Dates: Dec 24th & Dec 25th
Travelers: Sumitra, Karthik, Shwetha, Karthik

We started the trip leisurely on Christmas Eve from San Jose, and decided to reserve the scenic route 1 for the return journey. We took I-5 down to Los Angeles and arrived at Hollywood 5 hours later. We checked into the Hollywood Heights Hotel, decent facilities but great location, 2 blocks from Hollywood and Sunset Blvd. We walked on Hollywood Blvd. retracing steps of the many famous stars and celebrities. During award ceremony season, Hollywood Blvd. turns into a glitzy red carpet venue, but on Christmas Eve, it was just tourists, and different characters in costume. Kodak Theater, Grauman's Chinese Theatre all seemed very ordinary without the flashing lights of the paparazzi. The tourist stretch of Hollywood Blvd. extends for 3 blocks and the rest is not worth seeing. Dinner was at Rahel, in Little Ethiopia and true to LA style, it was a Vegan restaurant.

After dinner, we drove to Rodeo Drive, and though the shops were closed, we window shopped as much as we could. I guess it wouldn't have made a difference even if the shops were open. On Rodeo Drive, a small section called Via Rodeo, is paved with cobblestones and pedestrian only. This felt like the LA we see in movies. We continued our drive into Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, doing our own Bing powered celebrity house spotting. The houses were on huge plots, with winding driveways, large iron gates, tall trees and hedges. It was truly luxurious. Beverly Hills is the neighborhood with the highest median home price in the US and it showed.

Day 2 began with a very unsuccessful hunt for an open breakfast joint in Beverly Hills and Hollywood. We settled for Starbucks, although it was the one in Beverly Hills. The disadvantage of not finding anything open on Christmas day was our boon for the whole day as the feared LA traffic was non-existent. We drove into downtown Los Angeles, and walked around the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Staples Center. The concert hall was designed by Frank Gehry as can be easily seen in the sweeping free form architecture. We then drove to Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway, and found Cher's, Charlie Sheen's, Julie Andrews' and Bob Dylan's house. We continued on the PCH to Santa Monica, stopping on beaches along the way. Santa Monica beach, made famous by Baywatch was crowded even for a holiday. Route 66 also ends in Santa Monica. We continued our trip down the Pacific coast to Venice. Though man-made, the canals and the million dollar homes on the canals were beautiful and the walk to the beach was relaxing. We had lunch at Venice beach and then drove to Marina Del Rey, our last stop on the PCH for the day.

We reversed our route, heading back north through Los Angeles to Pasadena to check out the Rose Bowl, just days ahead of the Big Ten battle with TCU. Penn State might struggle to come here, but 3 Penn Staters made up for it. Following the advice of a few friends we headed back to Los Angeles, to find gourmet pizza at Mr. Pizza, a very dimly lit pizza joint. Good LA pizza but Chicago still reigns supreme.

Day 3 began in true LA style with breakfast at Barney's Greengrass, on the terrace of Barney's in Beverly Hills. We could see all of Beverly Hills and the iconic Hollywood sign from our breakfast table and the food, the Banana pancake transported into the world of celebrities. Expensive but what isn't in LA. We spent 2 more hours shopping and then headed out south on the PCH. The drive was one of the most scenic we have been on. The Pacific ocean on one side and the flowing mountains and hills on the other. The road wound its way through canyons and the weather played along as all the storms and mud slides from the week prior had disappeared. The road into Laguna beach was closed but we found a detour through Newport beach. Laguna beach and Newport beach all form part of Orange County or OC as it is affectionately called. The whole stretch of OC is one of the must see places in the US. Different, green, blue, and truly scenic.

Our next stop was San Diego, just 2 hours south of LA.