When you think of Hollywood you often think of the Hollywood letters in the hills, the cement hand and footprints of celebrities in front of Grauman's Theater, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame featuring dozens of stars commemorating famous entertainers. Luckily, all of these exciting landmarks are in the same place!

Park your car in one of the parking garages in the Hollywood Blvd. and Vine St. The cement footprints are directly in front of Grauman's Theater. Also, right in front of the theater is where you can sign up to take one of those bus tours around Hollywood. Not far away is a shopping center which has a few shops and eateries. It also has a great elevated balcony which, when standing on it, gives you a great opportunity to take pictures of the HOLLYWOOD letters in the hills. Also, attached to the center is the Kodak Theater, the place where the Oscars are held every year. Signs listing all of the Oscar winners for Best Picture even hang from the ceiling.

The only thing that involves a little walking, as the name suggests, is the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Prior to visiting it I didn't realize how many stars there were and how much space they spanned. With more than 2,000 stars, they line both sides of the Boulevard and go down for quite awhile. It's quite fun taking the walk and spotting different stars. However, if you really want to find a specific star I highly recommend you research its exact location in advance. Lots of websites, list the exact addresses of many of the stars. There are often people dressed as celebrities lining the walk. While I was there I got to take pictures with Mickey Mouse, Spider Man, and Marilyn Monroe.

Are you one of those people that love to read celebrity magazines and keep up with all the stars of Hollywood? Well then the Hollywood walk of fame would be a wonderful place for you to visit.

You can stroll along the walk and check out all the different footprints of your favorite stars. They have stars dating back to the 50s as well as stars from the present day Hollywood. Also check out you favorite stars! This inexpensive place is fun and always enjoyable to take a walk along!

Ever wish you could have a star on Hollywood Boulevard? All you need is $15,000 and a sponsor to nominate you for one. No biggie, right? Then there’s the small issue of your accomplishments in the industry and to the community.

Getting a star isn’t all that easy. The Walk of Fame Committee meets annually and receives over 100 nominations a year. The sponsor must fill out a nomination form and include bodies of the artists work, like CD’s, DVD’s, etc., plus a biography and any community and/or civic-oriented activities. If the nominee is chosen, they have to agree to attend the unveiling ceremony. Oy Vey, sounds like a lot of work.

The Walk of Fame is by far one of the most-visited spots in Hollywood. You can see everyone from Joanne Woodward, who was the very first recipient to receive a star, to John Wayne, Elton John, Renée Zellweger, and so on. New 2006 recipients include Charlize Theron, Ray Romano, Judge Judy, and Mathew Broderick.

The area around the walk of fame used to be a hotbed of drug addicts and homeless people, but the city has cleaned it up and maintained it to be a nice tourist spot. Just keep a hold of your belongings and don’t talk to strangers.

There’s Mann’s Chinese Theater, The Hollywood Wax Museum, and Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum also lining the sides of Hollywood Boulevard. The Kodak Theater, where the Academy Awards is held, is also a main attraction.

I advise to only go during daylight hours and try to park down the street for free. The parking lots around Mann’s Chinese Theater will pre-charge you for the entire day, even if you’re only there for an hour. Don't get taken.

On our second day in LA, we’ve planned a visit to Hollywood and Beverly Hills. When we leave the hotel, we know that it will be a hot day. After a 45-minute drive, we arrive in Hollywood and park our car on one of the many parking lots.

Hollywood Boulevard
One of the main attractions in Hollywood is the Walk of Fame with all the stars. To make your visit a bit easier, try to get a free map of Hollywood Boulevard. We found the "Hollywood Visitor’s Guide and Map 2004-2005" in our hotel. With this map, we easily found the stars of our favourites, like Mickey Mouse, Elvis Presley, Sting, Tom Cruise, and many others. On this map, you find the 30 stars that attract most people. It’s not easy to find other stars between the 2,000 others.

Another major attraction is Mann’s Chinese Theatre. This theatre looks great and is one of the best movie theatres I’ve seen. This theatre is opened in 1927 with the movie "King of Kings." Its founder, Sid Grauman, also invented Hollywood longest-running publicity stunt: the handprints and footprints and autographs in cement of movie stars in the forecourt. You can check whose hands and feet you have. Along Hollywood Boulevard, there are also a few museums, like Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the Hollywood Wax Museum. We did not visit them because of a lack of time, but also because we think that these are more tourist traps than interesting museums.

If you like shopping, you can visit Hollywood & Highland. From the main square of this center, you have a nice view of the Hollywood Sign. In this center, you find the Hollywood Visitors Information Center and a lot of shops, dining places, and of course, movie screens. We had a drink at the Mongolian BBQ.

A few other things along the walk of fame are El Captain theatre (an Art Deco theatre), the Clarion Hotel, Hollywood Roosevelt, and Frederick’s of Hollywood (with their Celebrity Lingerie Hall of Fame).

After our visit to Hollywood, we drive to Beverly Hills via Sunset Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard.

I went there mainly for a "been there, done that" factor. I took some nice shots to show friends and family. You can get tours of Hollywood homes, the Grauman Chinese Theatre, star's signs, and street entertainers. This is a must-do thing if visiting L.A., but it's hard to say why.