Above photo: "The Beverly Hills Hotel."
Contents of:
THE ULTIMATE HOLLYWOOD TOUR BOOK: THE L.A. SIGHTSEEING "BIBLE"
The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book is a sightseeing guide book that covers: celebrity homes, haunts, movie and TV locations, scandals, suicides and murders, sites that inspired songs, landmarks, and hidden attractions.
Table of Contents
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Introduction 9
Beverly Hills, Bel-Air and Holmby Hills 13 Brentwood 65 Pacific Palisades 73 Malibu 91 Santa Monica and Venice 101 Culver City 105 Westwood and Century City 113 The Sunset Strip 118 West Hollywood 133 Hollywood 141 Fairfax and The Miracle Mile 167 |
Hancock Park and The Wilshire District 173
Mulholland Drive and the Hollywood Hills 179 Hollywood and Los Feliz 191 Downtown 203 Pasaden 217 Burbank and Toluca Lake 231 Universal City, North Hollywood and Studio City 239 Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys and Encino 243 Other Points of Interest in or near Los Angeles 251 Acknowledgements 261 Index 269 |
CELEBRITY HOMES AND HAUNTS
The book provides a self-guided tour of celebrity homes in the so-called Platinum triangle: Beverly Hills, Bel-Air and Holmby Hills, complete with not one, but six separate star maps, of the area. Unlike the maps hawked all over Los Angeles, the star maps in the book are kept up to date and even include detailed driving directions. Mr. Gordon also removed all the distracting side streets where obscure or long-forgotten celebrities have lived.
With the aid of the book, visitors can create their own tours and sightsee at their leisure. Even if you do not have access to a car, and intend to take one of the many "Tours to the Stars' Homes," the book will make your sightseeing experience more enjoyable. That is because the book provides not only photographs of, but histories and anecdotes about the more famous homes.
For example, you will learn that:
- Producer Aaron Spelling's famous 123-room manor - the one that recently sold for $120 million-is 31 times the size of the average American home, or roughly the size of a football field. It's smaller than the Pentagon, but larger than the Taj Mahal and Disney's largest soundstage. Aaron's daughter, Tori Spelling, grew up here.
- David Geffen, supposedly the richest man in Hollywood, paid $47.5 million the former Jack Warner estate, which is now worth almost three times that amount. He was looking for an Arab sheik to take it off his hands, but he ultimately sold the mansion to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for $165 million. Geffen downsized to an $82.5 million home previously owned by Frank Sinatra.
- Jayne Mansfield decorated her "Pink Palace" by writing to 1,500 furniture and building suppliers and asking for free samples. Her pitch: The donors could then brag that their goods were in her mansion. The pitch worked! Jayne received over $150,000 worth of free merchandise.
Visitors who hope to catch glimpses of the stars will not see them outside their gated estates, but they can go to the many nightclubs and hotels that cater to a celebrity clientele. The Beverly Hills Hotel is probably the best known, but there are several others, including the Four Seasons, which the studios constantly use for press junkets.
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Another hotel, the Chateau Marmont, is so trendy that instead of putting Bibles on the nightstands in its suites, it provides guests with screenplays!
