Los Angeles Day #3

Today I started the morning with a bike ride around the lovely areas of Santa Monica beach, Venice Beach and Marina del Rey. It's very hot here at the moment, so it was a bit of a workout with a long bike ride, but it was an amazing experience to bike along one of the world's most famous beaches, and it was also fun to see the Marina del Rey area again where I stayed for one night about two years ago.

After leaving Santa Monica, I went to one of my favorite areas in Los Angeles: Toluca Lake which is close to Burbank. I checked into my "usual" hotel “The Tangerine” where I've stayed maybe 8 times now? It's a very no-frills, simple hotel (closer to a motel, actually) but there's a certain charm to it, and it's located in a very nice area. The room is a bit small, but has all you need.

I had lunch at the Novo Café across the hotel - a very nice pasta dish with salmon and a spicy vodka sauce - and then walked to the nearby Warner Bros. Studios for a tour. I did the tour for the first time almost ten years ago, and I've done it a lot of times since then, but the experience is different every time. It’s awe-inspiring to be on the lot where so many of the biggest TV shows and movies over the years have been filmed!

Among other things, I saw the archive exhibit where they currently display costumes from Aquaman and Wonder Woman, and props/costumes from the Harry Potter franchise. I also saw the prop warehouse, where they have thousands of props and set designs used in many movies and shows like The Matrix, The West Wing, etc. Another stop we made was the picture car museum which is currently displaying a number of batmobiles and other vehicles used in the various Batman movies.

Finally, aside from driving around and seeing the studio and soundstages, we also visited the set of the show Lucifer, which I haven't watched yet, but now I'll have to! It's really fun to see an actual set used for something that is currently filming. Apparently we saw the main character’s apartment.

The tour concludes at Stage 48 - a relatively new tour center that exhibits various stages of the movie-making process. They also let you visit the main sets from Friends and The Big Bang Theory and get photos. I also got a photo holding a real Oscar, and I got to see some interesting props and costumes.

In the evening I had dinner at the famous Smoke House restaurant - very close to Warner Bros. Studios and apparently popular with celebrities! I had a sirloin steak which was amazing 😍Read more