L.A. for Beginners

The Millennium Biltmore Hotel is a historic treasure situated within the financial district of Los Angeles. From the moment that I walked into this beautiful hotel I was stunned. The European influence within this hotel is amazing; the grand columns, ornate ceilings, and the elaborate marble floors were all breathtaking.

Visiting the Biltmore Hotel was like paying a visit to the past. This hotel opened in 1923 and has been honored with hosting special events such as the Academy Awards. When the hotel was first built it was the largest hotel west of Chicago. Many celebrities, presidents, and royalty have visited the Biltmore Hotel because of its grand prominence on the West Coast.

The Biltmore Hotel has been a back drop for several movies and television shows such as: Vertigo, Bachelor Party, Ghostbusters, What Women Want and The West Wing. Their Crystal Ballroom is also where the Oscar sculpture was first designed in 1927.

This hotel has several restaurants, banquet facilities, and meeting rooms. We had breakfast at Smeraldi's Restaurant, which is located next to the Rendezvous Court Lobby. Although we were late for their breakfast buffet we were still able to sample their large exquisite breakfast. The ambiance within this restaurant coordinates with the rest of this luxurious hotel which makes for a great dining experience.

This was our last main stop before leaving for the airport and heading home at the end of our trip. After visiting the Biltmore I felt like my vacation was just starting. The Biltmore is an impressive luxuriant hotel with an entertaining history. I felt that we truly saved the best experience of our trip for last.

As we pulled up to our hotel I began to wonder if I made the right hotel choice. This hotel was on a busy street in Hollywood and seemed a little small. After getting out of the car, we somehow managed to ride the elevator up from the car garage to the first floor by the pool. There were some rooms out by the pool area that looked like they were a little scuzzy, but then I realized they were in the process of remodeling everything on that floor. We did find our way to the lobby; it was anything grand but it was clean. We were informed at the lobby that we had a room inside of the main building, I was relieved to hear that. However, then they also told us that the elevator was broken and that it was supposed to be replaced the next day.

We toted our luggage up the creaky old wooden stairs that had been freshly painted. We came to our floor and it appeared to have been recently remodeled. We were relieved to open our door to our room and realize that the room had been remodeled too. We had two queen-size beds in our room along with some furniture, and a nice sized bathroom that had ceramic tile floors and granite countertops. Our room was decorated with old Hollywood pictures everywhere, which was a fun touch.

There weren’t really any perks about this hotel; no continental breakfasts, no in hotel restaurants, but we could see the Hollywood sign from our hotel. Surprisingly this was a decent hotel. I was exceptionally glad to have stayed in the main building although we weren’t in our room very much; we were constantly on the go. The elevator did actually get fixed when they said it was going to be. My largest complaint about the hotel was that the parking garage was a little small and the slopes in and out of the garage were a little dangerous because we weren’t able to see pedestrians. The hotel staff did a great job making us feel welcome on our stay and this in essence made us feel at home when in Hollywood.

The Grill on Hollywood is located in the Hollywood and Highland Shopping Center, next door to the Kodak Theater. The Grill has a large entrance that is open to the shopping center that overlooks Babylon Court. This restaurant has high ceilings, beautiful dark woods, subtle colors, and dim lights to enhance the ambiance of your dining experience.

My boyfriend and I dined here on our trip and were seated at a large comfortable table. We were quickly greeted by our server who filled us in on their specials. We tried their onion rings for an appetizer which were good but not outstanding. Then for our main course we both had their steak. I added one of their amazing red wine sauces to my meal to liven the flavor and it was absolutely wonderful. My boyfriend was also impressed with his meal.

During our dinner the mall alarm went off which was a little disturbing. Within the restaurant there was some sort of a strobe light that was activated with this alarm. The restaurant employees seemed to be used to this malfunction but the rest of their customers didn’t quite know what to do. Luckily there weren’t any fires and everyone seemed to survive the horrible noise and the annoying flashing lights.

Besides the disturbance of the alarm we were very pleased with our meal; our server did a great job, the food was outstanding and the atmosphere was elegant but simple. I will definitely dine here again when I return to the Hollywood and Highland Mall.

Pink’s is the ultimate hot dog stand. They have been around since 1939 and are a landmark in Hollywood. The biggest difference between Pink’s and your normal hotdog stand is that Pink’s piles on the toppings; nacho cheese, mushrooms, olives, guacamole, you name it they probably have it.

This was the busiest hot dog stand that I’ve ever been to. We got in line at nine o’clock at night on a weekday and were in line for an hour. During our wait I think I changed my mind on what I wanted to order once every ten minutes, probably because everything sounded so good.

I finally decided to get the Planet Hollywood Dog which included: a polish Sausage, grilled mushrooms, onions, bacon and cheese. My fiancé and I also decided to get the spicy polish dog thinking it would be fairly mild. To our surprise spicy in this case actually meant mouth burning and perspiring spicy, my mouth was so on fire that I couldn’t even finish mine. To relieve the burning sensation we had to go out for ice cream afterwards. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything quite that spicy before.

The hotdogs themselves were a little disappointing. The bun was a normal hotdog bun that fell apart first thing, the mushrooms were from a can, the bacon was good but it was in long strips and the cheese was a nacho cheese that saturated the bun. The building was a small hole in the wall that offered limited seating and the dining room was covered with photographs of famous Hollywood stars who all wrote something nice on their photo about Pink’s.

After seeing Pink’s on the Food Network my fiancé decided that this was one place we had to visit on our trip. I’m glad that we had the opportunity to try Pink’s but I won’t ever wait in any long lines again to have one of their hotdogs.

The Grauman’s Chinese Theatre was the inspiration of Sid Grauman. The Theatre was designed after a traditional Chinese Theatre and several items were brought from China for authenticity and had to undergo authorization from the US Government in order to be imported. The Theatre opened in May of 1927 and has been a historical Hollywood landmark ever since.

Well known for Hollywood tradition the Theatre has hosted several movies premieres and even a few of the Academy Awards. The fore court of the theatre has nearly 200 autographs with the hand and foot prints in cement of old and new stars. Roy Rogers’s prints also include imprints from his horse Trigger. Marilyn Monroe tried leaving an earring embedded into the cement by her prints but thieves found a way to remove it.

We took the tour of the theatre and were disappointed at the door when they told us to put away our cameras. The guide showed us all of the interesting history associated with the lobby and then took us into the main theatre. The theatre was dark and wasn’t very grand but had some interesting parts. When we were in the theatre area the guide told us that we could take pictures. I was a little confused but then decided maybe they didn’t want us taking pictures of the lobby.

The guide took us over to the new theatres and took us to the VIP room. The room was secluded from the rest of the theatre and nearly everything in this room was a vibrant red color. The VIP room reminded me of an eccentric bachelor pad. Our guide told us how several celebrities have hidden in that room to escape all of their excited fans.

The Grauman’s Chinese Theatre is definitely a place that you have to see when you’re in Hollywood. It is a montage of history and Hollywood culture. Other than the forecourt being a little crowded it’s was fun to see the old and new celebrity prints in front of the Theatre. The tour of the Theatre was enjoyable and our guide made it very interesting. I would suggest doing the tour at least once in your life time because I think you’ll find its history fascinating.