Hollywood and Surrounding Area 2003 - 2006
One of the very cool things about living Southern California if that I am so close to so many things going on; shows, museums, concerts, sites, ect… This was the six episode Star Wars costume exhibit at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM). There is a museum/Gallery on the ground floor where the Academy of Motion Pictures nominated costumes are displayed every year and where special exhibits such as this are held.
I learned at the exhibit that Padmé had more costumes than any other character in the entire series. One entire wall and more than a few nooks were filled with her costumes.
OH, Princess Leia. This is THE outfit. There was an episode of friends where Chandler admits to Monica about having Leia slave-girl fantasies – whoever the writer was for that episode outed half of the male population’s movie character-kink on national television.
The Fetts – Father and son beside one another. I was a fan the nction figure of Boba - I had the Slave1 ship with Han Solo in Carbonite. Good times... Good times...
Wookies!! Chewy was such a great presence in the first film and a bad-ass action figure! He was taller than the rest of them and in my own little star Wars/GI Joe/Castle universe Chewy would get ticked off at one of the Cobra Commandos and start gnawing on him.

This is one of the four original Batmobiles from the Adam West TV show. This was the drag model that they used for driving scenes. I was in Pep Boys buying oil one day near the house, when its current owner stopped by for something. Laurel was outside and called me to drop everything and come out to the parking lot. The guy lives in right around the corner from us and rents the car for TV and commercials. He was really cool and let me sit in it and take a few pictures.

Sitting near the Centerfield fence at an Anaheim Angels Baseball game – eating hot dogs, cracking roasted peanuts, and drinking beer. The best part? The tickets and parking was free!!
The La Brea Tar pits or at least the tourist park that surrounds what is left of them. It is cool how the water still bubbles with methane – foreground of the picture. It is not at all how I pictured it in my mind as a kid watching the Flintstones.
Laurel and I at La Brea. We stopped there on our way to the LA County Museum or Art. The King Tut exhibit was open and we scored tickets. It was a great way to kill a few minutes.
   
The central fountain at the J. Paul Getty Museum just off the 405 Freeway.
Sunset at the Getty and just before it closed on a Sunday evening in early spring.
Both the architecture and the garden at the Getty are real show pieces. We enjoy them almost as much as the collection there. These are Crape myrtle “trees” that shad a seating area that has a splendid view of LA and the hills around the Getty.
The highlight of the grounds for me was this maze in the middle of the reflecting pond. I loved the way the two colors of the different types of plants are intermeshed as the two mazes join.
This Marble is entitled “Winter.” It is so life like that you and see the pattern of the cloth that his head is wrapped it.
   
A painting from Monet’s Water Lillis series that is on display at the Getty.
“Haystacks” is another famous Monet that is displayed in thae same room as the above piece in the Getty.
A view of the Hollywood sign from a trail that leads to its base. You have to know where it is in order to find it.
The governor of California’s signature and hand prints in cement outside of Mann’s Chinese Theatre in downtown Hollywood. My govenor can kick your govenor's ass...
Katherine Hepburn’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame about a week after her death.
The statue of John Wayne at John Wayne Airport in Orange County is magnificent! It totally captures his swagger and walk from movies like The Cowboys and Rio Bravo. Every part is so detailed; his bracelets, his gun, the stitching on his boots, EVERYTHING! This is what a bronze should be. The second picture is of Mr. Wayne’s headstone. It is in a shady spot under the branches of a tree.
Jimi Hendrix’s star on the Walk of Fame.
A bronze statue of Charlie Chaplin just inside the doors of the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.
Mann’s Chinese Theater.