Smart Traveller

Today, we’re looking back at some of the best driving holiday posts on Smart Traveller. If you’re planning a car hire holiday to the U.S.A. for 2010, these should give you some ideas about great places to go.

USA Car Hire Holidays

• Route 66 - find out more about this legendary American highway.
• California Highway 1 - learn about one of America’s most scenic roads.
• The Florida Keys - explore U.S Highway 1 on a trip from Miami to Key West.
• The Blue Ridge Parkway - learn more about one of the most beautiful drives in the U.S.A.
• The Seward Highway - find out more about this National Scenic Byway in Alaska.

You can also read about Florida’s famous A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway and the adjoining Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail in our in-depth series of posts:

• Florida’s A1A - Orlando to Ponte Vedra Beach
• Florida’s A1A - St. Augustine
• Florida’s A1A - St. Augustine to Flagler Beach
• Florida’s A1A - Flagler Beach
• Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail - Part 1
• Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail - Part 2
• Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail - Part 3

In the next in our series of posts about visiting Los Angeles, we’re looking at another attraction that you can see in Hollywood Boulevard: The Walk of Fame.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is another extremely popular and world-famous tourist attraction. It stretches from Gower Street to La Brea Avenue on both sides of Hollywood Boulevard, and from Sunset Boulevard to Yucca Street on both sides of Vine Street. If you are visiting Grauman’s Chinese Theater, you’ll notice the stars on the pavement outside.

It consists of more 2,300 pink and bronze stars, each of which is embedded in a charcoal and pink terazzo square on the pavement. Each star contains the name of a person, a band, a character, or a radio or TV show.

As well as the name of the person being honoured, each star includes a symbol, representing the category in which they are being honoured: a movie camera for those being honoured for their contribution to the motion picture industry; a television set for the TV industry; a record for the recording industry; a radio microphone for the radio industry; and comedy and tragedy masks for live theatre.

Work began on the Walk of Fame in 1960 and during the sixteen months after the official groundbreaking ceremony, 1,558 stars were put in place. The first person to have a star on the Walk of Fame was the actress Joanne Woodward. More stars have been added every year since then, at a rate of about 20 per year.

If you are visiting the Hollywood Walk of Fame, here are just some of the stars that you can look out for: Charlie Chaplin (6751 Hollywood Boulevard); Elvis Presley (6777 Hollywood Boulevard); Michael Jackson (6927 Hollywood Boulevard); Johnny Depp (7018 Hollywood Boulevard); Marilyn Monroe (6774 Hollywood Boulevard); James Dean (1719 Vine Street); The Doors (6901 Hollywood Boulevard); Britney Spears (6801 Hollywood Boulevard); David Bowie (7021 Hollywood Boulevard); and John Lennon (1750 Vine Street).

Some people have more than one star on the Walk of Fame, as they have been honoured for their work in more than one category. Walt Disney, for example, has two stars - one for his contribution to the motion picture industry (at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard) and one for his contribution to television (6747 Hollywood Boulevard). Gene Autry has the most stars on the Walk of Fame, with stars in each of the five categories.

The desicion about which celebrities will appear on the Walk of Fame is made annually, in June, and ceremonies are then held throughout the year. If you are visiting Los Angeles, it’s worth checking to see whether or not any ceremonies will be taking place whilst you are there, as they are open to the public.

The new stars to appear on the Walk of Fame in 2010 will honour the following (the categories for which they were nominated appear in brackets):

James Cameron (Motion Pictures); Russell Crowe (Motion Pictures); John Cusack (Motion Pictures); Colin Firth (Motion Pictures); Gale Ann Hurd (Motion Pictures); Alan Menken (Motion Pictures); Randy Newman (Motion Pictures); Adam Sandler (Motion Pictures); Emma Thompson (Motion Pictures); Mark Wahlberg (Motion Pictures); Chris Berman (Television); Jon Cryer (Television); Peter Graves (Television); Jimmy Kimmel (Television); Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Television); Bill Maher (Television); Sam Waterston (Television); Bryan Adams (Recording); The Funk Brothers (Recording); Alan Jackson (Recording); Chaka Khan (Recording); Van Morrison (Recording); Marco Antonio Solis (Recording); Ringo Starr (Recording); ZZ Top (Recording); Roy Orbison (Recording); Andrea Bocelli (Live Performance/Theater); and Cirque du Soleil/Guy Laliberte (Live Performance/Theater).

In our next posts about visiting Los Angeles, we’re taking a look at what you can see and do in the city’s world-famous Hollywood Boulevard.

Hollywood Boulevard is a must-see destination for anyone visiting Los Angeles for the first time. One of its best-known attractions is Grauman’s Chinese Theater (6925 Hollywood Boulevard), and this is a great place to head first. Grauman’s Chinese Theater (also sometimes referred to as Mann’s Chinese Theater) was designed by Sid Grauman and opened in 1927. On its opening night, it hosted the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The King of Kings“, and it hosted many more film premieres in years to come. It now attracts more than 4 million visitors each year.

Look out for the two giant Heaven Dogs at the entrance - these were flown in from China, along with other items such as pagodas and temple bells. There is also a 30ft stone dragon between the theatre’s red columns.

Probably the most famous aspect of Grauman’s Chinese Theater is its forecourt, which is known as “Forecourt of the Stars”, where you can see the footprints and handprints of many of the world’s biggest stars. The first stars to leave their prints in the cement outside of the theatre were Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in a ceremony held on the 30th of April, 1927.

Over the years, celebrities such as Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Fred Astaire. Ginger Rogers, Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Richard Gere, Johnny Depp and Samuel L. Jackson have added their prints. It’s not just prints of stars’ hands and feet that you’ll see there, either - look out for some more unusual prints, such as the tyre treads of R2D2 from “Star Wars”, the imprint of Groucho Marx’s cigar and the hoofprints of Trigger next to the signature of Roy Rogers.

Grauman’s Chinese Theater is still used for many film premieres. Recent screenings include the premieres of “Drag Me to Hell”, “The Hangover” and “Bruno”. You can also see a movie at the cinema or take a VIP tour if you book in advance.

The forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theater is usually packed with tourists and you’ll notice a number of people dressed up as characters from movies, who will try and persuade you to pay to have your photo taken with them. There are also usually representatives from some of the companies that operate tours of the movie stars’ homes selling tickets for their tours.

In future posts, we’ll take a look at some of the other attractions that you can see on Hollywood Boulevard.

Image: American Eagle of LA