Lalaland is a long way from the Rover’s
Coronation Street star Kym Marsh embraces all the sprawling city has to offer... from Twinkies to peanut butter M&Ms
Los Angeles is somewhere I had dreamed about visiting ever since I was a teenager just starting out in the entertainment industry. Everything about it seemed so irresistible to me: the Hollywood sign, the stars on the Walk of Fame, and the chance of bumping into a celebrity – from Cher or Johnny Depp to one of the Kardashians – around any corner.
So when I finally got the opportunity to head out to California, I was delighted that some of my closest female friends could join me. We were excited beyond belief.
The fun started as we waited for our flight – we felt like a bunch of giddy teenagers. And, of course, we had to indulge in a glass of wine in the Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow as we made a list of things we wanted to do.
Luckily we all had similar interests so that made planning our trip more simple. Top of our list was getting as close as we possibly could to the Hollywood sign.
We had also all been dreaming about checking out some celebrity homes in Beverly Hills and Bel Air. We knew there were maps available giving the locations of some properties, so we would be able to drive past and have a nose at houses belonging to actresses such as Cameron Diaz and Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe in Friends.
Our list complete, it was time to hop on to the plane for the tenhour flight. After touching down at LAX, we headed straight to our hotel, the Andaz West Hollywood.
Sitting right in the centre of Sunset Boulevard, the location couldn’t have been better. On one side was Sunset Strip with famous bars such as The Viper Room and The Roxy, while closer to our hotel were the iconic restaurants Saddle Ranch and House Of Blues.
The hotel sits among the Hollywood hills, so the view from the rooms was beautiful – we could see the whole of Los Angeles spread out in front of us, from the skyscrapers of the downtown district to the beaches of Santa Monica and Venice.
As the sun came up one morning, I noticed a quote written on the window which said: ‘ You’re alive, do something.’ We didn’t need telling twice.
I’m afraid our diet went out of the window for the week. We made it our mission to try as many American snacks as we could, buying bags of sugary treats.
My favourites were Twinkies – little sponge fingers with a cream filling. Never in a million years would I indulge in these at home and my personal trainer would have a fit if I even suggested it – but what happens in LA stays in LA!
By the end of the week, we had also tried Dippin’ Dots (a freeze-dried ice cream snack) and peanut butter M&Ms, a heavenly treat not available at home, which in retrospect is probably for the best.
We knew we had a busy week ahead if we wanted to tick off all the things on our list, so decided to spend the first day by the pool recharging our batteries and preparing ourselves for the coming days. We lazed in the baking sun, drinking cocktails and soaking up the weird and wonderful people you only get in LA. It seems everyone in the city is ‘waiting to be discovered’ – one day we witnessed a girl doing her best Beyoncé routine by the pool . We were laughing for the rest of the night.
The great thing about our location was that we didn’t need to drive or get a cab if we wanted to go for dinner and drinks. Just across the road was the House Of Blues, so we headed there for our first dinner.
We started off by sharing some melt-in-the-mouth St Louis ribs, followed by pork chop and blackened shrimp salad, which was so good the four of us decided to mix and match so we could share.
All the dishes are created by celebrity chef Aaron Sanchez – he has a show called
Chopped on the Food Network in the United States – and prides himself on classic Latino dishes with a twist that he swears ‘will have your tastebuds singing all the way home’. There was no singing for us on the first night though, as instead we sat back listening to a band – a chilled start to our holiday.
On day two we hit Universal Studios. It was a beautiful drive through the San Fernando Valley, which meant we got to see a bit more of the surrounding areas of West Hollywood. One thing we noticed when driving was how spread out Los Angeles is.
Unlike Manchester where I live, there isn’t really a ‘central’ area that’s worth visiting. Lots of the attractions are dispersed around the city – two of the girls in our group got lost one day and ended up walking seven miles back to our hotel.
At Universal there are so many amazing rides, including The Simpsons, Jurassic Park and Transformers. I’m not the biggest fan of rollercoasters, and I much preferred the Studio Tour, which goes around some of the sets used for films such as The Great Outdoors, The Truman Show and Back To The Future.
I know my children would have loved them all, especially the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem – we all adore that film.
I think my two eldest children, David and Emily, would have loved to see the special effects stage which was really fascinating, particularly for me given that I spend a lot of time in front of cameras.
Two guys, Justin and Jerry, do an amazing show and explain about motion capture, 3D technology, and computer-generated imagery – you don’t see much of that behind the bar in the Rovers Return! I was a huge fan of TV drama
Desperate Housewives, so it was really exciting to go on a tour of the show’s setting, Wisteria Lane, and see the hangouts of Bree, Gabrielle and the gang. Later, we steered well clear of the Bates motel –
Psycho is not a film for me. I thought of my little girl Polly, who’s only three, when we watched a really cute animal show with specially trained guinea pigs. She would have loved to see that and she would have enjoyed the ‘best hotdogs in Hollywood’ that we munched while we watched it.
With another thing ticked off the list, there was still more to go, so
although we were tired after a day of stomping around the theme park, that night we got dressed up for dinner at Chateau Marmont. The hotel is the place to go if you want to spot celebs, and even if you aren’t lucky enough to spy a star, it’s still an amazing place.
You really can get chatting to anyone in Los Angeles. At the bar that night we made friends with a guy who turned out to be the owner of PayPal.
Meeting all these weird and wonderful people was one of our favourite things about the city, closely followed by being surrounded by beautiful scenery.
The air in LA smells like jasmine, and each street is lined with huge palm trees, which makes everything look so stunning. The coastline is also spectacular. We spent a day on the sand at Malibu, which is definitely worth visiting.
Like every Nineties teenager, I was a massive fan of Pretty Woman, so we had to take a trip down Rodeo Drive and see the boutiques where Richard Gere took Julia Roberts on a shopping spree.
However, by far my favourite memory of the trip was the last night. We decided to go out with a bang and that meant a trip to the Saddle Ranch to check out its famous mechanical bull, which Miranda rides in Sex And The City when Carrie and the girls visit LA. The restaurant is an all-American grill which wouldn’t win awards for its food, but it serves amazing cocktails in huge carafes.
My friends are always up for a laugh and it was only a matter of time before one of them hopped on the bull. Sure enough, within minutes one of our group had downed a mojito and jumped on, only to fall off, screaming, a short time later. It was absolutely hysterical and I got a priceless video that I show everybody I meet.
By the end of the week we were sunkissed, relaxed and felt like we’d done everything we’d hoped for on our trip. I threw myself straight back into the chaos at home – I was at work the day after we landed, so it was back to reality with a bump. But we had such a good time in LA that I think it’s safe to say that, like the Terminator, we’ll be back!