Between 1993 and 1996 Madonna lived in this nine-story-tall castle on Mulholland Highway. The estate was once a gambling den operated by the notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel. It was also prominently featured in 'Beverly Hills Cop." |
Madonna's former castle in the Hollywood Hills
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MOVIE AND TV LOCATIONS
Locations from the following motion pictures can also be found in the book:
Locations from the following motion pictures can also be found in the book:
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American Pie, II
Annie Hall Argo Artist, The Back to the Future, I and II Bad Words Batman Forever The Beverly Hillbillies Beverly Hills Cop Blade Runner Body Double Bridesmaids Bugsy Charlie's Angels I, II Chinatown Clueless Daddy Day Care Dead Again Die Hard Down and Out in Beverly Hills Escape from L.A. E.T. The Flintstones 40-Year Old Virgin, The |
L.A. Story
Lethal Weapon (I,II and IV) Liar, Liar Magnolia The Nutty Professor Once Upon a Time in Hollywood People Like Us Planet of the Apes The Poseidon Adventure Pretty Woman Pulp Fiction Rainman Rebel Without a Cause The Rocketeer Rocky Rumor Has It Ruthless People Say Anything Speed Stand and Deliver Star Trek IV Star Trek VI The Sting Sunset Boulevard |
Visitors can also find the "L.A. Law" building, the "Melrose Place" and "Seinfeld" apartments, the "Baywatch" lifeguard station; the "Bat Cave"; and homes featured in shows like"Desperate Housewives," "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," "Benson," "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Beverly Hills 90210," "The Brady Bunch," "Doogie Howser, M.D.," "Dynasty," "Happy Days," "Knight Rider," " "Malcolm in the Middle," "30something," and "The Wonder Years."
Recurring locations featured in "The Adventures of Superman," "Alias," "The Big Bang Theory," "Brothers and Sisters," "Cagney and Lacey," "Fantasy Island," "How to Get Away with Murder," "MacGyver," "The Mentalist," "Moonlighting," ""Numbers," "Parks and Recreations," "Remington Steele," "The Rockford Files," "Scandal," "7th Heaven," "Supergirl," and "Thirtysomething."
Recurring locations featured in "The Adventures of Superman," "Alias," "The Big Bang Theory," "Brothers and Sisters," "Cagney and Lacey," "Fantasy Island," "How to Get Away with Murder," "MacGyver," "The Mentalist," "Moonlighting," ""Numbers," "Parks and Recreations," "Remington Steele," "The Rockford Files," "Scandal," "7th Heaven," "Supergirl," and "Thirtysomething."
NOTORIOUS HOLLYWOOD SCANDALS, MURDERS AND SUICIDES
O.J. Simpson's Arrest Photo
The book also has all the O. J. Simpson sites, plus the sites where Robert F. Kennedy, Sharon Tate, Sal Mineo, "Bugsy" Siegel, Jerry Rubin, Lyle and Kitty Menendez, and Lana Turner's Mafia boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, were killed.
The book also shows where Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Whitney Houston, George "Superman" Reeves, River Phoenix, Janis Joplin, and Bobby Fuller (who sang "I Fought the Law (and the Law Won,") committed suicide; examines the controversies surrounding several of these deaths; and reveals where John F. Kennedy's most notorious mistress lived.
There are also entries for the cemeteries to the stars, including Westwood Memorial Cemetery, where every year thousands still make a pilgrimage to Marilyn Monroe's crypt. Hugh Hefner, who bought the adjacent crypt for an estimated $125,000, keeps her company. Hefner never met Monroe, but she was his first centerfold.
And then there's Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the only cemetery which provides visitors maps to the stars' graves. Hollywood Forever Cemetery is where you will find the graves of early Hollywood greats and the headstone of Mel Blanc, "The Man of 1000 Voices," including Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig. Blanc's epitaph reads: "That's all, folks!" The Beatles' George Harrison was secretly cremated there.
The book also shows where Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Whitney Houston, George "Superman" Reeves, River Phoenix, Janis Joplin, and Bobby Fuller (who sang "I Fought the Law (and the Law Won,") committed suicide; examines the controversies surrounding several of these deaths; and reveals where John F. Kennedy's most notorious mistress lived.
There are also entries for the cemeteries to the stars, including Westwood Memorial Cemetery, where every year thousands still make a pilgrimage to Marilyn Monroe's crypt. Hugh Hefner, who bought the adjacent crypt for an estimated $125,000, keeps her company. Hefner never met Monroe, but she was his first centerfold.
And then there's Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the only cemetery which provides visitors maps to the stars' graves. Hollywood Forever Cemetery is where you will find the graves of early Hollywood greats and the headstone of Mel Blanc, "The Man of 1000 Voices," including Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig. Blanc's epitaph reads: "That's all, folks!" The Beatles' George Harrison was secretly cremated there.
