Venice Beach

Venice is just a 3km walk south along the boardwalk and is known for its eclectic street stalls selling everything from T-Shirts to marijuana. It's also known for Muscle Beach, an outdoor gym which attracts bodybuilders eager to be seen and approached for movie roles.

Hollywood

Hollywood really needs no introduction and we took the hop-on-hop-off bus there to look around. The dark corrugated iron building is Dan Aykroyd's House of Blues. The silver gazebo marks the start of Hollywood Boulevard and each leg represents a woman from each race that has 'made it in Hollywood. Atop the gazebo is a small statue of Marilyn Monroe.

Santa Monica

We found Malibu a little too sedate so we've moved to Santa Monica, one of Los Angeles' 5 cities. The name was given by a Mexican general who when his men stopped a spring to quench their thirst, said the water was as sweet as the tears of St Monica.
Santa Monica is the pre-eminent beachside community of LA and also has its world famous fun pier.

Beverly Hills

After the helicopter ride we got a lift to the Beverly Center for a spot of shopping. From there we walked about 3 km to Rodeo Drive. The large building in the photo is the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Helicopter over LA

Today we had a helicopter ride taking off from Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, then heading south across the San Fernando Valley. That brought us over the Hollywood Hills and the famous Hollywood sign. From there we tracked over Dodgers Stadium and then circled downtown LA - really close to the buildings. It's amazing there are no restrictions on doing this! We headed further south and then west to the beaches. Northbound at 100 feet up over Hermosa Pier to Santa Monica where it felt like we would blow the standup paddle boarders off their boards. Heading east again we went mansion spotting and although too many too mention we saw many celebrity properties. A 45 minute ride and well worth it.

Malibu

Malibu is a quite a distance from the airport. It's a little like Palm Beach in that respect. The holiday unit is quaint and not only overlooks the ocean, the waves roll in under the balcony. It's decorated with nautical motifs and weathered furniture.
The unit is located near Malibu Pier and next door to the Malibu Beach Inn. Across Malibu Lagoon is a small group of shops where we has lunch and saw Beau Bridges.

En route to LA

I love travel. Travellers on the other hand I'm not so fond of. For instance, through the overnight flight to LA I was woken up by 2 guys in the next aisle laughing and joking with the flight attendants....and taking flash photographs. This was done while using the language of model photography, you know, 'come on baby, make love to the camera'. While I can appreciate someone using their best Austin Powers voice to pull a couple of hosties, doing it while others are trying to sleep is a bit rude.