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Things to do in Hollywood
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Movie Stars Homes Tours
There are numerous tours that will
take you to the stars' houses, but it all depends on how stylish
you wish to be. In other words, do you want to ride in a tour
bus, limo, double-decker, or Cadillac convertible. The mini bus
tours are around $50, and the grander vehicles will cruise you
around in some kind of style for hundreds. All will show you
where the stars live, although many of them will be behind gated
entries, away from the prying eyes of visitors like you. The
mini bus tours will pick you up at your hotel and bring you back
after, but you won't have much time to stop and look; so you
might want to take the tour and decide what places you would
like to spend time at. The tour will take you to approximately
45 homes belonging to the movie stars of today, like Nicolas
Cage, Britney Spears, Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, John
Travolta, Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, Leonardo DiCaprio and
so many more. You would have to decide who and what you want to
see, and then search for the company that matches your desires
or wishes and go from there. Almost all of them will set up
special or private tours for you, and some may wish to come to
the movie capital of the world and check with the cab drivers to
see if they can do any better. The best way to check it all out
is online so you can see all the variations and what kind of
vehicle, etc. It is your trip or vacation, and you can always
rent a vehicle from one of our fine associates and drive around
yourself, as there are numerous maps to help you guide yourself
or family around the city. Most of the tours will take place
during the day, unless you prefer a night excursion, but many
want to check out the marvelous clubs that are around the area.
The tours can last anywhere from 1 to 3 hours or more, again
depending upon what you wish to see and what you will settle
for. The best way is to decide before going to save a few
dollars, as the city can be an expensive lesson for many. Also
by going online and checking all the opportunities, you most
likely will save a few dollars. Definitely worth the small
amount of time it takes and the benefits will certainly offset
any time wasted or lost.
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Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum is
part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, and an art museum of
extraordinary prestige. There are two in the city of Los
Angeles, one at the Getty Center, and the other at the Getty
Villa in Pacific Palisades. The Getty Center museum houses
beautiful works of art from the middle ages to the present from
the West, and the other contains art from the period of ancient
Rome, Greece and Eturia. It was in 1974, that Getty opened his
second museum, which was a copy of the Villa of the Papyri at
Herculaneum, and put it on his estate at the Pacific Palisades
in California. It became the richest museum in the world in
1982, when it inherited $1.2 billion and was moved to Brentwood,
where it now resides in 1997, and renamed the Getty Villa.
Presently the museum is in the middle of a great controversy,
about the titles to some of its paintings, since its former
curator of antiquities, Marion True, was indicted in Italy, in
2005, with famous dealer Robert Hecht, Jr. They were arrested
for trafficking in stolen antiquities, and the Greek authorities
have considered the same charges against these two. Only in
Hollywood, could this real life drama unfold and seem more like
one of its high end movies. The main evidence is from a raid
that took place in 1995, in Geneva, Switzerland, at a warehouse
where a invaluable collection was found. An Italian art dealer
named Giacomo Medici was also arrested in 1997, and
international authorities believe that they have broken the back
to one of the most sophisticated and biggest antiquities
networks in the world. The authorities believe that these people
are responsible for illegally gaining possession of these
artifacts and taking them away to be disposed of with the
wealthiest of the art market buyers. In 2006, Ms. True sent a
letter to the Getty Trust saying that the board knew of,
approved and condoned the way business was being done. She is
being investigated by the Greek authorities over the acquisition
of a 2500 year old funerary wreath, and a 6th century B.C.
statue of a woman, both of which have been restored to Greece,
and can be viewed at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.
Also that same year, the museum's director, Michael Brand,
stated that 26 questionable pieces would be returned to Italy;
although the bronze statue Victorious Youth, was not. This
statue was found by an Italian fishing boat in 1964, of the
coast of Italy, in its nets, and after some gray market
haggling, was sent to the Getty in 1977. In 2007, the museum was
forced to return some 40 pieces, that had a 5th century B.C.
statue of Aphrodite, that was taken from Morgantina, an ancient
Greek settlement in the island of Sicily. The collection at the
museum had been started with the oil tycoon's own private
collection, and had been held at the Roman styled villa in
Malibu, now the Getty Villa. The museum was designed by Richard
Meier and sets on 750 acres of the Santa Monica Mountain
foothills. The Getty Center has such a huge collection that it
sits in four pavilions to showcase some of it, and the complex
itself contains 9 buildings altogether. The information desk has
a pamphlet called "What to See", and an orientation film to
begin your tour. There is also an audio tape that will be most
helpful telling you about the art, from experts who have
explained all the pertinent information. Maps are also a good
idea if you come with a group or family and need to look things
over yourself. The galleries are so huge that it is easy to lose
track of someone and cell phones won't help if you don't know
where you are or what you are looking for. The buildings are
architectural delights themselves, and you could spend endless
hours just enjoying them. Plan on spending more than a day here,
if you care about antiquities, and architecture.
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Hollywood Museum
After more than 90 years of
making movies in Hollywood, there just isn't one single museum
where all the great artifacts have been collected, but rather
numerous ones that have a piece from this movie or that movie,
with cars here and lingerie there. The original bar from Cheers,
the real Maltese Falcon, Hannibal Lecter's cell and more can be
found in any one of the many museums in the area. Some of the
more well known museums located in Hollywood include the
following; the Getty Villa, Madame Tussad's, the Hollywood
History Museum, the Museum of Television & Radio, the Warner
Bros. Museum, the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Gene Autry
Museum of Western Heritage, Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not Museum,
Hollywood Guinness World of Records Museum, the Hollywood
Heritage Museum, the Hollywood Wax Museum, and the Los Angeles
County Natural History Museum. One not mentioned in the list
just completed is the Hollywood Museum 27, which is in an old
fire station. In 1930, a number of trucks, fire trucks, moved
into the new building which was the biggest fire house west of
the Mississippi, although it wasn't finished, and it had a fire
call that first day. It was this fire house that took care of
the motion picture studios, the stars that lived close by in the
hills, and those that lived along Sunset Boulevard. When there
were big emergencies, it helped the city of Los Angeles also.
When the Northridge earthquake hit the area, it looked like the
old building would be demolished, but it was saved, and a new
fire station was built next to it, more modern and adapt at
saving buildings and lives in the tradition of the old fire
station. The fire house has been completely renovated, and has
been taken back to its original condition so that visitors can
see what went on here so many years ago. The three bays have
been completely filled with old memorabilia including some
equipment that was used in the early 1900s.
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