La La Land

Day 33

Less than an hour’s drive up the freeway we moved on to the last leg of our American Dream 2018! The City of Angels was just like it appears in the movies, flat and spread out with huge freeways and an urban edge. I was so excited to spot signs to Ventura, Pasadena and Sunset Boulevard – such iconic places – and we were headed to our base in West Hollywood!  Our Kimpton Everly Hotel was fabulous – and so very LA chic – and we were greeted by name on arrival; I am a big fan of the service culture here in the US. After we unpacked and pinched ourselves that our home for the next 4 nights was so cool, Steve and I took off down the road along Hollywood Boulevard in the 43 degree heat! “Hooray for Hollywood” – a little bit glam and a lot of crazy, we found the famous strip to be pretty seedy, but we had some fun along the way with prop shops and cops!!

Day 34

Griffith Observatory was burning hot (literally with a fire in the hills) at 42+degrees so we resorted to the air-conditioned Dodge and went for a spin along Sunset Boulevard, star-spotted in the Hollywood Hills and checked out Rodeo Drive. Played spot the icon such as the Viper Room, Whiskey a Go-Go and Beverley Hills 90210!

Day 35

We drove across town to Santa Monica and soaked up the carnival atmosphere – although the boardwalk was too bumpy to wheel very far and it was very HOT! In search of shade we wheeled a few miles along the busy bike way to crazy hippy Venice Beach….plenty of people watching here as you will see below.  We had to try the US version of Fish n Chips and they didn’t disappoint!

Day 36

Wrapping up our incredible 5-week American Dream with a fantastic back-lot tour of Warner Bros Studios – via their brand new cart with hoist to accommodate wheelchairs! Saw so many great things like Friends’ Central Perk, sets of TV shows and movies, Marvel and Harry Potter exhibitions and the set of Ellen. Highly recommend this tour!

Having made contact with the Assistant Manager Connie at our Everly Hotel regarding access and giving them feedback, we were rewarded with a complimentary panoramic sunset picnic with DJ and giant games on the deck. What a way to end this dream trip! Sometimes it pays to politely educate people about our needs!

Forever grateful for every moment of our first trip OS. It won’t be our last! Beautiful America we love you long-time, but home is calling us xxx

 

Transport options	Wheelers Accessible Van Rentals LA is spread out and so we decided we needed an accessible vehicle so we could explore. Remember you often need to pay for parking. We dropped our accessible van we brought across from Vegas at LAX. It was a simple process of parking at a specific carpark and then the accessible shuttle picked us up to go to the LAX terminal. There are accessible taxis and public transport options too.
Accommodation details	Kimpton Everly West Hollywood 1800 Argyle Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90028 We stayed in the Lola suite which has a fold down Murphy bed so the hoist can roll under. We gave the hotel feedback that there accessible rooms are not very accessible when you need a hoist as the beds are built in and there is no room to roll hoist underneath. The management of the hotel were very apologetic and have taken on board this feedback so hopefully it is fixed soon (all arrangements done prior to our visit). However the Lola suite was amazing with direct access to the rooftop with incredible views. Large roll in shower, Bose speaker system, kitchen and big TV. More like an apartment than a hotel room! We also liked that we could eat at the hotel’s restaurant, have breakfast, drinks and coffee all charged to our room. And there was live music on Fri and Sat nights, a great bar to meet people and beautiful artworks. Great location in Hollywood. And dogs, lots of dogs! The place was just cool. Definitely luxurious and a wonderful treat to top off our adventure. Highly recommended! Support crew stayed in a Hollywood Hills Queen Queen just across the hall.
Length of stay	4 nights – that was not enough!
Accessible Tips	The Everly Hotel has a pool hoist so take your swimmers! Discuss your access needs with management at the hotel – Connie was more than helpful in arranging our stay! Warner Bros Backlot Tour has accessible cart with hoist and you get your own private tour! We booked the day before.