Top 5 mistakes by naïve tourists. (Santa Monica, Malibu: appointed, shop, buses)

[Miss Pip]

j-walking!

[bigdumbgod]

Asking everybody at the beach for weed.

[jsupak]

Celebrities are EVERYWHERE
Los Angeles is predominatly white
Movie and TV Studios are all in Hollywood
That's all I can think of!

[Senshi]

Originally Posted by Caladium

1. Going to see celebrity footprints at the Chinese Theater is not at all exciting, and the area's a dump.

Tourists seem pretty excited.

And that area is far from a dump anymore. When was the last time you were there?

[thakiddontplay]

Please people who live there remember that tourists are not everyday in LA for years. Keep in mind that a person likes me who lives in Europe where everything looks like the middle-ages might think those "dumps" you're talking about are pretty exciting. I recognize myself in what you're saying about LA , the only difference is that I say it about my city and tourists over here are telling me I'm crazy to think that and that I should be happy that I'm living here. It seems like some of the comments are based on a question like "I want to move to LA and live there forever ; what should I do and what not ?". A sub-question for this thread can be "When you first came to LA , Hollywood what were the biggest surprises for you?" Tell me what you'll always remember that very first time you've been there?

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Senshi

Tourists seem pretty excited.

And that area is far from a dump anymore. When was the last time you were there?

Probably at least 20 years, maybe more. Thought it was dumb when I first saw it so no reason to return. If some people like it, that's cool--but to be honest I think most tourists will be bored. Just my opinion, of course.

[Senshi]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Probably at least 20 years, maybe more. Thought it was dumb when I first saw it so no reason to return. If some people like it, that's cool--but to be honest I think most tourists will be bored. Just my opinion, of course.

The area is RADICALLY different from what it was 20 years ago. That is when Hollywood was at it's absolute lowest.

In 20 years they've added a huge trendy mall, A subway stop, the Kodak Theatre (where they hold the Oscars every year), Hard Rock Cafe, Jimmy Kimmel, Disney took control of the El Capitan, Madame Tussauds opened, Rolling Stone opened a restaurant and so on.

That area, around the Chinese Theatre, has gentrified beyond belief. Hollywood/Highland has been one of the great success stories of the rebirth of Hollywood.

It'd be like calling Times Square a dump because of what it used to be.

[HarryKerry]

Originally Posted by thakiddontplay

Please people who live there remember that tourists are not everyday in LA for years. Keep in mind that a person likes me who lives in Europe where everything looks like the middle-ages might think those "dumps" you're talking about are pretty exciting. I recognize myself in what you're saying about LA , the only difference is that I say it about my city and tourists over here are telling me I'm crazy to think that and that I should be happy that I'm living here. It seems like some of the comments are based on a question like "I want to move to LA and live there forever ; what should I do and what not ?". A sub-question for this thread can be "When you first came to LA , Hollywood what were the biggest surprises for you?" Tell me what you'll always remember that very first time you've been there?

You are so spot on. I for one think the Hollywood sign is a sad JOKE! But EVERY tourist, from out of state or from another continent, simply MUST photograph it. It means so much to them. It almost almost EVERYTHING. When they finally snap the photo, their eyes light up, a huge smile, and a look of "Mission Accomplished" reads all over their face. I'm so glad they are leaving the Hollywood sign alone now because the tourists come here to see it unaltered. And as for the footprints at Chinese: YES, the tourists LOVE it. They even love the cheesy costumed creeps hanging out at the footprints. Of course, should any of those tourists choose to live here, they would probably run from such places, much like many New Yorkers avoid Times Square as being their cheesy tourist destination, as well.

It is also true that tourists see things we locals don't. As one example, a nice fellow from Paris really liked the architecture and look of L.A., and I had to counter that he would seem to have a much more architecturally rich city often being cited as one of the most beautiful in the world. He said, "well, yes, but I see it everyday. It isn't that special and a lot of areas are not well kept." He found the landscape and structures interesting compared to Paris. After having see a few episodes of House Hunters International "Paris" shows, I now know what he was talking about. There are quite a few dumps in Paris, too, not just L.A.

So, I guess we have to love our tourists who love all the things we despise and should be happy they still come here to spend some $$.

[New Horizons]

Thanks for the added education. That's just remarkable that you have family lineage to the area.

Regarding the whole revitilazation thing, we had some areas in Tampa, FL that were depressed dope holes in the 80's. Over time they restored the old buildings and turned them into upscale bars and restaurants. Nobody would want to see it return to what it once was. I guess I just need to look at Hollywood the same way, just on a bigger scale. But I watch movies like Jackie Brown, and Quentin Terentino makes seedy look so attractive! I just hope that Hollywood can retain a little of it's old character, with permanent institutions such as Jumbos, the Pink Elephant, the LA...Xpress newsstands and so on. I grew up in sterile suburbs, so those things look attractive to me.

Originally Posted by majoun

Actually even in the 1930s Hollywood had a wide range of economic groups living in it. Not as many very poor as today, a much bigger middle class, and considerably more wealthy, but there were some low income people, especially in East Hollywood and the Yucca Corridor. While Hollywood in those years was overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly white it had a good amount of economic and social diversity as well as different types of people within the "white" category. (When my mother went to Hollywood High there were a few Hispanics and Asians but no blacks) My family was lower middle class when they settled in 1940s Hollywood and there were a massive amount of lower middle class people in Hollywood at that time. The "average Angeleno" could afford to live there at the time although not in every part of Hollywood. The old houses and elaborate apartment buildings began to be torn down in the '50s to build cheaply built apartment buildings when the Hollywood Freeway was built, but there was still luxury apartment construction in the '60s as well as the building of "dingbats". The '70s saw a massive and rapid decline which in retrospect had been building up throughout the '60s. Ironically, in that period many Hollywood residents and businesses were involved in a "flight" to Valley neighborhoods which are now worse than Hollywood.

The 1969 World Book Encyclopedia said that one quarter of Los Angeles' population lived in Hollywood (although the encyclopedia's definition would include what is today the city of West Hollywood as well as parts or all of the Fairfax District, East Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Hollywood Hills West, Los Feliz, and Silver Lake). I wonder when that ceased to be true.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by desert_scene

Thanks for the added education. That's just remarkable that you have family lineage to the area.

And they all left because of the late '60s/'70s decline - the '80s and '90s were worse.

If you go through the neighborhoods near Santa Monica Boulevard or near Fountain which still have old SFRs or older apartment buildings from the first half of the 20th century you can see those were not areas built for the upper classes but working class/lower middle class or middle class type areas originally. Most of those (east of Highland) would become poorer areas when the decline happened.