What do you like to do? For example, I wouldn't miss the Getty museum, but that might make you yawn. I also like strolling Rodeo Drive. Santa Monica is fun, too (stay at Shutters for a splurge)

PS Try a search under NYTimes "36 hours in..." or even UA's "Three Perfect Days in ...". These articles do a great job of distilling highlights.

Just want to say that I hope you have an absolutely marvelous times. There is nothing more fun than traveling someplace wonderful with a girlfriend!

Are you actually staying in Hollywood?

Ollie, if you have time, and it's not too far for you, PLEASE go to The Stinking Rose. I know, such a name, but if you love garlic, this is the place. If you don't love garlic, it's still quite the place to see. It's on La Cienega in Beverly Hills. Order the Roasted Garlic Bulb and spread on bread/crackers. It's to die for! The potato/oninion soup and salmon entree is delish too.

Take a bus tour of celebrity homes if you have time. The way some people live is amazing!!! There might even be an event going on. I got to walk the red carpet on opening night for the movie Coach Carter with Samuel L. Jackson(he must be 7 feet tall!). My best friend's son wrote the screenplay, and since he asked Mom to attend, didn't want her to feel alone. He also wrote One Tree Hill~if you have teens, they may have watched it on the WB. Sorry, just like to brag about my best friend's son, the 'little boy' from small town Illinois.

My youngest DD/DH lived in Beverly Hills for 2 1/2 years and lived about 3 blocks from Rodeo Dr. Again, something to see maybe once, but Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, and just as pretentious, is the real deal.

Have fun! And keep your eyes WIDE open~people watching is a free activity, and usually worth a second look! ;o)

Here is a link that might be useful: website

I checked my calendar and I can go with you! lol. Definitely "do" Rodeo Dr. Dress to the nine's and act like you're a potentate.

Never been there but I do know this year's Grammys are going to be one of the best in years!

Have fun!!

mtn, thanks for the search tip-will do!

cyn, GF is a lot of fun, so I'm sure we will have a great time-thanks!

marlene, we are staying at The Roosevelt in Hollywood.

patty, worth bragging about! That is so interesting and what an accomplishment! I definately can't go without going to Rodeo Drive-AND I love people-watching, hope I can do it on the sly though.

Oakley, I'm tearing up my closet looking for what to wear! It is going to be warmer in OK than Los Angeles, but about the same as far as dress goes, I think. But, I do plan on dressing up!

tina, THANKS!

patty, we will go to The Stinking Rose, sounds like our kind of place!

olliesmom, how FUN! I hope you have a great time!

My daughter lives in the Hollywood area and one of my favorite things I did when visiting her was to stroll the canals in Venice. It's so peaceful and you can see some wonderful homes. I also second the recommendation to visit the Getty Center. Fabulous, fabulous place with stunning views - and that's before you even get inside! I've stayed at the Roosevelt, you are right in the thick of Hollywood there, across the street from the Chinese Theater, where you will want to see all the footprints in the cement of old time stars, who seemed to have tiny feet! I'm not sure I'd bother with a tour of the star's homes, as I understand that you really don't see much, just a bunch of hedges and fences, lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: Venice Canals Walkway

Here are some restaurants in the West Hollywood area:

Cooks County (on Beverly Boulevard)
Ammo (on Highland)
Fico (on Robertson Boulevard)
Nonna's (on Sunset Boulevard)

The Roosevelt Hotel has changed over the years. It's a very hip place to stay these days for young people.

If you are driving anywhere in that area there is always lots of traffic, so adjust travel times accordingly. After Christmas we had visitors in town and when we drove from Santa Monica to the Hollywood area, just a few miles away, it took us about an hour in traffic that was barely crawling along.

Chispa is absolutely spot on regarding the traffic. It is awful, even on the weekend.

I would highly recommend you call the concierge and ask about private tours. I don't think you'd be happy on a bus tour.

I grew up in Beverly Hills and am very familiar with the area so if you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Ivy Restaurant, Chateau Marmont, and The Beverly Hills Hotel for possible celeb sightings.

The only place I've seen celebrities is at the W. Hollywood Target and the parking lot of the Arclight movie theater. lol

Another fun place to go is the Farmer's Market adjacent to The Grove shopping center. Celebs also shop there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Los Angeles Farmer's Market

This post was edited by terriks on Mon, Feb 4, 13 at 22:14

I saw Michael Keaton while having lunch at Shutters in Santa Monica.

My nieces spotted a 2 time contestant from Big Brother at the Grove (mentioned above). He was sitting having lunch by himself. Was nice and posed for photo with them. I had no clue who he was!

I see Michael Gross (Family Ties) out on his morning walks. I also recently found out someone I know is his stepdaughter.

Kevin Costner and Miley Cirrus lived in our town. A Dreamworks Director is our neighbor. A soap opera couple that lived up the street just moved away. Disney execs are everywhere! It is hard not to cross paths with the entertainment industry when you live in LA.

Was only there briefly so I am no help, but HAVE FUN!!!

Patty, I went to The Stinking Rose in San Francisco. I loved it-- keep dreaming of opening one here!

We stayed at the Roosevelt just after they did their huge renovation. It is definitely a celebrity hangout for the lounges. Don't know if they have the same decor, but the rooms have a very modern feel with low platform beds that we were not huge fans. Location is great. You can do the Hollywood walk of fame right outside the door and I believe Jimmy Kimmel tapes closeby. I'd need to check with DH on that.

Can't remember any places where we went to eat. We went to a middle eastern place that had belly dancers, but we did not anticipate that would take a huge amount of time.

