After A.J. (as Tony likes to be called) got the go-ahead from his doctor, we set off at about 11.00 a.m., for a tour of all the things we wanted to see in downtown L.A. First stop was Sherman Oaks, where Warner Bros. has a suite of offices in a tall building, and this is where Tony works. Ian had asked Tony if we could have a special tour of where he works. So we went up quite a number of floors to where "Batman Beyond" is made. (It has been renamed "Batman of the Future" for the U.K. and Europe - goodness only knows why!) Only a couple of other people were in there, this being Saturday, but Tony showed us his cubicle where he works. It was in a large, airy, open-plan floor, with office screens sectioning off little areas about 8’ by 6’. We could all barely fit inside Tony’s office, but he showed us all his stuff, his desks, his computer, his portable music system - which he doesn’t play very loud so as not to disturb other people working around him. He then took us round and showed us where the artists all work, and the producers and everyone. Lots of people had toys and models, and posters, personalising their own bit of space, and it was obvious that the kind of people that work here are into cult T.V. stuff, toys and things.
Tony described to us what goes into making an episode of the animated
Batman series, and showed us what he does as Production Co-ordinator, with
binders full of drawings and animations and what he has to do with all
of them. We were quite amazed and impressed by what he does. We walked
all around the floor, taking a peak at some of the other cubicles - some
were by the window and the view over the city from this high up was just
amazing! The freeways and all the little cars and people were minute from
up here! Like thousands of tiny ants all moving at once! Imagine having
such a marvellous view to look at every day! I don’t think I’d ever do
any work!
We then went back into Beverley Hills, to the shopping area, and the famous Rodeo Drive, as featured in "Pretty Woman". Tony drove down first, and then parked the car and we walked down, although to be honest, we probably couldn’t even afford to look in the windows of all the designer shops! None of the merchandise on display in the windows had price tags - not a good sign! Needless to say, we didn’t go in anywhere, although we got to the end of the road, where it joined Wilshire Boulevard (featured in the film "Volcano"), and we went into Planet Hollywood Beverley Hills for a quick look around, and Vince and then I couldn’t resist buying yes, you’ve guessed it, a T-shirt each! And these were a lot more that four for $10, but I thought I’d treat myself! We also saw the Regent Beverley Wilshire Hotel (also of "Pretty Woman") and I took a photo of it. Finally, we drove along Wilshire Boulevard, to look for No. 10866 (wow, high street numbers!), the office of Glen A. Larson, Ian’s ultimate idol! Eventually we found it, after some Starsky and Hutch style U-turn driving from Tony when he realised we had gone past it the first time! Ian got out and took a photo of the nameplate at the front of the building, although it was a big tower block, and Glen occupies a suite of offices somewhere inside. He wouldn’t be there now, however, as it was between 6 and 7 p.m. on Saturday evening, and getting dark! Still, Ian had made his pilgrimage, and achieved another of his goals for the holiday.
We headed back towards Burbank through Beverley Hills the back way,
avoiding the freeway this time - I suppose it was a short cut! Tony drove
all the way up Coldwater Canyon Avenue. We arrived back in Burbank, and
we went to a restaurant called "Denny’s" for dinner that evening, and this
was to become my favourite place to eat. I could not decide what to have
- there were so many nice dishes, but in the end I settled for a salmon
steak, baked potato and vegetables, as this would be nice and light. I
think this was where I tried the real lemonade for the first time, with
free refills. But I still couldn’t manage a pudding! What a long day and
it wasn’t over, yet! Tony took us back to Lucky’s as I had decided I should
cook for everyone one night. So we went and bought stuff to make Shepherd’s
Pie, a typical English dish! Some of the types of food were a bit different
to ours - I could find nothing to make gravy - no Oxo cubes or granules,
so in the end I got a sachet of Sloppy Joe mix - containing stock, thickener,
herbs, etc. It was decided I would cook on Monday. It was nice to get to
bed that day!
After a visit to Toys R Us, we went back to the apartment, and all six of us, Nick and Lulu as well, piled into Nick’s car which is bigger and can hold six (Lulu sat on a little extra seat between Nick and Tony in the front), as we had persuaded Nick and Lulu to come with us for a day out at Universal Studios! So Nick drove to Universal City, where the studios are, in a city all of their own. In fact it is a district, sort of between Burbank and before Hollywood.
Nick parked the car and then we walked along "Citywalk", a sort of mall
lined with shops and restaurants. Tony and Nick told us we would have a
chance to have a better look at this later, after we had been in Universal
Studios. Then we arrived at the famous fountain with the globe inside it
with Universal Studios on it, and we went to the ticket booths and bought
our tickets. In we went, really excited - there was so much to see! More
shops and places to eat, and loads of things which have been featured in
films and T.V. shows all over the place, such as Magnum’s car and the car
from "The Mummy", and mock-ups of things such as Jaws! We made our way
first of all, however, down several escalators (Universal City seems to
exist on several hillsides of the Hollywood Hills) to the boarding platforms
for the Universal Studios "backlot tour". Tony has a VIP pass, and so we
jumped the queue and were taken straight to the front! (Ace or what?!)
