Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
193
Stargazing in L.A.: Top Spots for Sighting Celebrities
Celebrities pop up ev erywhere in L.A. I f you spend enough time her e, you'll
surely bump into a few of them. If you're in the city for only a short time, how-
ever, it's best to go on the offensive.
Restaurants ar e y our sur est bet. Dining out is such a popular r ecreation
among Holly wood's elit e that y ou sometimes w onder whether fr equently
sighted folks like N icole, Kobe, and Harrison ev er actually eat at home . Places
like
Matsuhisa,
Mr. Chow, Nobu,
the
Ivy,
the
Palm, Koi, Pizzeria Mozza, CUT,
the Grill on the Alley
and
Spago Beverly Hills
can almost guarantee sightings
most nights of the w eek. The city's stylish hotels can also be good bets—the
poolside cabanas at the
Viceroy
in Santa M onica are a good bet; the
Sunset
Tower Hotel
draws stars like Jennif er Aniston to its
Tower Bar
dining room.
Shutters'
lobby lounge is the r endezvous of choice for famous faces heading
to dinner at the hot el's
One Pico
restaurant; and spotting stars at the
Beverly
Hills Hotel
is almost t oo easy . The tr endiest clubs and bars—
Teddy's, the
Green Door,
Skybar
—are good f or star sighting , but c over char ges can be
astronomical and the v elvet r ope gauntlet oppr essive. And A-list sightings
aren't a guarant ee: Expect a lot of r eality show stars like P aris Hilton and an y
one of the Kardashian sisters.
Often the best plac es to see members of the A-list ar en't as ob vious as a
back-alley stage door or the fr ont room of
Spago.
Shops along Sunset Boule -
vard are often star-heavy, as are chichi shops within the
Beverly Center
mall.
Book Soup,
that browser's paradise on the Sunset Strip , is usually good f or a
star or two. A midafternoon stroll along
Melrose Avenue
might also pr oduce
a familiar face (particularly at
Fred Segal
); likewise for the chic European-style
shops of
Sunset Plaza
or the
Beverly Center.
Or you can seek out the c elebrities on the job . It's not uncommon for star-
studded movie productions to use L.A.'s diverse cultural landscape for
location
shots;
in fac t, it 's such a r egular oc currence that locals ar e usually less
impressed with an A-list pr esence than perturbed about the precious parking
spaces lost t o all those equipment trucks and dr essing-room trailers. On-the-
street movie shoots are part of what makes L.A. unique , and onlookers gather
wherever hastily scrawled production signs point to a hot site.
If you're really intent on seeing as man y stars as possible , log on t o
www.
seeing-stars.com
, a website that keeps tabs on wher e all the stars shop , eat,
stay, and play in L.A.
7
a wide selection of L.A. tours, including the first-ever Movie Stars' Homes tour. Its most
popular tour, the 2-hour neighborhood jaunt, depar ts every half-hour from the front of
Grauman's Chinese Theatre between 9:30am and 4pm (y ou'll see the S tarline kiosk to
the right of the theater entrance at 6925 H ollywood Blvd.). If you really like driving
tours, sign up for the piece d ' resistance: the 5
1
/
2
-hour Grand Tour of L.A. Check out
their website for more tour information.