We did an interesting tour, but that would be if you had more time. It was called the Dearly Departed tour, and it was a small bus.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dearl Departed Tours

How fun - have a great time!

My brother went to music school in Hollywood back when I was in high school. He lived in North Hollywood. My sister and I went out to visit him and had a blast (can't believe in hindsight that my parents allowed us unsupervised to go visit him...he wasn't exactly a responsible chaperone!). I can't even remember all the places we went - I know we did Rodeo Drive and drove through the wealthy Hollywood neighborhoods. I went back again for spring break in college with my roommates and did even more of the typical touristy stuff.

Marlene, how cool that you grew up in Hollywood!

I know, Marlene-how cool!

I guess we have reservations (GF in charge of it) at both The Roosevelt and Beverly Hilton, and she is waiting for my help to decide which one. As long as it isn't on the 12th floor (Whitney Houston, so sad) I don't mind.

I am bookmarking this post for ALL the helpful ideas!

Olliesmom....The Beverly Hilton! (It's right across from my old school :-)! But seriously it's in a much better location.

Thank you Marlene! So glad to know!! Thanks!

I haven't stayed at the Beverly Hilton, but I would choose it over the Roosevelt. I agree with gsciencechick that we found the rooms to be rather lacking at the Roosevelt. Even though they had been renovated, they seemed worn, and the bathroom was tiny. Plus the hotel caters to the VIP partiers rather than the hotel guests in our experience. The day that I wanted to sit by the pool it was closed to hotel guests because of a private party. Definitely do go check out the public spaces of the Roosevelt though. There is quite a bit of Hollywood history there.

Well, I relayed the message, so the Beverly Hilton it is!

Marlene, I have a feeling you are someone famous' daughter-LOL! Or maybe, you are even the famous one-LOL!

teriks, how funny only seeing celebrities at Target!

Love all the advice and tips!

Haven't been, but hope you have a great trip. Have been to The Stinking Rose in SF, loved it!

There could be something going on at The Grove~it's an outdoor mall with a lot of different stores and food market, eat and sit, or take and go. We used to go for breakfast to a place that had the best Swedish pancakes! There's usually a band on weekends. Several years ago during the Christmas season, real snow was brought in, and with the carolers, it was just like a Christmas card. It's also a great place for celebrity sightings. We thought we sw Jessica Alba, but we weren't sure since she didn't have a stitch of make up on~guess that's fairly typical these days though.

Here is a link that might be useful: shopping and more

Olliesmom, I am so happy with your decision and I think you will be too.

And, LOL, no I am not a well known person or a daughter of one either. However, many of our neighbors and friends ( and former boyfriends) were/are and they are just regular folk :-).

I am very excited for you. It's going to be an exciting weekend for you and your friend!!

They are doing Mardi Gras at the Farmer's Market, and it is right next to The Grove. When I watch Modern Family I've noticed several scenes that were shot at The Grove. Also, the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

Here is a link that might be useful: 3rd Street Promenade

You could always go to the Grammy Museum as part of your Grammy tour. DD and I went there last summer, it was really great.

I grew up in So Cal, near the NBC and CBS studios and I worked as a mail carrier in Studio City, so seeing celebs was a normal occurrence for us. My DD is a celeb spotter-every time she goes to LA she finds them. Me, I can't even recognize them! Have fun on your trip!

I'm back!

I wanted to get back to you about my trip, especially because all of you were so nice to help. I am sorry to say, that time went by so quick, we didn't get to do all we wanted to do.

Friday night went to Mr. Chow's-and then to The Polo Lounge, which was being renovated, so another club was set up in the hotel. It was much too crowded, got one drink and back to our hotel. Saturday went to Rodeo Drive and to eat pizza at a place on Melrose called Mozza's, I think. It was VERY good! We had a couple of drinks at the Beverly Wilshire, L.A. Reid was at the next table. Then went back to hotel to get ready for the Clive Davis Grammy Party, which was being held at our hotel, so we wanted to see all the celebriites go in and out. Saw so many, and to name a few: Joan and Melissa Rivers, Joan Collins, Gayle King, Hoda Kotbe (sp?), Kelsey Grammer (and his new young wife)-sorry, he just grosses me out, Magic Johnson, Brandy, P Diddy, Miley Cyrus, Melanie Griffith, Yolanda (RHBH) and David Foster, Sting and wife, Trudy, Tyra Banks, and so many more. A lot of them were young artists, and I didn't even know who they were until someone mentioned it. It was fun! I cannot believe how skinny the women are! Have to be a size 0, not to mention tall and long legs, so they really are thin-too thin, IMO.

Sunday, went to brunch at the Four Seasons, and to dinner at Mastro's then on to the Justin Timberlake concert. It was suppose to start at 9p and it didn't start until 11:30, which I thought was ridiculous! I truly would have left if my friend wasn't so inlove with him! Got home so late and was tired and left the next day!

I am sorry we didn't make it to The Stinking Rose! Someone on the plane said they smelled like garlic all weekend after eating there, so we were a little afraid to go there and then to the events we were going to attend. But, would have loved to have gone there. Oh, somewhere in there we did go to the Farmers Market for awhile. We had already had brunch so wasn't hungry. I had never been to the Walk of Fame, so we went there for a little while one day.

Marlene, so glad you mentioned for us to stay at the Beverly Hilton instead of the Roosevelt! We did walk through the Roosevelt, very dark place.

We went to have a drink and appetizer at Sur, but, they were filming, so never even got in the door.

Had fun and was exhausted, and my feet have been tortured walking in heels all night-how do people do that???

Glad to be back home!

Sounds as though you had a grand time! I am so glad!

what a great trip report , it does indeed seem like such a fun weekend !!