Robert&PhyllisWhite HunterPublishing,Inc. 130CampusDrive Edison,NJ08818-7816 (cid:1)732-225-1900/800-255-0343/Fax732-417-1744 Website:www.hunterpublishing.com E-mail:[email protected] INCANADA UlyssesTravelPublications 4176Saint-Denis,Montréal,Québec CanadaH2W2M5 (cid:1)514-843-9882ext.2232/fax514-843-9448 INTHEUK WindsorBooksInternational TheBoundary,WheatleyRoad Garsington,OxfordOX449EJEngland (cid:1)01865-361122/Fax01865-361133 ISBN1-58843-286-6 ©2002HunterPublishing,Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro- duced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyform, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record- ing, or otherwise, without the written permission of the pub- lisher. Thisguidefocusesonrecreationalactivities.Asallsuchactivi- tiescontainelementsofrisk,thepublisher,author,affiliatedin- dividuals and companies disclaim any responsibility for any injury,harm,orillnessthatmayoccurtoanyonethrough,orby useof,theinformationinthisbook.Everyeffortwasmadetoin- suretheaccuracyofinformationinthisbook,butthepublisher andauthordonotassume,andherebydisclaim,anyliabilityfor lossordamagecausedbyerrors,omissions,misleadinginforma- tion or potential travel problems caused by this guide, even if sucherrorsoromissionsresultfromnegligence,accidentorany othercause. Cover:LegendsofHollywoodMural(Gala/Superstock) MapsbyToniWheeler, ©2002HunterPublishing,Inc. IndexbyBarberIndexing 4 3 2 1 Preface GreetingsfromHollywood!Wishyouwerehere! Well, actually, greetings from Acton. I don’t quite understand someone’sdesireto“seestars,”butyoucanseemeattheSham- balaPreserveoneweekendeachmonth.Justcallandmakeares- ervationforaspecial,one-of-a-kind“safari.”No,wedon’thavea barnfullofoldbirds,butwedohaveover50endangeredbigcats, andanAfricanelephanttokeepyouamused. IcamebacktoLosAngelestotestfortheleadinTheBirds.The yearescapesme...Icouldn’timaginethenwhatIwasabouttoget into,butit’sallHollywoodhistorynow.Itwasthemovies,infact, thatledmedownthepathIhavefollowedallthedayssincethen. AfterworkingwithAlfredHitchcockandCharlieChaplin(and, yes,ladies,RodTaylor,SeanConneryandMarlonBrando.How’s thatfornamedropping?),ImadeamovieinAfricathatexplored theendangeredfutureofthebeautifulandmajesticwildanimal residentsofthatmassiveandproudcontinent.Notlongafter,we began a movie project of our own that led to the founding of ShambalaPreserve.Thatwasnearly30yearsago! ButI’msupposedtowritesomethingabout“seeingstars”inLos Angeles. I can’t imagine what I can add to this well researched volumeofHollywoodtidbits,thoughIdorecallmanyyearsago runningintoIdaLupinoandherhusbandHowardDuffshopping in an all-night market. They were glamorously dressed, obvi- ously on the way home after one of those legendary Hollywood parties.Theywerefeelingnopain,andpushedashoppingcartup anddownaisles,loudlyarguingaboutwhattheotherwastossing intothecart.ButIdigress. Thisbookisfun.Itreadsespeciallywellwithatubofbutterypop- cornandaboxofGood&Plenty.Ireadwithinterestthatthere areover60,000actorslivinginLosAngeles.Howdisconcerting. No wonder I can’t get a job. Which reminds me... if you really wanttoseestars,gototheHollywoodunemploymentoffice.And getinline.Musicswells.Lightsfade.THEEND. WithlovefortheWildOnes... TippiHedren About the Authors PhyllisandRobertWhitehavelivedinLosAngelesmostoftheir lives.Robertspentmuchofhischildhoodhere,andwenttoHol- lywood High and Los Angeles City College. He started writing scriptsforthenetworkswhileatLACC.Phyllis,afterattending theUniversityofMinnesotaandworkingforCBSinNewYork forseveralyears,alsoendedupinHollywood.Asacouplethey workedatmostofthestudios,writingmanyprime-timetelevi- sionshowsaswellasdaytimesoaps.Theyknowthemoviebusi- nessandmanyofthepeoplewhoworkinit,andinHollywood, fromtheinside. These days, Phyllis and Robert write about travel. They have written feature articles for the travel sections of several dozen newspapersandmagazines.TheirpreviousbookforHunterPub- lishing was Romantic Weekends: San Francisco and the Bay Area.TheypresentlyliveinVenice,abeachcommunity10miles westofHollywood. About the Alive Guides Reliable, detailed and personally researched by knowledgeable authors, the Alive! series was founded by Harriet and Arnold Greenberg. Thisaccomplishedtravel-writingteamalsooperatesarenowned bookstore,TheCompleteTraveller,at199MadisonAvenuein NewYorkCity. We Love to Get Mail Thisbookhasbeencarefullyresearchedtobringyoucurrent,ac- curate information. But no place is unchanging. We welcome your comments for future editions. Please write us at Alive Guides, c/o Hunter Publishing, 130 Campus Drive, Edison, NJ 08818, or e-mail your comments to comments@hunterpublish- ing.com.Duetothevolumeofmailwereceive,weregretthatwe cannotpersonallyreplytoeachletterormessage,butyourcom- mentsaregreatlyappreciatedandwillberead. Acknowledgments Writingabooklikethisisgreatfun;atleast,ifyourpassioninlife iswriting,itis.Butthefactstobechecked,andthehalf-remem- bered stories to be double-checked and the research to be done wouldmakeitanever-endingjobifthereweren’tsomanypeople willingtolendahand. Wecan’tthankeveryonewetalkedto,orwhocalledusbackwith moreinformationorsentusaclipping;thatwouldtakeanother bookthissize.ButwewouldliketomentionJohnDuelattheLA Convention&VisitorsBureau,andourscreenwriterfriendswho made suggestions about individual chapters relating to their communities. We have special appreciation for the staff of the MarinadelReyPublicLibrary,whowere,onceagain,incredibly patientoveraperiodofmonthsastheylocatedobscureresearch materialforus.And,ofcourse,LorryKingandAnneWhite,our Internetmentors. Dedication ToRayWalstonandourdaysonMyFavoriteMartian,belatedly. Contents Introduction HowToUseThisBook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Geology&Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 FactsAboutLA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 GettingAround. