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Hollywood

Hollywood in June 2013: Spielberg's star and the Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood Sign, Universal Studios stunts and sharks, and a downtown LA detour.

Hollywood got the first June days of our 2013 American road trip: one for the boulevard, one for Universal, and a detour to check that Los Angeles really has a downtown.

The boulevard

Everything you have seen on screen is packed into a few hundred metres of Hollywood Boulevard, along with everyone who has ever seen it.

Babylon-style archway and white elephant statue of the Hollywood and Highland courtyard, the Loews hotel tower behind — The courtyard at Hollywood and Highland, guarded by an elephant borrowed from a 1916 film set.

Inga on a balcony above Highland Avenue with palm trees and traffic below — Surveying Highland Avenue from the balcony.

Inga standing astride Steven Spielberg's star on the Walk of Fame while a Zorro impersonator waits behind — Claiming Spielberg's star while Zorro, off duty, supervises.

Inga crouching beside Johnny Depp's signed slab of handprints and footprints in the Chinese Theatre forecourt — Johnny Depp's slab in the Chinese Theatre forecourt. His feet, it turns out, are not large.

Dileep pressing his hands into celebrity handprints in the cement of the Chinese Theatre forecourt — Checking the fit. Not a match yet.

Black and bronze carved masks mounted on an orange column of the Chinese Theatre facade — The Chinese Theatre up close, all masks and spikes, scarier than most of what screens inside.

The white letters of the Hollywood Sign on a scrubby hillside through haze — The Sign itself, shot on maximum zoom through the June haze.

Universal, then downtown

Day two went to Universal Studios, which is half theme park, half working studio, and wholly happy to set people on fire for your entertainment.

Inga in front of the silver Universal Studios globe fountain — The globe. You do not skip the globe.

Stunt performer engulfed in flames mid-leap at the Waterworld show at Universal Studios — The Waterworld show ends with a man voluntarily on fire. We applauded loudly.

Inga standing inside the open jaws of the hanging Jaws shark prop at Universal Studios — Inga, briefly lunch. The Jaws photo is a Universal rite of passage.

Costumed Bart Simpson character posing with Inga and Dileep at Universal Studios — A photo op with Bart, who has been ten years old since 1989.

Inga and Dileep in front of the Universal Studios Hollywood entrance fountain in golden evening light — Closing-time glow at the Universal fountain, June 2013.

Selfie of Inga and Dileep among downtown Los Angeles towers including the cylindrical glass Westin Bonaventure — The downtown detour: glass towers, including the Bonaventure's cylinders, and hardly a pedestrian in sight.

Next stop, the desert: Palm Springs and the long road east.