filled with knowledge of celebrity trivia. The 12 dollar tour was well worth it.
Also, the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum recently opened in Hollywood and is very impressive. Tickets were a bit pricey compared to the Hollywood Wax Museum (which is also worth walking through), but the experience was more personal and therefore, I feel, more valuable. You are able to pose and take pictures with all of these celebrities you see in the movies and at the Oscars… granted they are made of wax, but they look so real! At the Hollywood Wax Museum, some of the wax figures are old and cannot be touched so they are kept behind glass or ropes. Also the technology has gotten better over time to make the figures look more realistic. So bring your camera for this one.
Hope everyone enjoyed watching the Oscars!
