Beverly Hills and Santa Monica

Santa Monica. The beach is made famous for the setting of the popular TV Series "Baywatch". The road fronting the beach is the Pacific Coast Highway, the same highway that goes all the way to Monterey.
Beverly Hills

Having coffee at Cafe 208. In the background is the Wilshire Hotel

The familiar sight of Beverly Hills. However this one is unique as it is bright yellow.

Beverly Hills is a city in the western part of LA. We had the opportunity to drive through the city, the playground of rich and famous. We passed through Rodeo Drive, Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard. Rows and rows of up market stores line up the streets which are dotted by many palm trees. Many tourists flocked to this area not only to browse the stores but to soak up the atmosphere of just being in Beverly Hills. Some are hopefuls to meet the celebrities and quite a number of them are just happy to snap pictures with the many exotic cars as the background. We stopped for cup of coffee and cheese cake at Cafe Rodeo 208. This cafe is on the Via Rodeo Drive, just above the "Spanish steps". This cafe also overlooks Beverly Wilshire Hotel, made famous by Julia Roberts in the movie "Pretty Women". We waited for a while to catch a glimpse of Will Smith, Eddie Murphy and Julia Roberts; but there were probably away at the movie sets.

In the afternoon, we proceeded to Santa Monica, about an hour drive from Beverly Hills. It was crowded with tourists and visitors and the air of festivity is always there. The street is jam packed with visitors strolling to the famous beach. There are also many street performers.