The hostesses showed us where to stand to get the best seats on the next
available tour. The trolley bus arrived, (it was wide open at the sides)
and Vince and I took the window seats, as we were taking photographs, and
Ian sat next to me with his video camera. The boarding platform had a panoramic
view of Burbank and the mountains beyond, and we could clearly see Warner
Bros. Studios in the foreground just beyond what we now know to be the
Universal backlot.
After that we went by another lake, where there was supposedly a man in a boat, and the tour guide was saying, "oh no, he must be careful, these waters are shark-infested!" Then, a shark’s fin can be seen heading for the boat, and it grabbed the (dummy) man out of the boat, and ate him! A few seconds later, after the shark had disappeared beneath the water, we jumped out of our skin as the shark shot out of the water right next to the bus! And on my side! Complete with noisy sound effects. Luckily it missed us! We then saw the house from "The Great Outdoors" and "the biggest blue-screen in the world"! We also went past "Dante’s Peak". Then the backlot tour was at an end, but what a tour! The whole thing must have lasted at least an hour!
We got off the bus, and then the next thing we did was pose for a photograph in front of a big billboard of a close-up of the "Hollywood" sign. I said I wanted to see the real "Hollywood" sign, however. We posed in front of a giant, green, incredible hulk, the character from the comics, and then we joined the queue for the Terminator II ride. The Terminator wasn’t really a ride, however, it was more a very intense cinema show, complete with sounds, smells and 3-D vision, which we wore glasses for. Real people played some of the parts at the beginning and then seemed to just blend seamlessly into the movie, which lasted about ten minutes. Then we all filed out of the auditorium, into a dedicated Terminator gift shop, where you could buy T-shirts, key rings, mugs, badges, etc. Then we saw a command capsule from "Apollo 13". We stopped at an outdoor café-bar to eat some giant salted pretzels that were like bread, and we tried "churros", cake-like sticks flavoured with cinnamon. Then we went to the Back to the Future ride, and the original De Lorean car was outside! This "ride" was inside a capsule inside a little room, but once the lights go out it is a brilliant simulation - you never actually leave that room, although the capsule, which looks as if you are inside the De Lorean, moves and shakes as if you are really travelling through time and space, and with all the visual and sound effects, it is very realistic. Part of it was like journeying to the centre of the earth!
We went down some more escalators, past the "Jurassic Park" ride, but Tony said we were better leaving that until last, as you end up getting soaking wet! You can even buy a plastic Mac for a dollar! We took some photos of some billboards, and the "Jurassic Park" land rover, and then we went on the "E.T." ride. We had to give our names at the ticket desks for this one, and then once we were inside it was as if we were walking through a dark forest, backwards and forwards, down queue lanes (but there wasn’t a queue). There was soft, soothing music and the lighting was subdued, and instead of cars to get into, you climbed onto these seats which were made out to be like bikes, with pedals! It was quite safe; however, you were still boxed in and couldn’t fall out. The bikes were suspended from an overhead track, like a cable car. The ride went all over, through the dimly lit forest, up into the stars and looking down at a city of lights below! At the end of the ride, in which you are helping E.T. to get home to save his home planet, E.T. thanks people individually by name - that was why they wanted the names! E.T. was really cute!
By the time we came out of the "E.T." ride, it was getting late, nearly seven O’ clock, but we made our way to the "Jurassic Park" ride, looking rather apprehensively at all the people coming out, drenched to the skin, and even those with plastic Macs on looked pretty wet! But unfortunately, no one, not even Nick and Tony, had realised that on Sundays, the park shuts early, at seven O’ clock, and so we were too late to go on the Jurassic Park ride! (In the week, Universal is open until late, ten O’ clock at least!) It was a shame, as had we known, we could have made sure we left enough time to do everything. And so we had to settle for a quick look in the "Jurassic Park" gift shop. Then we started to make our way back up the escalators, up the hillside to the way out, since we had come right down into the valley! We took some photos of the view over Burbank at dusk, and then went to get our official photographs of us in front of the Hollywood sign.
We walked back past "Citywalk", and we had promised Tony, Nick and Lulu that we would treat them to dinner, and so we had planned to eat in one of the restaurants on Citywalk, but then Tony decided we would go back to Burbank and eat in a restaurant there. We made a mental note to return to Citywalk when there was time, and take a better look at all the shops there. Back in Burbank, we went to a restaurant called "Lancer’s", and we asked Tony if he ate here regularly, and he replied he had never eaten there before, but had always wanted to try it, so that pleased us greatly. I had a barbecued chicken sandwich, which was delicious. The end of another great day!
