The Dream Factory
Find real and reel life in the world's movie capital.
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Visitors can still catch a film at
Mann's Chinese Theater. |
"The influence that the movies have had on every generation since 1910 is amazing," director Peter Bogdanovich once said. "They have told us what to think, how to dress, what to say and do, how to cry, move, fall from a gunshot, act drunk, draw a gun, swoon, kiss."
During the years of the Studio Era, Hollywood cranked out thousands of films. Some of them—great ones like Casablanca and King Kong—have become cultural touchstones all over the world.
You can visit one Hollywood without leaving home—it's on TV and video and in hundreds of books about the movies. But the real Hollywood is worth a stop too, and you can find other bits of it all over the Los Angeles area. Check out Griffith Observatory, setting for the climax of Rebel Without a Cause, or the University of Southern California campus, which includes The Graduate among its film credits. In downtown Los Angeles you can see several old-time movie palaces. At the Hollywood Studio Museum you can find the barn where Cecil B. DeMille filmed The Squaw Man in 1913, often considered the birth of Hollywood films. In nearby Burbank the Warner Brothers Studio tour offers a look at a working studio, familiar from movies and TV. Of course, no visit to Hollywood would be complete without a stroll down Hollywood Boulevard's "Walk of Fame" and a stop at Mann's Chinese Theater. Keep in mind, though, that this part of Hollywood can be downright sleazy. That's one problem with real life—it's never like the movies.
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| That's one problem with real life—it's never like the movies. | |
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The Warner Brothers Studio, (818) 954-1744, is at 4000 Warner Blvd. in Burbank. Tours run on weekdays and you should book in advance. The Hollywood Studio Museum is at 2100 Highland Avenue, (213) 874-2276, across from the Hollywood Bowl. Mann's Chinese Theater is at 6925 Hollywood Blvd., (323) 464-8111. It's a working theater, so stop in and see a movie. The L.A. Conservancy, (213) 623-2489, offers downtown walking tours that include the movie palaces. They recommend you make reservations two months in advance. Call the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau at (800) 228-2452 for information about the L.A. area.
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