Traveller Megan McCormick spends a week in Southern California, USA, exploring one of the  world’s most exciting and glamorous cities: Los Angeles.
Like thousands of wannabe stars who over the years have flocked to L.A.'s most famous suburb Hollywood in the hope of finding fame and fortune in the movies, Megan starts her trip by signing on at the Central Casting agency with other hopefuls trying to land a part in a movie as an extra. After taking a tour around Paramount Studios, she heads to Beverly Hills to learn the tricks of the trade used by the paparazzi who follow the every move of the stars who frequent the area.
Using the city’s surprisingly good public transport system, Megan heads to downtown  L.A., discovering the now faded glamour of Broadway's grand old movie palaces, before checking out the thriving historic Central Market amidst a newly revitalised city centre.
After visiting the L.A. County Coroner’s Office to buy amusingly ghoulish souvenirs of death, murder and mayhem, that could surely only be found in a place as brazenly upfront as L.A., Megan hires a car to escape the well-trod tourist track and heads into the 'hood.
In South Central L.A., now rebranded as South L.A. to try to avoid evoking thoughts of riots and gang-related crime, Megan visits the quirky Watts Towers, before heading on to East L.A. to see a remarkable project which provides employment to ex-gang members, and helps them erase gang-related tattoos and insignia from their bodies.
 Moving on to the coast and Venice Beach, Megan works out with the bodybuilders at Muscle Beach, before heading on to Signal Hill near Long Beach, where she discovers how L.A.'s massive expansion as a city was propelled in part by the massive oilfields that were discovered in and around L.A. over the last century.
Finally, Megan heads offshore to lovely Catalina Island, a wonderfully peaceful contrast to the non-stop bustle of the city on the mainland, and a great place to end her journey. |
