Getting the pre-Oscars star treatment in West Hollywood
Once a city of outlaws, it’s now a city of A-listers
I am standing on a stage in front of a crowd of hundreds with a heavy Oscar statute in my hand.
My name has just been announced over the loudspeaker. “And the winner is … Anne Bokma!” There is a blazing spotlight and deafening applause. I am speechless, a rare state for me.
“Oh dear, who do I thank? I should definitely start with my mother,” I think. But before I know it, music starts playing and I’m ushered off the stage. The indignity!
No, this isn’t a dream. Rather, it’s “The Oscars Experience,” a simulation at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, the first large-scale film museum of its kind in the U.S., dedicated to the history, science and cultural impact of the film industry. It opened in 2021 and features some 13 million motion picture artifacts and memorabilia dating back to 1927, including the tablets from “The Ten Commandments,” Dorothy’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” the horse’s head from “The Godfather,” the typewriter used to write “Psycho” and a cape worn by Bela Lugosi in “Dracula.”
The museum’s Oscars simulation makes you feel like a movie star as your name is called out, you step out onto a stage in front of a digital audience, accept your award and receive a video capturing your Hollywood moment. Alas, you do have to give the Oscar back.
Next Sunday is Oscar night, also known as the Super Bowl for women. It’s one-billion worldwide audience is 80 per cent female. Even though the awards show has a terrible reputation for shutting out women (Greta Gerwig, anyone?), we tune in for all the glitz and glamour.
There are other psychological theories at play as to why the Oscars are so compelling. For one, we can be judgmental creatures at heart and the Oscars allow us to play armchair critic all night long. They also give us the sense that we are getting an uncensored view of our favourite celebs (even though everything about the show is carefully calculated).
We also like to anticipate that something unpredictable might happen, like a streaker running across the stage, or someone refusing an award or an A-list actor rushing the stage to slap the host.
The Oscars offer escapism in a heavy world, just like the movies do. They provide a sense of connection too — there’s something about tuning in to the live show knowing hundreds of millions of other people around the globe are doing the same.
The Academy Museum is a testament to all things Oscar-related. It’s located on the edge of West Hollywood (the locals call it “WeHo”), a small city (13 square kilometres with a population of 30,000) situated next to Los Angeles.
When my beau and I visited three weeks before the Oscars, the town was already buzzing with red carpet excitement. We were guests of the ritzy London West Hollywood (it has such notable features as oversize luxury tubs, a rooftop pool, complimentary house car and impossible-not-to-touch suede wallpapered hallways), which, on the first day we were there, was hosting a private screening of “Killers of the Flower Moon” for a select Academy Awards member audience at its inhouse theatre.
At the bar, we found out we’d just missed Paul Giamatti (Best Actor nominee for “The Holdovers” and apparently a very good tipper), who was at the bar the night before. That was it for our celeb spotting unless you count Neil Lane, the jeweller for every season of “The Bachelor,” who we met up with while waiting for a table at the “see and be seen” Terrace Room at Sunset Tower. I snapped a selfie while he pointed his ring finger at me.
Once a city with a shady past, known for its speakeasies, gambling halls and strip joints and ruled by gangsters such as Mickey Cohen, West Hollywood gained a rocker reputation in the '60s with legends such The Doors, The Byrds, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Elton John playing at legendary nightclubs such as Whisky a Go Go and the Troubadour.
Today, this small city has an outsized reputation as a celeb hot spot thanks to its 2.4-kilometre stretch of Sunset Strip that features highend boutiques, buzzworthy restaurants, rock bars, nightclubs and a giant array of billboards, as well as luxurious hotels with rooftop pools and the high-energy vibe of Santa Monica Boulevard. The Hollywood sign beckons in the far distance, a reminder of its iconic past.
West Hollywood is distinguished by being both very gay- and dogfriendly.
It’s the LGBTQ+ capital of L.A. and one of the few U.S cities with a heterosexual minority. Pooches are beloved here, with their own spas and photo studios and you can take your dog practically anywhere, even to your gym class (there are lots of yoga studios and Crossfit gyms here to keep the beautiful people beautiful).
This is a city that was once home
to industry legends the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Errol Flynn, Howard Hughes, John Wayne and the Gabor sisters, some of whose homes are featured on the Bikes and Hikes L.A. tour. Our guide, Erik, takes us on an enthusiastic and entertaining two-hour spin around the city on electric bikes.
Look! Here’s the gym where Taylor Swift works out. Look! Here’s the bar where Janis Joplin carved her first name into a wooden table. Here’s the pot shop owned by Woody Harrelson! Here’s the coffee shop where Quentin Tarantino wrote “Pulp Fiction!”
The Dolby Theatre, where the Oscars will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on March 10, is only a few kilometres away and the stars come to West Hollywood weeks in advance to prep their wardrobes, their jewels and their faces at places such as the zen-like Bamford Spa at 1 Hotel West Hollywood.
The spa offers such A-list treatments as the “B Silent Ritual,” which includes a “foot-bathing ritual followed by a Japanese Shiatsu rocking technique, therapeutic back massage and a temple balm and Indian head massage to encourage relaxation” (because it’s not easy being a movie star).
I am treated to something called a “cryo facial” that’s designed to lift and tone my skin and improve fine lines and wrinkles, thanks to “arctic blast cryo therapy.”
It was a pleasant hour of having lots of goop smeared around on my face with what felt like an ultrasound wand. It’s billed as a “photo ready” facial. After the treatment I don’t see any difference, but my beau swears he does.
Either way, I’m ready for my close up.