Day 18

We had another studio organised for today, this time it was Warner Bros and it was another early start. We went straight there, found a parking spot on the street, which saved us £7. During the short walk to the studio the most amazing thing happened; we saw Hawaii. Obviously not Hawaii the place, no, even better than that, we saw Hawaii the licence plate. Out of all 50 of the states, we were most prepared to go home without that one.

Once we’d got over the excitement we made our way into the studio reception, straight away this seemed different to the Paramount. We were shown into a gift store and Starbucks, there was a much more relaxed atmosphere. We got a cup of tea and a croissant, had a few minutes wait and then were shown into a small cinema room where we watched a short video montage about WB and the products they’re famous for. I don’t think I really appreciated how many of my favourite films and TV shows are made by them. The video really set the scene and got me very excited about what I was about to experience.

We met our tour guide, Cody who showed us out to the tour cart and asked us what TV shows we enjoy watching. Nobody really seemed to speak up so I reeled off a few of my favourites and was sure to mention Pretty Little Liars as I know they film the show at the studio. Cody seemed happy that we’d contributed and proceeded to drive us to our first destination, the Warner Bros Museum. This two story building housed a bunch of costumes and props including a whole level dedicated to Harry Potter. We weren’t allowed to take photos for copyright reasons but we saw some stuff from Fringe, Batman, including the last Joker costume worn by Heath Ledger, the new Superman costume from Man of Steel, Big Bang Theory. There were costumes, props and models from Harry Potter, we were even allowed to sit on a stool and get ‘sorted’ into our Hogwarts houses, Nat got Gryffindor, I apparently am a Slytherin; the sorting hat clearly knows nothing, I think I’m Hufflepuff.

Cody then drove us to the back lot where, like yesterday, we saw more outdoor sets. This was even more exciting today as Warner Bros has an area which is known as ‘Any Town, USA’, it’s a town square which pops up in lots of films and TV shows, it’s Rosewood in Pretty Littlie Liars, Star’s Hollow in the Gilmore Girls and was the location of the parade at the beginning of The Muppets movie which came out a few years ago. We found it very interesting to hear the different shows that the same houses and shops appear in; for example, Emily’s house in Pretty Little Liars is the Geller childhood house in Friends. The door was open and we could see the staircase, the very same one where a moustached Ross sits and plays his mini keyboard while fat Monica and Rachel get ready for prom. Cool.

Anytown USA. They filmed the big opening musical scene of the Muppet Movie here. Plus Pretty Little Liars and The Gilmore Girls.

Monica and Rachel left this house on their prom night. It's also Emily's house in PLL. 

It may not look like it at the moment, but when dressed correctly, this is Sheldon & Leonard's apartment from The Big Bang Theory.

The elevated train entrance from E.R.

We drove around the sound stages and were taken into two different show stages today but again we weren’t allowed to take any photos so we had to look really hard and make sure we took images with our eyes and brain! First we were taken to see The Big Bang Theory set, we sat in the audience seats while Cody told us a bit about the filming schedule of a typical sitcom. The sets looked really small compared to what we see on TV, but it was really cool to see Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment, the hallway and Penny’s apartment.

Next Cody took us to stage 7, this is where in interior sets for Pretty Little Liars are located. At this point I was getting quite excited, nobody on the tour really understood as I was the only person who watches the show. As we walked around I was getting quite giddy and pointing out little details to Natalie who has at least seen a couple of episodes. I didn’t care if I looked like a nerd, I was very excited to be in the main characters’ bedrooms, classroom and school garden sets. It was cool to be able to get close enough to see all of the little details, like the photos that are in the bedrooms and posters on the wall of the school.

At this point we noticed that none of the other guests seemed to be getting that excited about being on such a cool tour. It was the same on yesterday’s tour too. If it wasn’t for us nobody would’ve said anything or shown any enthusiasm. It was strange, almost like the other nine people had never even heard of TV never mind had a favourite show.

We went to see some famous cars, we were allowed to photos of these. As there were quite a few Batmobiles I thought I’d tell Cody about Wollaton Park becoming Wayne Manor in The Dark Knight Rises, he was pretty impressed. See, it’s not all about LA; Nottingham is cool too.

The final stop on the tour was to the props department, we got to walk around a huge warehouse full of props which are used over and over in different shows, this time we could touch and take photos. Cody showed us a big plastic sheet of fake blood. I got excited and asked if I could pretend to be dead, the other tour guests cracked a bit of a smile as I lay on the floor with the blood under my head, Natalie got a ‘dead’ photo too and at least one of the kids copied me later on. Maybe they were excited but shy.

It was in this warehouse where we came face to face with the set of Central Perk, the whole set is pretty much complete and none of the components will ever be used again as the props are so recognisable. The studio can’t use something in CSI that an audience member might recognise from Friends as it would make it less believable. This works out for us as it meant we could sit on the actual real sofa from the most famous coffee shop in the world. It was cool, even the other people on the tour seemed to like that. Everyone likes Friends.

On the Central Perk set

We returned to the gift shop shortly after, bought a few bits and bobs then made our way to Beverly Hills to continue our geeky day of Film and TV with the Out of the Box exhibition at The Paley Centre for Media. This was an exhibition of even more props from some of our favourite TV shows, including Seinfeld, ER, Gilmore Girls and even more Friends and Fringe.

Big Bang Theory stuff!

Monk's diner booth from Seinfeld!

Jerry's costume from Seinfeld

The chicken Monica wears when Chandler tells her he loves her.

Walter's coat from Fringe.

Props from Fringe

Ross's laminated list of people he can cheat on Rachel with.

The adult film that Phoebe's twin sister starred in.

The Gellerbowl trophy!

Laura sat on Bill Compton's sofa from True Blood

After that we considered going for a walk down Rodeo Drive, but then we decided against this as, although it’s an important scene in Pretty Woman, we don’t like posh clothes shops. I saw the road sign and that was enough for me. We continued down Santa Monica Boulevard and parked up, walked along the beach front and to Santa Monica Pier. The weather at the coast is so different to Hollywood and even more different to our apartment in the hills. It was cloudy and pretty cool down by the sea, I was glad to have packed my jeans and got changed into them and a hoody. It felt like being in Brighton more than California. The pier was like most other seaside piers, a bit run down and old fashioned, but very busy and full of fun things for kids to do. We had a walk up to the end and on the way back stopped off in the arcade and played a bit of pinball, it was nice to see some retro machines in there rather than just the shoot ‘em ups you mostly see these days.

Where's the sun?

Star Wars pinball was fab - even if it was Phantom Menace themed. 

We had a stroll along the 3^rd Ave Promenade which was very nice, with buskers and people lining the road. As we’d had a couple of recommendations for it, we went to Barney’s Beanery for some dinner. It was a pretty cool looking bar, the décor was quite eccentric and very apt for this holiday as the walls were covered in licence plates. Still no Delaware though. Not that it would count, it’s cheating if it’s not on a car. The food was nice and there was quite a nice atmosphere.

We finished our meal, found our car park and came home. It was quite early but we were both pretty tired, two and half weeks of holidaying is obviously taking its toll on us. We watched a bit of telly, chilled out and caught up on the blog. Finally. Then we went to bed, excited about tomorrow’s evening entertainment, Taylor Swift Live at the Staples Centre.