The 321 Trip - Day 4 - Anaheim to Hollywood (3/11/16)

[pinkstargirl]

Day 4 - Anaheim to Hollywood (with a detour) 3/11/16

Jetlag was still causing some issues this morning, I woke up at 6am. I managed to go back to sleep, waking again with my alarm at 8, although I didn't get up until 8:30. Once up, I got dressed, packed up all of my stuff, and loaded everything into the car. I checked out and grabbed a free coffee from the lobby area for the journey.

A quick check of the sat nav showed the traffic still wasn't great (although that seems to be the case all day every day in LA) so I decided I would make a stop en route at Denny's for breakfast. I found one along the way, not too far from Anaheim, and set that as my destination, before leaving.

I didn't get as far as Denny's before I made a stop. I saw a Walmart from the highway, and thought I'd have a look and see what I wanted. I knew I wouldn't be buying today, but would take pictures and find a Walmart upon my return to LA in a couple of weeks, when I knew I would have a car again and also an extra luggage allowance on the flight home, being PE again.

I spent around 45 minutes in the store, I did buy a couple of very small things, but besides that, I just had a few pictures in my phone of things to buy later. Once again I set up Denny's as my destination, and headed off. I soon found myself at a Denny's in Norwalk, and ordered the new Salted Caramel Pancake breakfast, which came with sausages, egg and hash browns. It was all so tasty but I had to leave some! I left there just after 12, with my hostel in Hollywood set as my destination.

Nice and simple, you'd assume? You obviously don't know me. Somewhere along the way (I don't have the location written down) I remembered that there had been one other thing I'd planned to do on my first afternoon in California, which was visit an independant coffee shop my sister had told me about, which was located in Upland, approximately 40 miles from where I now was. A sensible person would say "oh well, never mind"... but I'm not sensible.

Having found somewhere to pull over, reset the satnav, and get going again, I arrived at Rad Coffee, in Upland, around 1pm. It was a scorching hot day and I was looking forward to my iced blended coffee. I ordered a Cookies and Scream, which is "Coffee blended with oreos and cookie butter, topped with blue whip and cookie crisp" and was so tasty - I loved the blue whipped cream! Absolutely worth the big detour! If you're ever in the area, it's definitely a cool place to go for a coffee.

I left Upland at 1:30, and finally was on my way to Hollywood! Very slowly as it took me over an hour to get there, arriving at the hostel at 2:45. I parked up on the road as the property had gates across the entrance, and walked to reception. I checked in and made my way upstairs to the room. I was a little apprehensive as the hostel's policy on beds was 'first come, first served', and I think I've spoken about my bunk bed demons in a previous trip report. I breathed a big sigh of relief when I discovered the last bed in the dorm was a bottom bunk!

I moved the car into the parking area (also first come first served) and had a quick look at the noticeboard where there were shuttle buses to Universal offered. I decided to enquire about that, to save possibly losing my parking space, only to discover that the shuttle bus didn't run on a Friday. Back to the drawing board then... But first, exploring!

I walked about 3 minutes down from the hostel, only to quickly realise how close I was staying to the walk of fame! I hadn't chosen the hostel for that, in fact I had been booked into their sister hostel in West Hollywood until about a week before my trip when I'd switched. The hostel I was now staying in was a 7-10 minute walk to the Pantages Theatre, where I would be spending the next 2 evenings. I practically bounced past there, before realising I had to cross the road as the sun was right in my eyes - I know, I know, mustn't complain!

I stopped to grab a coffee in Starbucks, and worked out how much time I had. I decided to take a slow walk down Hollywood Boulevard for about 45 minutes and then turn back, grab something to eat and pop back to the hostel to change. I took some pictures of some of the stars on the WoF, and made it down the the Chinese Theater. For the last few streets I was a bit on edge, it seemed a bit seedy and run down by the point, and I wasn't a fan of the people who come up to you and start walking with you, trying to get you to book a tour with them.

Just down from the hostel was a Shake Shack, which I decided would be good to try. I wasn't impressed to be honest. The shake that I had (coffee flavoured) was delicious, but the burger was just... meh. Tasty enough but nothing special. Not something I'll bother with again. I left there at 5:50, and was back at the hostel 5 minutes later, having realised I could see the Hollywood Sign not 2 minutes from where I was staying! Had a bit of a chill out and changed into jeans.

I left just after 7, and walked along to the subway station. I had decided that this would be a quick, cheap option for Universal the next day. I got a ticket and loaded it with enough money for 2 single rides. I got to the theatre at 7:25, had a quick loo stop and a look at the merchandise, before getting to my seat at 7:40.

The show was as good as I remembered, although slightly different as there was a different actress in the role of Yitzhak - Lena Hall, who had played the role on Broadway for the first year, winning a Tony Award for her performance. She was also playing the title role of Hedwig once a week for this tour, the first female to do so.

I left the theatre at 9:50, and thought I'd just go and have a peek at the stage door crowds. If there weren't too many people, I thought I'd hang around. When I saw the show on Broadway in 2015, the stage door was always absolutely packed, crowds at least 10 people deep. So imagine my surprise when I saw about 30 people waiting, in one single line along the barrier. My mind was made up (I think it had been made up from leaving the theatre honestly, but let's pretend I have some sense...) and I found a spot and waited. I don't have any notes to say what time it was when Lena came out, but she signed my Playbill and I got a picture with her.

I knew Darren doesn't take pictures at the stage door - he always makes a little speech when he comes out, saying he would rather use the time to speak to people and actually have a conversation than just -'click' move on 'click' move on etc - but he's always happy for people to take pictures while he is talking to others. He came out at 11pm or so, and I amazed myself by actually holding a conversation with him instead of clamming up completely. It had been a few years in the making but I'd finally managed to speak to the guy and get one of his famous hugs.

I walked back to the hostel pretty much on Cloud 9, got into bed and realised that my friends at home would probably be up now, so I texted them for a little while before going to sleep.

[Twilight Nerd]

Wow you managed to pack loads into your day. It must have been amazing for you to have a chat with the cast.

[Melbatb]

What a great day! I love that you made such a detour for the coffee bar!