The stars came out for my one day in LA. I thought it was very considerate of the Los Angeles Tourist Board to arrange for Jake Gyllenhaal to be on my flight, especially when he also had to wait for ages at baggage claim. He looked exactly the way he does on film but with the addition of plane stubble and conspicuous rock star shades.
On the first morning I asked at the hostel for a good neighbourhood to walk around in and they sent me to The Grove. The cute name masks a corporate monstrosity, basically a retail park done up to look like a small town complete with a miniature railway, muzak emanating from the shrubbery and nothing to do except spend money. The Jonas Brothers were due to play a free concert there the day after I left.
I was struggling to think of obvious sights in the city so headed to Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame. It was pretty disappointing: the stars go on forever, most of them were obscure or baffling (Rugrats?) and they were quite dirty.
Luckily, I had plans to meet a friend. Well, I say friend but a few weeks ago she was this really cool woman I met at a party in Edinburgh who happens to be from LA and was kind enough to offer to meet me and show me around. Now she's my best friend in the city (apart from movie star Jake Gyllenhaal, of course). She took me to Mashti Malone's for Iranian ice cream then drove us to Griffith's Observatory, where the end of Rebel Without A Cause is set, to look at some stars of a very different kind.
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