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 BestPlacestoStay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 BestPlacestoEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 AfterDark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Pronunciation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 TravelingWithPets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 InformationSources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Downtown Los Angeles Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 GettingAround. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 WhoLivedHere? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 OnLocation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 BestPlacestoStay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 BestPlacestoEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 ShopTillYouDrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 SunuptoSundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 AfterDark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 DowntownAtoZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Hollywood Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 GettingHere&GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 WhoLivesHere? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 OnLocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 viii Hollywood & The Best of Los Angeles Alive! BestPlacestoStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 BestPlacestoEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 ShopTillYouDrop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 SunuptoSundown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Recreation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 AfterDark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 HollywoodAtoZ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 West Hollywood Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 GettingAround. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 WhoLivesHere?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 OnLocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 BestPlacestoStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 BestPlacestoEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 ShopTillYouDrop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 SunuptoSundown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 AfterDark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 WestHollywoodAtoZ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Beverly Hills Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 GettingAround. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 WhoLivesHere?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 OnLocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 BestPlacestoStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 BestPlacestoEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 ShopTillYouDrop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 SunuptoSundown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 AfterDark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 BeverlyHillsAtoZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 The Glamour Communities Bel-Air. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 GettingAround. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 WhoLivesHere?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 Contents ix OnLocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 BestPlacetoStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 BestPlacetoEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Shopping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 AfterDark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 Brentwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 GettingHere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 WhoLivesHere? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 OnLocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 BestPlacestoStay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 BestPlacestoEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 ShopTillYouDrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 SunuptoSundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 PacificPalisades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 GettingHere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 WhoLivesHere? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 BestPlacetoStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 BestPlacestoEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 Shopping&Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 SunuptoSundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 TheGlamourCommunitiesAtoZ. . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Below the Foothills CenturyCity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 GettingHere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 WhoLivesHere? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 OnLocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 BestPlacestoStay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 BestPlacestoEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 ShopTillYouDrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 Westwood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 GettingHere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 WhoLivesHere? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 OnLocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335