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THE MOVIE STUDIOS
Although the author has mastered the art of sneaking onto studio lots, we recommend that you take one of the four paying tours. Universal Studios' tour is more of a place to take the family (think Disneyland), while Warner Bros.Studios, and Paramount Studios' backlot tours are geared toward the serious student of film. If you are in Burbank, you can drive by the Disney studio and see the building in which the seven dwarfs hold up the Disney offices. (And read the jokes that have been told about the building.) If you are in West L.A., Culver City, and Santa Monica, you can drive by 20th Century Fox, Sony, and MGM respectively. The major television networks are also included in the book. |
Filming on the Universal Studios Backlot
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LANDMARKS AND TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
All of the must-see landmarks: the Hollywood Sign, Mann's Chinese Theater, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the La Brea Tar Pits, Rodeo Drive, Griffith Park, and Farmers Market, are included in the book. And, of course, there are a number of museums you can visit, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' museum (opening in 2020), the George Lucas Museum, and the Museum of Television & Radio.
All of the must-see landmarks: the Hollywood Sign, Mann's Chinese Theater, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the La Brea Tar Pits, Rodeo Drive, Griffith Park, and Farmers Market, are included in the book. And, of course, there are a number of museums you can visit, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' museum (opening in 2020), the George Lucas Museum, and the Museum of Television & Radio.
SOME UNEXPECTED SITES
Google Headquarters at Santa Monic's "Binoculars Building"
The book also includes a number of surprises, including three castles in the Hollywood Hills (one formerly owned by Madonna).
There are architectural jewels; including the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood and the so-called "Flying Saucer" house that was the highlight of the 1984 film "Body Double."
There are sites that inspired songs and a tribute to the Apollo 11 astronauts on the Walk of Fame (not for being the first men on the moon. In typical Hollywood tradition, they were honored for giving us a great television performance!)
And then there is L.A.'s best kept secret: a secluded beach in Malibu where more celebrities own homes than anywhere else in the world.
It's the street where "Diagnosis Murder" was filmed and Robert Downey, Jr., mistook a neighbor's house as his own, walked into one of the children's rooms, and went to sleep. This prompting Jay Leno to joke: "Do you know what the hottest new business on Hollywood Boulevard is? Selling Robert Downey, Jr., a map to his own home!"
Want to see the North Hollywood home that Amelia Earhart lived in before she mysteriously disappeared? It's in the book. So are several political sites: every house that Ronald Reagan lived in Los Angeles (including his Pacific Palisades home when he was elected president and his Bel-Air retirement home), and Meaghan Markle's childhood home
There are also several sites associated with Richard Nixon's and Ronald Reagan's years in Los Angeles and John F. Kennedy's nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate in 1960.
There are architectural jewels; including the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood and the so-called "Flying Saucer" house that was the highlight of the 1984 film "Body Double."
There are sites that inspired songs and a tribute to the Apollo 11 astronauts on the Walk of Fame (not for being the first men on the moon. In typical Hollywood tradition, they were honored for giving us a great television performance!)
And then there is L.A.'s best kept secret: a secluded beach in Malibu where more celebrities own homes than anywhere else in the world.
It's the street where "Diagnosis Murder" was filmed and Robert Downey, Jr., mistook a neighbor's house as his own, walked into one of the children's rooms, and went to sleep. This prompting Jay Leno to joke: "Do you know what the hottest new business on Hollywood Boulevard is? Selling Robert Downey, Jr., a map to his own home!"
Want to see the North Hollywood home that Amelia Earhart lived in before she mysteriously disappeared? It's in the book. So are several political sites: every house that Ronald Reagan lived in Los Angeles (including his Pacific Palisades home when he was elected president and his Bel-Air retirement home), and Meaghan Markle's childhood home
There are also several sites associated with Richard Nixon's and Ronald Reagan's years in Los Angeles and John F. Kennedy's nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate in 1960.