Route 66 Road Trip - Day 1-3 Sightseeing Los Angeles

DAY 1 – 3 : HOP ON HOP OFF TOUR LOS ANGELES
BEVERLY HILLS – HOLLYWOOD – SANTA MONICA – UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

# SIGHTSEEING LOS ANGELES

In 2017 we planned a 2 week Route 66 Road Trip and Los Angeles Sightseeing tour.
First we started with some sightseeing in Los Angeles, because this was our first visit to this big city.

Hop-on, Hop-off is our favorite way to explore new cities, because you can decide yourself how long you want to stay at the city’s most popular sights. Or you can skip some if you’re not interested.
It is also a lot cheaper than organized tours, and the more than one language option is also really nice.

At that time 2 companies where offering Hop-on, Hop-off Tours in LA: City Sightseeing and BigBus.
Both companies have good tours, we decided to take BigBus, because of the celebrity home tour.

# DAY 1: BLUE Tour

On Day 1 we did the Blue Tour, which stops at:

6) Beverly Gardens Park
16) Santa Monica Pier
17) Santa Monica Beach
18) Venice Boardwalk
19) Main Street

Click HERE (or on the map) for more detailed BigBus Sightseeing stops info.

You can stop at all stops, if you have a lot of time, or you can just pick the stops you like. Also, it’s a good idea to drive a complete loop, without getting out. This is the best way to get a lot of information and it makes it easier to figure out where you want to stop.

# DAY 2: Red Tour

The 2nd day we did the Red Tour, which stops at:

1) Big Bus Visitor Center Hollywood
2) The Dolby Theater at Hollywood & Highland
3) Guitar Center “Rock Walk”
4) The Comedy Store
5) Whiskey A Go Go
6) Beverly Gardens Park
7) Beverly Center
8) LACMA / La Brea Tarpits
9) Farmers Market / The Grove
10) Melrose Ave Shopping
11) Paramount Studios
12) Hollywood and Vine

Click HERE (or on the map) for more detailed BigBus Sightseeing stops info.

# LOS ANGELES - Day 1-3: OUR SIGHTSEEING STOPS

# Our 1st place of interest: Beverly Hills

While doing a sightseeing tour in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills should be on your bucket list, and obviously it was on ours.

Beverly Hills is home to many Hollywood stars, and is famous for the upscale shopping street of Rodeo Drive.

Garden lovers should go to the expansive Beverly Gardens Park because it has beautiful fountains and rose gardens, plus an illuminated Beverly Hills sign. (Picture stop)

The 1920s Greystone Mansion is the backdrop for many films. And known as a celebrity haunt, the Beverly Hills Hotel is set in tropical gardens and has a poolside café.

# NICE TO KNOW

Beverly Hills used to be a Mexican ranch where lima beans were grown. It was incorporated in 1914 by a group of investors who had failed to find oil, but found water instead and eventually decided to develop it into a town.

# 2nd Place of interest: Hollywood Walk of Fame & Hollywood Sign

Obviously the Hollywood Walk of Fame along with the Hollywood Signs were also on our bucket list.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street.

The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of musicians, actors, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others.

“History of the Walk of Fame”
“List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame”

The Hollywood Sign is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It is situated on Mount Lee, in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Santa Monica Mountains.

# NICE TO KNOW

The Sign was originally cast as a spectacular $21,000 billboard for “Hollywoodland,” an upscale real estate subdivision located at the end of Beachwood Canyon just below what is now Mount Lee. After years of neglect, the Hollywood Sign was repaired in 1939. In 1944, it was
donated to the City of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, its decline continued, and in 1947 it was repaired again—and the word “LAND” removed.

“Official Website Hollywood Sign”
“The Saga of the Sign“

# A FEW MORE IMPRESSIONS

Typical LA

Cityscapes

Beverly Hills

Hollywood

One of the many signs

The Reason of our trip to LA

Bel Air

LA had it!!

John Wayne Statue

Something is wrong here??

Beverly Hills Park

# 3rd Place of interest: Santa Monica Beach & Pier

Also part of our LA sightseeing tour was Santa Monica. Because, well.. Who hasn’t heard of the Santa Monica Pier and it’s beautiful 3.5-miles stretch of coastline?! It should be noted there is a lot more to see and to do in Santa Monica. As for us, we totally fell in love with Santa Monica Main Street.

“Official Santa Monica Website”
“Santa Monica Pier”

# NICE TO KNOW

Santa Monica was inhabited by the Tongva people. Santa Monica was called Kecheek in the Tongva language. The villages of the Tongva were often built near water sources like rivers and creeks, in this case near the Kuruvungna Springs. The Kuruvungna Springs survives today beneath a Mexican Cypress that is more than 150 years old. Located on the site of a former Tongva village, it is now developed as the campus of University High School in West Los Angeles. The Tongva consider the springs, which flow at 22,000 gallons per day, to be one of their last remaining sacred sites and they continue to hold ceremonial events at the springs. Later on, in 1875, Santa Monica was laid out by Senator John P. Jones and named for Las Lágrimas de Santa Monica (Spanish: “The Tears of St. Monica”), a local spring.

The Santa Monica Pier was initially built (and finished in 1909) to allow sewage from the city to flow through a pipeline under the Pier and be dumped into the ocean away from the beach.

It was the first concrete pier built on the U.S. Westcoast.

A sign at the end of the Santa Monica Pier marked the traditional end of the legendary American highway, and it was the beginning of our Route 66 Road Trip.

The sign is very easy to find, but if you’re driving by car, this is how to get there. Drive west onto Colorado Ave. until it ends at Santa Monica Pier. Then walk straight out on the pier for 200 feet and you’ll find it just past the Bubba Gump shrimp franchise.

SANTA MONICA BEACH & PIER

# UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

– start reading –

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Route 66 Road Trip - Day 1-3 Sightseeing Los Angeles

DAY 1 – 3 : HOP ON HOP OFF TOUR LOS ANGELES BEVERLY HILLS – HOLLYWOOD – SANTA MONICA – UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

# SIGHTSEEING LOS ANGELES

# DAY 1: BLUE Tour

# DAY 2: Red Tour

# LOS ANGELES - Day 1-3: OUR SIGHTSEEING STOPS

# Our 1st place of interest: Beverly Hills

# NICE TO KNOW

# 2nd Place of interest: Hollywood Walk of Fame & Hollywood Sign

# NICE TO KNOW

# A FEW MORE IMPRESSIONS

# 3rd Place of interest: Santa Monica Beach & Pier

# NICE TO KNOW

“The beginning for us, and the end for others”

SANTA MONICA BEACH & PIER

# UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Latest blog posts

DAY 1 – 3 : HOP ON HOP OFF TOUR LOS ANGELES
BEVERLY HILLS – HOLLYWOOD – SANTA MONICA – UNIVERSAL STUDIOS