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Archive for the ‘Shopping’ Category
Gwyneth Paltrow Sighting at The Grove
For This Private Los Angeles Tour She Signs Her New Book
Award winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow will appear at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore at The Grove today at 6:00 p.m. to sign her latest book, It’s All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes that Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great. This fabulous bookstore located in the center of The Grove, a magnificent and exciting outdoor mall near Hollywood and Beverly Hills, often hosts film and television celebrities when they have written books. Other celebrities recently seen there include Valerie Harper and Carly Rae Jepson. We often schedule our private Hollywood tour schedules to accommodate our guests who wish to stop by these celebrity public events. After driving through neighborhoods with celebrity homes it is especially rewarding for them to see a star in person. And this way they can also buy a book of healthy recipes.
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Get Your Lemonade at The Grove
A Delightful Los Angeles Tour Destination – The Grove
The Grove is a regular stopping point on our private Hollywood tour especially if we are sightseeing during lunchtime. The sculpture above, De L’Esprie’s Lemonade Stand, in the park area at this wonderful outdoor shopping mall, reminds our guests that a drink is in order and there are myriad stores and concessions around to get exactly what they want. The Grove also serves as a rendezvous for our luxury Los Angeles tour guests driving into the area. We direct them here to meet us because of the central location, easy parking and amenities. Our guests drive in and we drive them around. It is a perfect way to spend a day.
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The Road to Hollywood
A Puzzle We Enjoy on Our Los Angeles Tours
One of the entertaining features of the Hollywood & Highland Center is this pathway throughout the outdoor mall consisting of quotes from unnamed stars describing their journeys to fame and fortune in Tinsel Town. Actors, writers, directors and others tell short stories that inspire and amuse our private Los Angeles tour guests while we visit the stores in the mall, perhaps indulge in a snack, visit the Dolby Theater and enjoy the atmosphere of this busy Hollywood location. When we head out of Hollywood to Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, Bel Air and Brentwood and maybe on to Venice, Santa Monica and Malibu, our guests are laughing and trying to guess who said what and sometimes even imagining what their own quote might one day say.
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Dinosaurs Still Roam Near Palm Springs
If you have ever driven to Palm Springs from Los Angeles, or flown with us by helicopter on a private luxury tour to the Desert Hills Premiere Outlet Mall in Cabazon, you will see the above Brontosaurus (or perhaps it’s an Apatosaurus) sculpture in completed form alongside its Tyrannosaurus Rex mate. That’s Claude Bell the artist/architect/sculptor explaining the intricacies of building giant inhabitable monsters in this windy part of the desert. Construction of both was completed in 1986 and the dinosaur themed rest stop lured folks to the gift shop in the belly of the beast as well as a restaurant and motel. Kids loved it. Today the Bronto-gift shop is used as a museum for Creationist ideas demonstrating how evolution is not the explanation for why the dinosaurs, and we, came to be.
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All Hail the Hollywood and Highland Center
Paying homage to D. W. Griffith‘s 1916 silent film spectacle, INTOLERANCE, the great arch and columns in the courtyard of the Hollywood and Highland Center add drama to eating and shopping in the outdoor mall in the center of Hollywood. In fact, the mall is built just a couple of miles away from the original location of the magnificent set Griffith had built for filming his epic story. Almost all of our private luxury tours that take our guests sightseeing through Los Angeles stop here. Besides refreshments, we can explore the Walk of Fame, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Dolby Theater, the Roosevelt Hotel and El Capitan Theater. From the Hollywood and Highland Center it is a short hop to the Sunset Strip, celebrity homes and shopping in Beverly Hills or the La Brea Tar Pits. There is lots to do in Los Angeles which is why our guests love our custom tours.
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Caviar from a Vending Machine? – Oh, L.A.
When you really need something special, but quick, what better place to turn to than one of the three brand new caviar vending machines from Beverly Hills Caviar located around Los Angeles. Yes, when you absolutely must over-indulge yourself this instant you can choose from fine imported caviar (with the correct mother-of-pearl spoon to consume your tasty treat) to truffle oil to other gastronomic delicacies (Escargot, anyone? What, no foie gras?) We direct our private luxury tour guests to the machine in the Westfield Century City Mall when we are taking them shopping around town. With $50,000 worth of perfectly refrigerated and oxygenated fish egg merchandise in each machine (very securely monitored with cameras), customers have a wide choice of international and domestic caviars to choose from. Should you join us for a sightseeing tour around Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Bel Air then a short stop in Century City will be a perfect thing to do in Los Angeles to get you that perfect bite of Beluga caviar you have been craving!
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The Tallest Christmas Tree in Los Angeles
While visiting Santa Claus during a private luxury tour at the Americana at Brand in Glendale, CA, just above Los Angeles’ downtown, our guide took this excellent photograph from upstairs in one of the mall’s stores. At well over 100′ the tree competes in the skyline with the beautiful elevator tower for the mall’s parking structure and offices.
The ground level photo of the tree below is also eyecatching. Our guides are all well-practiced at taking remarkable photographs during every tour no matter the weather or time of day. As a part of every sightseeing tour we encourage the guides to be creative and to capture memorable moments for our guests. Knowing that a photographer is with them lets our guests relax about their own photographic efforts. What they might miss we always snap. It helps us that each guide carries an excellent prosumer digital SLR camera with a zoom lens.
After lunch at the mall we traveled over to see the newly repainted Hollywood Sign and found other things to do in Hollywood before visiting Beverly Hills. The children had fun, the parents enjoyed their tour and we left another happy family back at their hotel with happy visions of Los Angeles dancing in their heads.
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Oh Come All Ye Faithful to the Original Farmers Market
The Original Farmers Market tower welcomes everyone to the famous 3rd and Fairfax entrance to this beloved location. Serving Los Angeles since 1934 through all the seasons and for all the holidays, everyone enjoys browsing the stalls for fresh produce and groceries as well as kitchen and household items and even Hollywood souvenirs before finding that perfect quick meal at one of the many fine eateries. We often meet up here with our southern California guests driving into Los Angeles for a private luxury tour of the major (and minor) sightseeing spots of Hollywood, Beverly Hills and all around. It is easy to find and offers lots of parking. Even better, it’s a fun place to hang out before and after our custom tour.
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Deck the Trolley with Boughs of Holly
Of course if you are in Los Angeles and near Hollywood you will drop over to The Grove to admire their giant Christmas tree and all the store decorations. Do not forget to jump aboard the trolley for a ride and some fun caroling! The Grove is great fun for kids and adults at this time of year with lots of holiday-themed activities and great shopping, movies and restaurants. We regularly bring our private luxury tour guests to The Grove as well as the adjacent Original Farmers Market for a look at modern retail and its historic counterpart. Our guests love the variety and the excitement not to mention the fun of walking around the beautiful locale so close to Hollywood. For snacks and a break after sightseeing Beverly Hills and exploring celebrity homes in the area, the best thing to do in Hollywood is head to The Grove.
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The Watchtower of Little Tokyo in Downtown Los Angeles
The WATCHTOWER structure in downtown Los Angeles’ historic Little Tokyo district makes it easy to locate the quaint shops and excellent restaurants in this area. There are also museums and exhibits throughout the district that warrant examination for anyone interested in the colorful and multiethnic history of Los Angeles. Many of our private luxury tour guests ask us when we are customizing their tours to see downtown Los Angeles. This always means we will take them to Little Tokyo to explore the district and maybe enjoy a light meal and tea.