Golden Birthday

my golden birthday was this year and I turned 28 on June 28th. it fell on the Sunday after our beach trip so Jason and I decided to celebrate it on Saturday and drive to L.A. One of my favorite movies is 500 days of Summer and I had always wanted to go see the bench in the bench scene from the movie. while I was looking online for the bench location I found a pdf of a walking tour of all the filming locations in the movie. all (or most of) the filming locations for the movie are in downtown L.A in walking distance of each other. I was excited that someone had already written up a film tour and decided to do it. it was a lot of fun and all of the locations were in beautiful old historic buildings which made it extra enjoyable for us. the tour had written the history of the buildings which added another layer to the tour. it was a great way to see different parts of downtown L.A. 


I took most of the photos on my phone which I regret now. I always think they will turn out as good as my camera but they never do. the phone pics aren't bad but I'm glad I brought out my camera near the end. 

this is the San Fernando building (1906) the location for the video and record store in the film. 

 

 the black and white tile with the gold door is exquisite.

the Barclay Hotel (1896) lobby was used as the hangout for Tom and his friends. I adore the hotel sign and its art deco style.

 

 

the lobby. I wouldn't mind hanging out here.. especially if it's with Joseph Gordon-Levitt :P

the Continental Building (1903) was Tom's favorite building as viewed from the bench. L.A's first skyscraper. 

 

 the Bradbury Building (1893) was where Tom waited for his job interview at the end of the movie. the architecture was fantastic inside this building and it was by far my favorite. the building has been featured in many other films such as Blade Runner and there were many other tourists taking pictures in the building. I wish we could have gone to the top floor but we were only allowed up one stair level as there are office buildings in the rest. 

 

 

 

 

 

 the Million Dollar theatre (1919). Tom and Summer see the Graduate here.

this is Angel's Knoll or "Tom's bench". in the film this park was Tom's favorite spot with a great view of historic buildings. this was the place I was most excited about and it was quite disappointing. the park was fenced off and we read online that the land is for sale and most likely a skyscraper will be built there. the land is worth too much for them to keep it as a park. it was very sad news to hear and I wish they could somehow preserve it because now it has a legacy. I know many fans of the movie visit the park to get their bench photo. I hope somehow the park can be saved! 

I wasn't going to leave without my photo though. I hopped the fence and since Jason didn't want to (he's not a rebel like me :P) he shot the photos through the fence. I wasn't in the right bench though because it didn't have the city view and the trees were in the way. I saw online that the actual bench has a plaque on it but I didn't want to search around for it and risk getting caught. I'm happy I got these photos though even though I had to trespass to get them :) the park may be gone next time I'm in L.A.

 

you had to climb a lot of stairs to get to the park and they continued past the park to a shopping area. it had an even better view.

 

 

 

 

 

Redwood bar and grill is where Tom and Summer sing karaoke. 

 

Arthur J. Will memorial fountain is where Tom dances to "You Make my Dreams Come True". we tried to do our best jumping and dance moves for the the pics to emulate the joy he felt in the film :) 

 

 

 

it was such a blast doing the film tour! we were able to see things we wouldn't have known about and it was a little adventure finding all the locations. Jason was a good sport going along with it because he doesn't love the movie like I do but he enjoyed it as well. plus we did a Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure film tour for his birthday a couple years ago so he owes me :) 

the downtown area has many newer buildings that are unique and striking. 

 

 

 

 

we drove to Venice Beach next since neither of us had been there. the beach area was beautiful and surprisingly there weren't many people on the actual beach. when you get to the main promenade it is insane how many people are there. that area was noisy, crowded, dirty and filled with many interesting characters. there were "pot doctors" on the boardwalk ushering people into their clinic to get prescriptions. there was a church congregating in the middle of everything and they were shouting through megaphones and dancing and singing. maybe they think they have to be seen "worshiping" by others for it to matter. I started getting dizzy and having flashbacks of being in times square at night and suddenly needing to get out of there. I get overwhelmed easily where there are too many people and when there's a sensory overload. we got out of that area and I immediately felt better. while the beach was pretty and the promenade was interesting to see I don't think we will ever go back to Venice beach.

 

 

 

 this is why it's called "muscle beach"

 

 

 

 

 

 

it was an incredible birthday weekend!