FRIDAY · March 18, 2005

Before I go into what happened today, let me just fill you in on what I did last night. Last night I went out to dinner at Dan Tana's. No, I didn't eat at Robert Urich's house (sorry). Dan Tana's is a great restaurant right next to Beverly Hills. While reknown for their steak dinners, I decided to try their Gnocchi. It was really quite delicious.

Moving on to today, I've taken so many pictures that again, I'm posting FRIDAY to it's own page.

And so, click here to proceed to Friday.

JMR

And so, let's start the day where it did, in fact, begin. Paramount Pictures.

The Front Gates Closer The Water Tower

Unfortunately, the weather was not the most cooperative today. It did rain a bit all day, but luckily it held out until after our studio tour was done. This one was much like the WARNER BROS tour. We really got to go around the studio and see different sets ranging from sitcom (Cuts - during which we saw Corbin Bernsen on the set), " News " (Entertainment Tonight, The Insider), and drama (we got to walk around a set for Charmed). Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of any of these sets, but I did at least take a few pictures of some of the other stuff on the lot:

A " Typical " New York subway station 21 Jump Street Giant Sky Backdrop overlooking water tank/parking lot
The rather stubby facade for a skyskraper And another Stage 19

In the midst of all this, we were informed that the theater on the lot was screening the all-new trailer for War of the Worlds. So off we went into the special theater to watch it. It was ok. I have to say I'm not tremendously impressed with the film, but the theater was incredible. The most comfortable chairs you can imagine.

The Theater

Throughout the tour, we kep seeing set pieces lying around from shows that are no longer taping. They were stacked like so much junk. You couldn't even really tell what they were.

What is all this?

But then, all of a sudden, and by complete coincidence we drove past a few pieces that looked a bit familiar.

Science Station Piece Engineering A Little Dusty
Buttons and dirt detail Monitor Detail Some screens

If my guess is correct, these are some of the recreated STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES bridge pieces made for an upcoming episode of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE. There was a stack of pieces sitting next to these, but they were all top side down, and just looked like a bunch of junk. Unless I miss my guess though, I was looking at these two pieces plus a lot of the flooring and railings.

After the tour was over, I had a tremendous treat. They told us that we were welcome to eat in the Paramount commissary. And so, in I walked, ordered up a plate of Penne Marinara with Garlic Bread and sat in the very same dining room that some of the Hollywood elite have sat, making deals and schmoozing. It was a great feeling, even if I didn't see anyone I knew of.

The meal was great, but it was time to move on. I had a finite amount of time left with the car, so I drove down to Beverly Hills. Unfortunately, taking pictures and driving at the same time (especially in the rain) is no easy task. I missed getting a picture of the famous BEVERLY HILLS sign, but I was able to get this quasi-blurry picture to let you know where I was:

Santa Monica and Rodeo Drive Driving along

Here are some pictures that I took of various buildings in and around Beverly Hills.

Interesting Architecture How homey Check under " Rolling Stone's Axel Foley "
I think not. They have their own store? One of those hair things fell over!

And, just when you thought bootlegging had gone as low as it could go...

Down to a " T " ?

Next up, I returned the car. Now that I no longer had a mode of transportation, I figured it would be a good time to walk around and try to catch some pictures of the various places I've talked about previously but was unable to take a picture of for some reason.

See how many you can name:

Local CBS Bellisarius Productions The Hollywood Palladium
Finally, the HOLLYWOOD Sign! Nickelodeon on Sunset Klasky Csupo
D'uh Grauman's Chinese Theater Capital Records Building at Night

One of the last touristy stops that I made this evening was the Hollywood Wax Museum. Some were successful, some were not.

Pretty Good Some people should be seriously offended Do you think these guys were under the hot lights for too long?
Ooooh...Scary At least they weren't green. Some consistently nice work
The sculptor was on as many drugs as the Beatles at the time Has Eddie Murphy sued yet? Not bad.
The Many Faces of Arnold You could buy a better costume than that! Very Impressive
Not too bad Don't like the show, like the statues. Is it me, or does this statue look like it's 5 inches tall?
What's the point, Part One What's the point, Part Two Michael J Fox STILL doesn't look that old!

After that, I went and had an incredible dinner at Musso & Frank. It's an incredible steakhouse and one of the oldest restaurants in Hollywood. I had a Milk-Fed Veal Cutlet in Milanese sauce. It was served with spaghetti. The whole thing was incredibly delicious.

And so, it's now time to get ready to go back home. I had a fantastic time in Hollywood. I didn't get to do EVERYTHING I wanted, but it was still a REALLY cool time.

To get back to the rest of the week, click here.

JMR



JMR