Los Angeles: Is it living up to the Hollywood dream?

Damien Chung
Nov 5, 2019
6 min read

Updated: Apr 15, 2023

One week in LA have shown me a lot of what the hype is about. LA, the land where dream come true, or does it? After visiting several movie studios, listening to stories by our guides, it is a competitive industry and it will either be a make it or break it situation. LA is huge in terms of land size, and it is divided between the rich and poor, as in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica being the rich area and the rest are either average or just trash. Downtown LA (DTLA) is rather small compared to other major cities, and you will hear a lot of other reviewers telling you to avoid the East side of DTLA, especially skid row and anywhere over the river (a dry river that is, use your imagination). Walking along anywhere around DTLA have made me feel rather unsafe for most of the time, shop window with bullet hole, a gang of people just standing outside shops or subway station made you feel like you are going to get rob any second, even the sight of police officers around doesn't make it any better. Maybe I am being paranoid, but better to be safe than sorry. One common sights you will encounter are tents being set up along bridges and the side of the road, and I do mean A LOT of it. LA is well known to have one of the highest homeless population in the United States, and it truly reflects that statement during my short time exploring the downtown area.

Of course we cannot talk about LA without talking about theme parks, it is one of the theme park capital in the US (and Orlando). The first Disneyland ever built was in Anaheim, and that is also my very first Disneyland experience. I bought a 2 day pass to enter Disneyland, by taking the train from Union Station to Anaheim Regional Transport Center (ARTIC), where there is Disneyland shuttle bus that takes you to the main entrance into Disneyland (free with a valid train ticket for the same day). At the time, Star Wars attraction has only just opened for 3 weeks, but I couldn't secure the ticket even with my best effort of waking up at 5am trying to get into the ticketing site. There are 2 parts of Disneyland, the Disneyland Park and Disneyland Adventure Park, with my 2 day pass I can enter each one each day of my choosing, however I have used my 2 day pass on Disneyland Park as it is a large ground to cover even without including the Star Wars area, and I have covered roughly 90% of the rides which is well worth the money if you're spending a full day there.

Movie studio tours are a major tourist attraction in LA, we cannot say the word Hollywood without thinking about movie production. There are 3 studios that I have visited, Warner Bros, Sony and Universal (Paramount is another one however I have not been to their tour). By far, Sony studio tour has been the most personal and intimate in terms of being a small group and ample opportunity to communicate with the tour guide during the tour, and they even give you a free photo to take home as a gift (shame on you other movie studios). Warner Bros is average, you will be put into a golf cart where you will be shipped into their fake set area, and you will get some opportunity to walk around and take photos, but the group is bigger and you will also see cart after cart of tourist like you and me getting driven around, it is an easy reminder that you are in a place filled with tourist and break the illusion. The worst one would be Universal, and you might tell me that oh they have stunts and insane immersion during the tour for you to experience, while yes, most of the tours have their very own unique sets and experience, however Universal studio tour is a whole other level of tourist attraction, tourist snaking along the lines that get you into the cart, there must be a thousand people in front of me and it took a good 45 minutes to get to the front. Universal studio tour is more immersion based, you won't get a chance to walk, but the cart you are sitting in will get you to a specific scenario set up to give you a good blow (not the kind under your pants). All 3 studios offer an experience that is unique, hence you might end up having to go to all of the studio tours instead of just choosing one unless you do not have the time to do all of them. For first time traveller to LA, I would still suggest people go experience one of the studio tour, if you are not a big fan of studio tour, just join the Universal studio tour which is included in the Universal Studios theme park ticket, 2 birds 1 stone!

If you are going to Hollywood, make sure that you are aware of scammers giving out "free" stuff then try to ask for money from the item you took. There are plenty of other ones such as having your name on the walk of fame which they literally make a makeshift star with a bunch of letters so you can take a picture of it. If you think it's worth paying for that, then absolutely go for it, but I don't personally think it's worth paying for something like that.

I would suggest joining a walking tour though, as they can bring you to some closed to public venues and tell you some interesting history about the buildings and Hollywood. They are not very expensive and you can learn a lot about Hollywood.

There are many spots to see the Hollywood sign, you can even see it around Hollywood. I opted to drive to Lake Hollywood Park where I am slightly closer to the sign and there is plenty of parking and not very crowded. Be warned that if you are planning to hike to the sign, it is a long hike and parking is usually limited when you are getting closer to the end of the road, and the parking inspectors are well known to be very aggressive with their tickets.

Other spots to check out in LA is the Natural History Museum of LA and California Science Center located in Exposition Park, with some other museums located around here as well but I did not check them out.

Griffith Observatory is another hot spot in LA that I believe everyone would have known about. I tried going once and it was chaotic with cars parked over a kilometer away, so I didn't go, but I went back another time and it was much more quiet. Be aware that the parking is all paid and you will have to prepare to fork out 10 dollars to park there, if you are a first timer and especially not a frequent visitor, it would be worth paying.

If you have access to a vehicle, I would highly suggest venturing out of DTLA and Hollywood. One of the good spots to visit is the Getty Villa, where you can see plenty of artifacts and art, but be aware that they also have a fee whether you walk in or park there.

Malibu is one of the most sought after in the LA region, with a great view out to the ocean going for miles and miles. The beach is also great but the water is cold so you will not want to swim without a full protection suit. The drive from LA to Malibu will also get you near Santa Monica, you can stop and check out the shopping strip there with plenty to see around that area.

CLIMATE:

I have a misconception that LA is always this hot and humid city where a singlet and short will get me through any day, but I quickly discover that is not the case. LA is a desert climate, cool in the morning, warm in the noon then cold in the evening. When coming to LA, make sure to bring a jacket with you if you are going out early morning or late night as it will get chilly.

FOOD:

I have spent half of my time in LA inside theme parks so when it comes to food I have not had much experience with that. Being budget conscious, frozen food has been my usual go to. For budget travellers, I would suggest going to Target, where you can get all kinds of food at a good price. If you have a larger budget to spend and you stumble upon whole foods, they do buffet style food, where you can get hot food at just under $10 per pound (it can get expensive if the food you choose weight a lot so that's something to be mindful of). There are plenty of other options like the food court in Grand Central Market where you will have many different choices and the pricing is reasonable.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT:

Public transport is not too expensive in LA and you can get to anywhere pretty easily by bus, however their subway system is not too bad either, if you are mainly going around DTLA, Hollywood, Santa Monica and Universal Studios, then staying near a subway line makes sense. You can get a TAP card and load it with a pass or money (daily, weekly, monthly, etc) at any subway station or Union Station.